Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-

MLE) Program: Reactions, Attitudes and Perceptions of Teachers

Eileen C. Bernardo, Isabela State University, The Philippines

Nilda T. Aggabao, Isabela State University, The Philippines

Jaine Z. Tarun, Isabela State University, The Philippines

education is now thirteen years instead of the usual ten years. In the K to 12

Curriculum, the elementary grades will focus on the core learning areas namely:

languages, mathematics, science and social studies. One of the highlights of the K to

12 Curriculum is the use of the eight major Philippine languages to teach

Kindergarten to Grade 3 students. The Department of Education adopted the “Mother

Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)” after pilot tests showed that

students learn better when the language used at home is also used in the classroom.

This study aimed to determine the reactions and attitudes of the teachers and the

problems they encountered on the implementation of the Multilingual Education and

the Teaching of Mother Tongue in the Philippines. The study utilized quantitative and

reactions, attitudes and perceptions of the teachers on the implementation of the

MTB-MLE are generally favorable. However, the teachers encountered problems on

availability of instructional materials and facilities.

!

!

Keywords: K to 12 Curriculum; Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education

(MTB-MLE) Program; Reactions, attitudes and perceptions

!

!

Introduction

Basic education in the Philippines underwent a radical change in June 2012 when the

K to 12 Curriculum was implemented. Basic education is now thirteen years instead

of the usual ten years, that is, kindergarten, elementary level which is still six years

and high school which is now six years - four years junior high school and two years

senior high school, rather than the usual four. This two-year addition in High School

is supposed to bring our students at par with global standards and synchronize our

educational system to world standards. It will also stream students into the more

In the K to 12 Curriculum, the elementary grades will focus on the core learning areas

namely: languages, mathematics, science and social studies. One of the features of the

K to 12 Curriculum is the use of the eight major Philippine languages to teach

Kindergarten to Grade 3 (K to 3) students. The Department of Education (DepEd) of

the Philippines adopted the “Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-

MLE)” program when results of pilot tests showed that students learn better when the

Basic Education Program. It was embodied in the Department Order Number 74,

series of 2009, an order “Institutionalizing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education (MTB-MLE). Its significance is articulated in Republic Act 10532,

otherwise known as the “Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.”

MTB-MLE is a formal or non-formal medium of communication, in which the

learner’s mother tongue and additional languages are used in the classroom. The

MTB-MLE is a program where the medium of instruction is the mother tongue or the

first language (L1) of the learners. In the teaching-learning process, both the teacher

and the learners use the mother tongue in explaining the lesson. Other languages are

negotiate meanings together, creating participatory learning environments that are

conducive to cognitive as well as linguistic development. Children with a solid

foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school.

Their knowledge and skills will be developed through languages. The implementation

of MTB-MLE enables the learners to use different languages for success in school

and for lifelong learning.

In rural areas, most of the Filipinos use the native language in their respective

localities as their mother tongue. This is especially true before the 20

!

!

when children go to school, they learn and adopt the Filipino language, the national

language of the Philippines, which is very similar to Tagalog. They also learn the

English language along with the Filipino language in the school. Learning Filipino

and English languages became mandatory because of the bilingual policy. However,

in the 20

century many parents trained their children to speak in Tagalog, no longer

the native language in their localities because of its advantage in the school. Hence,

the mother tongue of many children is not the native language in their localities.

Many students find it difficult to relate with their teacher when the local language is

used as the mother tongue in the delivery of the lesson.

communities in the province of Isabela, although, there are commonalities in the

Ibanag language of the different Ibanag speaking communities. In the implementation

of K to 12 Basic Education Program, the mother tongue is taught as a subject in the K

to 3 levels and is used to emphasize the lessons in Grade 4 to Grade 12. Thus, mother

tongue is very significant in the implementation of K to 12 Basic Education Program.

Some of the implications of the K to 12 Program include the following: graduates will

This study is primarily aimed at determining the perceptions, reactions and attitudes

of the teachers on the implementation of the MTB-MLE program. Secondly, this

research determined the problems and difficulties encountered by the teachers in the

implementation of the MTB-MLE Program in terms of the following: Preparation and

delivery of learning tasks, course content, textbooks, school’s MTB-MLE facilities,

students’ mother tongue and school location.

Methodology

The study utilized quantitative and qualitative research methods through survey and

Tomas, a total of 170 teachers.

In this study, a survey questionnaire was developed where the teacher respondents

were asked to respond to statements describing their reactions, attitudes and

perceptions, of the teachers on the implementation of the MTB-MLE program and the

problems and difficulties encountered by the teachers in the implementation of the

MTB-MLE Program in terms of the following: preparation and delivery of learning

tasks, course content, textbooks, school’s MTB-MLE facilities, students’ mother

!

!

tongue and school location. An interview guide was also developed to supplement the

survey.

Results and Discussion

Teachers under the Department of Education are currently required to implement the

MTB-MLB Program. In this study, the teacher respondents were asked to respond to

statements describing their perceptions, reactions and attitudes on the implementation

of the MTB-MLE program. In addition, the teachers responded to statements

mother tongue and school location.

The summary of the results is shown in Table 1.

1. Teachers Reactions, Attitudes and Perceptions on the Implementation of the

MTB-MLE

following statements: the pupils will learn better their lessons; the teachers very much

appreciate the effort of school administrators in implementing the program; the

vitality of the mother tongue will be preserved; and the teachers would rather

recommend pupils to learn their native language before a foreign language.

!

!

Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-

MLE) Program in the Philippines

On the other hand, the teacher respondents have unfavorable feelings, reactions and

attitude on the implementation of the MTB-MLE in terms of the following statements:

the pupils are not interested to learn because of too many languages used in teaching;

the MTB-MLE is an additional expense to the government; the program is a waste of

time; and pupils cannot cope with difficulties in learning even if the lessons were

using this program. In other words, the teachers feel that the pupils are still interested

to learn the mother tongue even if there are many languages used in teaching such as

English, Filipino and/or Tagalog, and Ilocano. Also, the teacher respondents do not

agree that the MTB-MLE is an additional expense to the government. The teachers

do not think that the program is a waste of time. In addition, the teacher respondents

do not agree that pupils cannot cope with difficulties in learning even if the lessons

!

!

In fact, Caguioa (2013) reported that she observed an improved participation among

her pupils where they could readily relate the lesson to their own experiences, prior

knowledge and other socio-cultural background. Children learned faster and better

since they are adept in their mother tongue. The students! learned to read faster and

fluently because of the songs, poems and rhymes were taught in Ibanag, the mother

tongue of most of her pupils. In addition, they were able to think and understand their

lessons well and were able to ask questions critically. The children enjoyed playing,

singing with indigenous instruments such as coconut shells and improvised

tambourines, dancing, dramatizing, writing paragraphs and simple essays. Mother

implies that the teacher respondents have a favorable reactions, attitudes and

perceptions on the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual

Education (MTB-MLE) Program.

The shift to the native language as medium of instruction started with the Lingua

Franca Education Project through DECS (Department of Education, Culture and

Sports now Department of Education) Memo 144, s. 1999. The current Mother

his/her L2 listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Lastly, the teacher respondents have very unfavorable feelings, reactions and attitude

on the implementation of the MTB-MLE in terms of the statement, “this program

might not prosper because the mother-tongue among pupils are different”. This result

implies that the teachers think that the MTB-MLE program may prosper even if the

pupils have different mother tongue.

The culture of students in central areas and in remote barangays are different. It is

assumed that the local language spoken by the people is regarded as the mother

2. Common Problems and Difficulties Encountered by Teachers in the

Implementation of the MTB-MLE Program

2.1 On Preparation of Learning Tasks

The teachers had difficulty or encountered serious problems in the following:

choosing appropriate activities for motivating the class; availability of resources for

pupils’ activities; sufficiency of training acquired for the implementation of MTB-

!

!

MLE; sufficiency of MTB-MLE materials; coping with the different mother tongue of

pupils.

Based on the interview conducted by the authors, there are pupils who are not

originally from the town and have different mother tongue. There is a need to guide

these pupils and help them adjust to the mother tongue used in the locality.

The teachers had moderate difficulty or moderately encountered serious problems in

the following: choosing appropriate teaching strategy; identifying the appropriate

different from the locality; pupils’ engagement in classroom activities due to

unfamiliarity of one of the languages used; coping with the different mother tongue of

pupils; orientation of the available materials is not patterned from the mother tongue

of the locality; due to unfamiliarity of the mother tongue of pupils/locality;

fluency/proficiency in the different mother tongue of pupils; and pupils’ refusal to

learn other languages specially the common mother tongue of the class.

The teachers had moderate difficulty or moderately encountered serious problem in

the following: vagueness of topics and lessons to be covered; achievement of the

objectives of the lesson; proper sequence of topics; familiarity of terms used due to

variety and variation of language used which is different from one locality to another;

coverage of the lesson is too many or congested.

Overall, the teachers had moderate difficulty and/or encountered moderately serious

problems in the preparation and delivery of learning tasks in the implementation of

MTB-MLE. As seen in Table 1, the weighted mean is 2.39.

lack of appeal of textbooks in terms of color; limitation of examples; limitation of

questions and exercises making pupils just to understand the lesson rather than to

develop the thinking process and reasoning ability of pupils; complicated terms used

in writing the book; proper sequencing of the topics

The teachers had moderate difficulty or encountered moderately serious problems in

vagueness of instruction; appropriateness to the ability of pupils.

!

!

Based on Table 1, the weighted mean is 2.65 which means that the teachers

encountered moderate difficulty or moderately serious problems in the MTB-MLE

textbooks and other printed materials in teaching.

Based on the interview made by the authors, there is a lack of instructional materials

written in the Ibanag language. There are more Ilocano materials, however, most of

the students do not speak Ilocano as most of the people in the community speak

Ibanag. Ilocano is the language spoken by majority of the people in Isabela, however,

in Northern Isabela, Ibanag is widely spoken.

The teachers encountered serious problem in the availability of mother curriculum

guide; audio-visual materials to support the hearing and sighting skills of pupils in

mother tongue; modules, manuals and textbooks for further discussion of mother

tongue; latest version of Ibanag dictionary; latest version of Ilocano dictionary; latest

version of Ibanag Orthography; latest version of Ilocano Orthography; dictionary of

mathematical/science/arts & humanities terms and concepts in mother tongue;

supplies and materials for reproduction; equipment such as computer, photocopier,

The teachers encountered difficulty or serious problem in adapting (1) mother tongue

curriculum guide because it is not patterned in the mother tongue of the locality; (2)

modules, manuals and textbooks because it is not patterned in the mother tongue of

the locality; (3) Ibanag dictionary since it is very rare and different from the variety

and variation of the Ibanag language in the locality; (4) Ibanag Orthography since it is

different from the variety and variation of the Ibanag language in the locality.

The teachers encountered moderate difficulty or moderately serious problem in

adapting available MTB-MLE facilities due to varied mother tongue of pupils.

language of the locality is dominated by the pupil’s mother tongue; some parent’s

mother tongue is not the native language; too many migrants; some teachers assigned

in the locality are not native speakers; unavailability of an expert in the mother tongue

to provide further knowledge and information in the locality; promptness to

information on MTB-MLE.

The weighted mean is 2.12 which implies that there is no difficulty in terms of the

school’s location.

!

!

The materials used by the teachers to teach and materials that students use to learn are

designed to reflect the goals of the curriculum of the Department of Education

(DepEd) (Talisayon, et. al, 2000). They also believe that methods that teachers use to

teach students and methods that teacher use to train teachers are means of

implementing the curriculum. The success of the curriculum depends on the teaching

and learning materials and the teaching and training methods. Changes in curriculum

do not only focus on content but also on the mode of delivery. Thus, designing,

developing and adaptation of appropriate instructional materials needed are important

in the implementation of K to 12 Basic Education Program most especially the MTB-

The current K to 12 curriculum implements the MTB-MLE program. One of the key

features of the K to 12 Curriculum is the use of Mother Tongue as primary medium of

instruction from K to 3. The formation of MLE support system is necessary to make

sure the efficiency of the use of mother tongue in teaching K to 3 pupils.

In this study, the teacher respondents generally have favorable feelings, reactions and

The implementation of MTB-MLE in teaching K to 3 pupils helps the teacher in

explaining the lessons well. This is also true for the pupils where they can understand

and express their thoughts in the language where they are most comfortable with. One

of the main concerns of the teacher respondents is the lack of textbooks, curriculum

guides and other instructional materials written in Ibanag, the mother tongue of the

communities involved in the study.

MTB-MLE is very important in the implementation of K to 12 Basic Education

Program. While it is true that the teacher respondents generally have favorable

DepEd Schools in Northern Isabela. Materials written in Ibanag currently available

must be revised. The teachers’ guide and the learners’ material must be written using

the mother tongue of the pupils.