The Implementation of Mother Tongue – Based Multilingual Education: Viewing it from the Grade III Teachers’ Perspective

Abstract

It had already been six years, when MTB-MLE was implemented nationwide along with the seemingly coercive and half-baked implementation of K to 12 curriculum. In fact, its implementation from the start had been flooded with several criticisms from all walks of life. Questions relative to building inadequacy, qualified teachers to handle senior high school students, useful and trendy school facilities, books and so forth are but a few to mention. The descriptive-evaluative method of research had been aptly utilized in this quest for solution. It delineated the effects of MTB-MLE to Grade III pupils’ performance in Math and Science as perceived by their teachers, problems encountered in using LM’s, TG’s and Instructional Materials, and suggested measures to address the prevailing problems after evaluating through researcher-made questionnaire. An observation and unstructured interview were deemed invaluable to enrich the study. The findings indicate that MTB-MLE has relevance to Grade III pupils’ performance in Mathematics and Science due to limited vocabulary words which hinder the pupils to cope with the lesson. Problems such as Teachers’ Guide and Learners’ Manual inconsistency, limited number of LM’s, lack of time in the preparation of localized instructional material and suggested measures to address the extant problems are likewise accentuated in this research.

Keywords: MTB-MLE, Teachers’ Perspective, Science, Mathematics, LM’s, TG’s