Level of Teachers' Competency in Addressing Challenges in Teaching Using Mother Tongue-Based-Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)

Abstract: This study aims to identify the challenges faced by public school teachers in teaching using Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). The participants of this study include all public school teachers currently teaching Grades 1 to 3 during the academic year 2015-2016 in the entire district of Bacong. The primary tool used by the researcher was a survey questionnaire, supplemented by the Likert scale, Pearson r Product-Moment Coefficient of Correlation, and percentage analysis for data collection. The study employed a descriptive method, which allowed the researcher to describe the level of teachers' competency in addressing challenges in teaching using MTB-MLE. Findings revealed that the level of challenges experienced by teachers in teaching using MTB-MLE was categorized as a "moderate problem" with a 2.88% rating. This was mainly due to the difficulty of teaching deeper words in the mother tongue, which made it harder for students to understand. It was also found that the level of teachers' competency in addressing these challenges was "extensive," with a 4.38% rating attributed to the teachers' practice of training students to read materials written in the mother tongue. Overall, the teachers' competency in addressing the challenges of teaching using MTB-MLE was assessed as extensive. Furthermore, there was a very low correlation between teachers' profiles—such as age, grade level taught, and years of teaching experience—and their competency in addressing challenges in teaching using MTB-MLE. Keywords: Level; Mother Tongue-Based-Multilingual Education; Challenges; Competency