Research Article | Open Access
MOTHER TONGUE AS A MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION AND AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AMONG LEARNERS IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Jenny Rose R. Natividad Analyn D. Saavedra Edilyn A. Jainal Cheryl P. Barredo Sitti Aisha G. Toto Bryan B. Marcial
Pages: 879-866
Abstract
The medium of communication is the language used by the teacher to teach. Teaching the language, or
educational content, through the target language increases the amount of exposure the learner gets to it, and the
opportunities they have to communicate in it, and therefore to develop their control of it. Hence, the Government of
the Philippines has placed high priority on improving literacy and is currently undertaking comprehensive reform
initiatives including curricular reforms and implementation of a Mother-tongue Based Multilingual Education
(MTB-MLE).This study was conducted to determine the perception of the early grade teachers on the Mother
Tongue (Chabacano) as a medium of communication and as an instrument for development among learners in the
early childhood education. This study adopted the descriptive -quantitative method of research using the survey
questionnaire as the main tool in gathering data. It was deemed appropriate for this study because it primarily aims
to find out the perceptions of the 109 K to 12 implementers who are early childhood education teachers in one of the
districts in Zamboanga City, Philippines. The total enumeration system was used in the selection of the respondents.
To answer the research question, the study employed a 5-point Likert type questionnaire – checklist which
comprises of two parts which are validated by experts. The data revealed that the early childhood education teachers
perceived that the Mother Tongue (Chabacano) was used to clearly express their ideas and that it is a good tool for
communication. However, they are undecided as to effectiveness of Mother Tongue to the reading skills,
understanding of grammar and the pupils’ language skills in general. Perhaps, these results were due to fact that not
all early grade pupils in Zamboanga City speak the Mother Tongue (Chabacano). Therefore, this study highly
recommends for the educational sector to consider a language mapping and really use a medium of communication
that will truly be an instrument for the development of learners in the early childhood education.
Keywords
Mother Tongue, Medium of Communication, Early Childhood Education, K to 12 curriculum, Chabacano language, L1, L2, teachers’ perception, medium of instruction