THE USE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN INSTRUCTION: PUPILS’ PERFORMANCE ACROSS THE YEARS

Abstract

Language contributes to the meaningful and participative learning environment for children. thus the main purpose of this study is to determine the pupils' performance using the mother tongue as medium of instruction for the three consecutive academic years starting 2015-2016, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 in the Division of La Carlota City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Specifically, it determines the perceived effects of using mother tongue to the pupils' performance as assessed by their teachers; and the challenges encountered by the teachers in using the mother tongue in delivering the instruction. This study used mixed methods in gathering the data. In the quantitative approach, documents of 27 pupils analyzed using the mean percentage scores to determine their performance in various subjects with the mother tongue as medium of instruction. In qualitative, ten teacher participants who are the implementers of the native language were involved in a focus group discussion (FGD). The findings showed that improvement in pupils' cognitive, motor skills, and affective ability observed for three consecutive years of the implementation of the mother tongue. Teachers' general views of challenges were lack of instructional materials in the teaching mother tongue, lack of translated terms, and programmed training. Nevertheless, these did not hinder them from delivering quality instruction. It recommended that higher education must strengthen its curriculum in primary school to produce resourceful, innovative, and well-rounded teachers in teachin gmother-tongue. Keywords: