Results and Implications of a Study of Fidelity of Implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Policy in the Philippines

• In Event: Fidelity of implementation as a research tool for improving education: lessons from the Philippines, Ecuador and Guatemala

Proposal

This presentation will share the results and implications of a recent study on fidelity of implementation of the language of instruction policy in the Philippines. In 2009 the Philippines Department of Education issued Order No. 74 calling for the use of the learners’ mother tongue (MT) as the main medium of teaching and learning (MoTL) in kindergarten through grade 3. The policy introduces Filipino and English as additional languages of instruction, gradually increasing their usage until they take over as the primary MoTL in grade 4. Successfully navigating students through three languages in the early grades is a daunting task. Building on previous studies of MTB-MLE policy implementation in the Philippines, this study examined how teacher assignment, class sectioning (grouping learners by MT), materials provisioning and usage, and teachers’ language usage in the classroom currently conforms to or diverges from the policy, especially across locations with different contextual factors. It also looked at the factors associated with higher implementation. The study was not intended to evaluate the MTB-MLE policy itself but rather to provide insight into the factors that influence policy implementation and outcomes in different settings.

The data were collected using timed classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and a classroom inventory of materials in 638 kindergarten through grade 3 classrooms in a representative sample of schools from four different MT groups.

The study found overall high teacher fidelity to policy in with regard to the usage of the prescribed MoTL by grade and subject, as well as generally high teacher comfort levels in the school MT. It found mixed results on the implementation of linguistically homogeneous class sectioning, and low provision of student textbooks in any language, and these were among the factors related to the degree of implementation of the policy with regard to teacher language usage. Teachers tended to use the MT at the prescribed time more often when:
• the school MT matched their own MT and/or when they felt highly comfortable in the MT;
• their student populations were more linguistically homogeneous;
• their students possessed textbooks written in the MT; and
• they believed that the best language for initial literacy acquisition was the MT.
Therefore, education stakeholders could potentially increase fidelity of policy implementation by targeting those levers. At the same time, stakeholders need to reckon with the very real factors that conspire against implementation, including the ideological objections and logistical constraints.

The results of this study have implications for the process of setting and enforcing LOI policy both in the Philippines as well as in other contexts. It highlights the importance of examining fidelity of policy implementation in order to better understand what makes a policy work well, or less well, and possibly how to refine either the policy itself or the approaches used to ensuring implementation.

References

Burton, L. A. (2013). Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in the Philippines: Studying Top-Down Policy Implementation from the Bottom Up. (Doctoral dissertation). University of Minnesota. Retrieved from https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/152603/Burton_umn_0130E_13632.pdf
Metila, R., Pradilla, L., & Williams, A. (2016). Investigating best practice in Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines, Phase 2 progress report: Patterns of challenges and strategies in the implementation of mother tongue as medium of instruction in the early years: A nationwide study. Report prepared for Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Philippine Department of Education. Melbourne and Manila: Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre.
Metila, R., Pradilla, L. A., & Williams, A. (2017). Investigating best practice in Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in the Philippines, Phase 3 progress report: Strategies of exemplar schools. Report prepared for Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Philippine Department of Education. Melbourne and Manila: Assessment, Curriculum and Technology Research Centre.
Parba, J. (2018). Teachers’ shifting language ideologies and teaching practices in Philippine mother tongue classrooms. Linguistics and Education, 47, 27-35.
Republic of the Philippines Department of Education (2009). Order No. 74 Institutionalizing Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education. Retrieved from https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DO_s2009_74.pdf

Author

• Karon Harden, RTI International