Experiences of Parents in Home-Based Remote Teaching Using the Mother Tongue

Abstract

The use of mother tongue (MT) as medium of instruction (MOI) and teaching it to the early grades, specifically Kindergarten to Grade 3, are one of the provisions of Mother Tongue Based-Multilingual Education as part of the provisions of the K to 12 Basic Education Program in the Philippines. Since its official implementation in school year (SY) 2012-2013, benefits and challenges have been evident in studies conducted related to its execution. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) greatly affected all aspects of our lives, including the education system, during the last months of SY 2019-2020. The Department of Education (DepEd) had to administer remote teaching by providing modules to learners, and had their parents teach them at home. Hence, MTB-MLE instruction continued at home. There are still limited studies and literature on how parents teach their children the MT and using it as MOI during the pandemic. This study aimed to document parents’ experiences in home-based remote teaching using the mother tongue at home. The research questions are: 1) What were the parents’ experiences in teaching the MT and using it as MOI during emergency remote teaching and learning setup?; 2) What strategies and techniques related to teaching the MT and using the MT as MOI did the parents use in teaching their children? and 3) What did the parents consider as benefits and challenges in teaching children the MT and using the MT MOI at home? The study used a qualitative approach which employed a multiple case study of four parents who had children studying in Kindergarten to Grade 3 under the MTB-MLE program. Parents who represented contrasting and varied cases based on their profiles were selected. The instruments used in this study were: a survey questionnaire, interview guides and observation sheets. Data gathered were from interviews of participants and recorded videos of their teaching sessions with their children at home. They were analyzed through inductive and thematic analysis. The first research question on the experiences of parents in teaching the MT and using it as MOI was answered through a thematic analysis of their answers in the interviews. Five themes were generated as common experiences of the participants. These themes were: (1) difficulty and dissatisfaction in using Cebuano MT as MOI, (2) use of languages other than the Cebuano MT, (3) misconception that using Cebuano MT would be easy, (4) resourcefulness in providing Cebuano Materials, (5) use of strategies and techniques in teaching Cebuano and (6) realization that children did not know much Cebuano MT. Unique experiences were also identified for each case. For strategies and techniques that the parents used, data from the recorded videos have shown strategies applying the following methods: Total Physical Response, Discovery Learning, Task-based Language Teaching, Content and Language Integrated Learning, Direct Method, and Audiolingual Method. Nine techniques were also used by the parents such as using the MT as MOI; using Filipino or English to explain the MT; utilizing of non-verbal techniques; using conversational; showing affection and empathy in teaching using the MT; and using appropriate physical set-up, writing tools and digital or electronic learning tools. Benefits and challenges in teaching the MT and using it as MOI at home were found similar to the recorded advantages and disadvantages when this was implemented by teachers in the classrooms. The parents’ benefits were: (1) use of the MT in teaching felt natural, (2) improvement in children’s Cebuano Skills and (3) children’s developed interest in the Cebuano MT. Challenges revealed were: explaining unfamiliar or difficult words, parents’ prejudice against the Cebuano MT or preference for English, absence or lack of teaching training background, and insufficient materials in Cebuano.