Despite of the persistent global debates on English as the international Lingua frança versus the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction, the issue along MTB-MLE ( Mother Tongue Based- Multi-lingual Education ) has been pedagogically sweeping across the basic elementary curriculum.One major driving force behind this policy is a common belief that elementary students can learn faster and better if they are being instructed by their teachers using their respective dialects which they initially learned at their respective homes. In the Philippines, one mandate in the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum is the introduction of the MTB instruction specifically in the Kindergarten, and grades 1, 2 and 3 to support the goal of every Child – A Reader and A Writer by grade 1. Since language spoken at home helps improve the child’s language and strengthen socio-cultural awareness, teaching materials and assessment shall be in regional or native languages of the bilingual learners. The researcher used questionnaires to obtain the necessary data needed including the respondents’ profile. The data gathered were analyzed and interpreted using statistical tools to arrive at valid findings. Results reveal that teachers’ perceptions on MTBE have significant differences when they were grouped according to their profile. The chi- square test proved that there is no significant relationship between MTB instruction and the pupils’ academic performances. Findings also reveal that one prevailing perception of teachers that inhibit the implementation of MTB-MLE is the deep – seated attitudes about indigenous languages and their suitability along classroom instruction. Hence, this study provides another evidence of the pedagogical implications of the use of mother tongue as one of the mandates of the newly implemented K to 12 curriculum in the Philippine setting
Keywords: Academic performances, Lingua Franca Mother Tongue Based Instruction, Multi-lingual education
