Challenges and Approaches in Teaching Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education of Non-Chavacano Pre-service Teachers

Employing a qualitative-phenomenological research design, this study determined the challenges faced by non-Chavacano Pre-Service teachers in teaching Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. A researcher-made interview questions were utilized in gathering the data of this study through one-on-one interview to the participants which involved ten (10) non-Chavacano Pre-service teachers who shared their lived experiences in teaching MTB MLE. The study revealed that the challenges faced were (1) difficulty in language terms, (2) language barrier and (3) negative impact on performance which is summarized to one theme: ineffective instruction. To become effective teacher who teaches MTB MLE in the future while being a non-native speaker of the mother tongue of Zamboanga City, the respondents revealed the approaches to address the challenges they faced: language reinforcement—from (1) asking help from their co-PSTs and their mentors, (2) code switching native language to English and Filipino, and (3) learning the language itself. The prevalence of challenges faced in teaching MTB MLE pose a warning and a motivation for future non-native PSTs to start learning the mother tongue of the place they would be assigned to teach and to learn the other languages prescribed by the Department of Education.