Language and Literacy Transition Model: The Case of Marinduque Tagalog

The Department of Education has introduced mother tongue for K to 3 learners as a subject and medium of instruction in all subjects, with separate subjects in Filipino and English. For Tagalog-speaking regions like Marinduque, the subject in Filipino seems a repetition of lessons in mother tongue, and this led the study to describetheteachers’ views on MTB/MLE as medium of instruction and as a separate subject, and theirpractices as regards the implementation of MTB/MLE policy; and describethepupils’ language experiences and performance under the MTB/MLE instruction. With 90 teachers participating in this quantitative-qualitative research design followingthe case study method,the study found how the teachers’ negative perceptionsand feelingsabout theMTB-MLE policyas a separate subject in Tagalog-speaking province/s (like Marinduque)and how the learners performed in national achievement tests (NAT) led to the design of MTB-MLE language and literacy transition model proposed in the study which suggests that Tagalog and Filipino could be introduced as one, as the first language (L1) of pupils in Tagalog-speaking provinces like Marinduque transitioned toEnglish as their second language (L2) different from what is suggested in the current policy that Tagalog and Filipinoare introduced separately as L1and L2 transitioned to English as L3. It is recommended that more research be conductedin other Tagalog-speaking regions, and non-Tagalog speaking regions as well, for implementation revisions or policy formulation on MTB/MLEinstruction and Filipino language learning.