Influences on Teachers’ Use of the Prescribed Language of Instruction: Evidence from Four Language Groups in the Philippines

In 2009 the Philippines introduced a mother tongue-based multilingual education language policy requiring “mother tongue” as of instruction (LOI) in kindergarten through grade 3. Using teacher classroom data collected from four LOI groups 2019, we compared frequency teachers’ use target different contexts, including urban versus rural classrooms, classrooms with relatively homogeneous student backgrounds more heterogeneous and materials without. We also examined usage against characteristics populations, background, years experience, training, beliefs about best for initial literacy. The results strongly suggest that most influential levers increasing designated these contexts are ensuring teachers assigned to schools where matches their own first providing teaching learning LOI, especially teacher’s guides. These two factors were consistently correlated than all other variables examined. linguistic homogeneity population showed statistically significant though lower impact on usage.