Are IMs Culturally Relevant” A Critical Analysis of the Instructional Materials Used in Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Program

Instructional materials (IMs) play a very important role for successful teaching and learning. As such, they must be culturally relevant; that is, they reflect and accommodate cultural plurality in order to support student learning in diverse classrooms. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the cultural relevance of the instructional materials used by elementary teachers in the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) Program. It made use of the descriptive survey and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as methods in examining critically the instructional materials commonly used in teaching mother tongue. Findings of this study revealed that instructional materials used by teachers in teaching the mother tongue subject are not culturally relevant as inconsistencies exist on the cultural messages contained in them. Thus, this study is very helpful as it serves as guide to DepEd officials and most especially to teachers in the making of localized and culturally relevant instructional materials as these greatly help concretize students’ learning experiences inside the classrooms. Furthermore, it also encourages the Department of Education to provide enough instructional materials to teachers as scarcity of material resources becomes a major reason why instructional materials become culturally irrelevant. Lastly, it also suggests that teachers must be regularly sent to trainings and seminars to equip them with the knowledge and skills needed in the production of localized and culturally meaningful instructional materials in their classrooms.

Keywords – cultural relevance, instructional materials (IMs), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)