ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MOTHER TONGUE-BASED MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION FOR ENHANCING EARLY LITERACY DEVELOPMENT AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study evaluated the assessment of the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) in promoting early literacy of primary school pupils in Anambra State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study.  The study adopted a descriptive survey study design. The population consists of 30,000 public primary school teachers and 76,612 private primary school teachers.  The sample size comprised of 367 teachers, 260 private school teachers and 107 public school teachers in the 17 schools in six local government areas which was selected through a multi-stage sampling process. Questionnaire items constructed by the researcher titled Assessment of the Implementation of Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education in Promoting Early Literacy Development of Primary School Pupils was used (AIMTBMEPELD). The reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach's alpha which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.71, 0.94, and 0.62 with an overall coefficient of 0.75 which shows that the instrument was reliable. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The language of the child’s immediate environment was used in instructional and assessment delivery in public primary school classrooms, but was not used in private school classrooms in primary schools in Anambra State.  Findings showed that there were significant differences in the sectors: public schools use mother tongue (Igbo) to teach and provide learning materials, but the opposite is the case in private schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Ministry of education in Anambra state must enforce the application of the mother tongue (Igbo) as the first three-year primary education medium of instruction both in the public and non-public schools in order to enforce equality in the acquisition of literacy Findings also revealed that the instructional materials (textbooks and workbooks) developed with the language of the child’s immediate environment were used in teaching in public primary school classrooms, but were not used in teaching in private primary schools in Anambra State. It was further revealed that teachers in public primary schools were trained in the use of mother tongue for instructional delivery while those in private primary schools in Anambra state were not trained.