Challenges Teachers Face When Applying Mother Tongue Based Multilingual (Mtb-Mle) Education Strategies in Lower Grades of Chongwe District

Abstract

This study investigated the challenges teachers face when employing Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) strategies in Primary schools in Chongwe District. Zambia is a multilingual, multi-ethnic state whose sociolinguistic landscape has been shaped to a large extent by historical factors of migration and colonialism. The nation’s population is about 20 million people, and comprises of an amazing 72 ethnic groups, most of which are Bantu-speaking. The study was guided by Ruiz’s three language orientation theory which investigated language teaching and learning from the standpoint of language as a right, language as a problem and language as a resource. A descriptive research design was adopted and qualitative research approach through focus group discussions, classroom lesson observations and document analysis were used. The sample size included thirty teachers and learners of Primary school from ten schools of Chongwe District. For sampling and data analysis, the study made use of purposive sampling to select schools and teachers and used thematic analysis to analyse the data. The findings of the study revealed that significant challenges are found to have been faced by teachers when applying MTB-MLE including inadequate materials, concepts that are too difficult to be interpreted into the mother tongue, time consuming and high teacher-pupil ratio. Therefore, the study recommends that Curriculum Development Center should capacity build teachers to be able to design materials in Zambian languages that can be used in multilingual classrooms. Since by using the MTB-MLE strategies in multilingual contexts, the problem of the learners not familiar with the Language of Instruction (LOI) will be addressed, it may enable learners to breakthrough to literacy quickly and efficiently.