This document provides a contrastive analysis of the Filipino and English languages. It outlines some of the key differences between their phonology, grammar, and syntax. These include differences in vowel and consonant sounds, tense formation, pronouns, word order, stress and intonation. The document then discusses some instructional implications for addressing challenges that may arise for Filipino students learning English from these differences, such as exercises focused on past tense verbs, sentence structure, pronunciation, and engaging multiple learning styles. It emphasizes the importance of understanding contrastive analysis to better support the diverse needs of all English language learners.

1. Contrastive Analysis of Filipino
and English Language
Aidyze Gutierrez

2. “
Is Contrastive Analysis still relevant in
Language Teaching?
2

3. According to Dr. Richards;
The contrastive analysis (CA), states that where the first
language and the target language are similar, learners will
generally acquire structures with ease, and where they are
different, learners will have difficulty.
3

4. CA was based on the related theory of language
transfer: difficulty in second language learning results from
transfer of features of the first language to the second
language.
Transfer (also known as interference) was considered
the main explanation of learners’ errors.
4

5. Teachers were encouraged to spend time on
features of English that were most likely to be affected by
first-language transfer.
Today, transfer is considered only one of many
possible causes of learners’ errors. However, in the 1960s the
contrastive analysis was criticized, as research began to
reveal the second language learners use simple structures’
that are very similar across learners form a variety of
backgrounds, even if their respective first languages are
different from each other and different from the target
languages’ (Lightbown and Spada, 2006)
5

6. 1.
Tagalog Background

7. Tagalog Background
7
Tagalog pronounced (ta-GA-log) serves as the basis of the
Filipino language, the national language of the Philippines.
The two languages are basically identical. However, there
is a significant political and social history that underlies the
reasons for differentiating between Tagalog and Filipino.
The current constitution of the Philippines maintains that
Filipino is the country’s national language. Today, Filipino is
considered the proper term for the language of the Philippines,
especially by Filipino- speakers who are not Tagalog origin.

8. Many Filipino-speakers acknowledge Filipino’s roots
by referring to the Filipino language as “Tagalog-based.”
8

9. 2.
Filipino vs. English
Language

10. English and Tagalog Comparison
English
- Five vowels: a, e, i, o, u
short and long sounds
- 21 consonant sounds, 9
English consonants do not
occur in Tagalog: /v/ , /j/,
/z/, voiced and voiceless
th, sh, dz, ch, z.
- Language is written to left
to right
10
Tagalog
- Five vowel sounds; a, e, i, o,
u, all short, long vowels are
nonexistent
- 16 consonant sound -
b,d,k,g,h,l,m,ng,p,r,s,t,w
and y. The consonants have
only one sound each most
notably the g always
pronounced as the hard g,
never soft.
- Language is written left to
right

11. English
- Present, past, future tense,
and there are several
different forms of these
tenses
- English has linking verbs
like: am, is, are, was, were
- English words are not
always pronounced the
same way it is spelled.
Tagalog
- Almost all verbs are
regular tense.
- No auxiliary or linking
verb
- Highly phonetic
language, most words are
spelled like they sound.
English and Tagalog Comparison
11

12. English
- Pronouns indicate
gender: he, she, we,
they, his, her, us
- Nouns do not require
an article
- Plurals are made by
adding “s” or “es”
Tagalog
- Pronouns do not indicate
gender. Siya means he or she
- All nouns, even proper nouns
require an article.
- The plural word is preceded
by “mga” i.e “mga apple”
means apples and “the
child” would be “ang
bata”; “the children”
would be “ang mga bata”
English and Tagalog Comparison
12

13. English
- Sentence structure is
SVO
- Focus is placed by voice,
important words are
emphasized
- Three degrees of
adjectives
Tagalog
- Sentence structure is
usually VSO
- Focus of the sentence is
done by placing a marker
in front of the word that
is the focus. Marker come
before a noun. Ang, ng
and sa are markers.
- Three degrees of
adjectives
English and Tagalog Comparison
13

14. In Tagalog, verbs start with verb roots. To create
tenses, an affix is added to the root. To make verb future tense,
the first two letters are repeated.
Example:
- The verb jump is “talon”. Future tense is “tatalon” the t and
a is repeated.
- To turn a verb to past tense, insert “um” between the first
and second letter of the word. Past tense of talon is
tumalon.
14

15. - To turn a verb into present tense, combine the future and
past tense rules. Repeat the first two letters, and then add
“um” between them. The present tense of talon is
tumatalon.
15

16. Instructional Implications
Addressing past tense difficulties:
- Have students tell you what they did the night before
- Have students tell you about a TV show they watched
- Have students fill in correct past tense verbs in sentences
- Give students sentence starters like “Last night …. Or Yesterday…
- Show students pictures and have them write sentence in past
tense
- Use tongue twisters such as: Swan swam over the sea. Swim,
swam, swim! Swan swam back again. Well swum, swam!
16

17. The word order in Tagalog is different in English.
Example:
In English one would say “The house is
beautiful.” which is translated into Tagalog as
“Maganda ang bahay.” which literally means
“Beautiful the house.”
17

18. Instructional Implications
Sentence structure difficulty:
- Write individual words on index cards representing various parts
of speech
- Color code each part of speech the same color
- Start with simple sentences
- Work collaboratively to build sentences by picking words from
idex cards.
18

19. Tagalog usually stresses the last syllable. It also
uses glottal stop which can be stressed. The diacritical
marks are used to show which vowel should be stressed
and which vowel should be accompanied with the glottal
stop and which should be the combination of both stress
and the glottal stop.
This is very important because the meaning of a
word can be change if you don’t make the stress or
glottal stop correctly.
19

20. Example:
Suka - vomit
Sukà - vinegar
Baga - live charcoal
Bagà - lungs
20

21. Instructional Implications
- Introduce IPA
To capture accents by showing students how a word should be
pronounced. Students would not have to depend on hearing the words
to learn them.
- Cooperative Learning Groups
To build confidence with speaking
- Read stories that are familiar to students
21

22. “
Whether we as teachers have an ESL class, a special
needs class, or a regular population class, it is important to meet
the diverse needs of all students. Activities must be geared to all
learning modality styles.
22

23. 23
Thank you !
Contrastive Analysis of English and Filipino | PDF | English Language |
Grammatical Tense (scribd.com)

24. 24
OUTPUT
1. Do you think having knowledge about
contrastive analysis can help you
design learning materials which will
address the problems you mentioned
in your Activity 1? Why or why not?
(Answer should be between 500 –
600 words)
2. Create a 3-minute video summarizing
your position/stand mentioned in item 1
and post it in our FB page group.