Contrastive Analysis of

Filipino and English

Language
Aidyze Gutierrez
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Is Contrastive Analysis still relevant in
Language Teaching?

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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.

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 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.

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 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 may possible causes of
learners’ errors. However, in the 1060s 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)

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 1.
Tagalog Background
 Tagalog Background

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.

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

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 2.
Filipino vs. English
Language
 English and Tagalog Comparison
English Tagalog
- Five vowels: a, e, i, o, u short - Five vowel sounds; a, e, i, o, u,
and long sounds all short, long vowels are
- 21 consonant sounds, 9 english nonexistent
consonants do not occur in - 16 consonant sound -
Tagalog: /v/ , /j/, /z/, voiced and b,d,k,g,h,l,m,ng,p,r,s,t,w and y.
voiceless th, sh, dz, ch, z. The consonants have only one
- sound each most notably the g
Language is written to left to
always pronounced as the hard
right
g, never soft.
- Language is written left to right

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

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 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.

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- 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.

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 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!

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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.”

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 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.

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 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.

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Example:
Suka - vomit
Sukà - vinegar

Baga - live charcoal

Bagà - lungs

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 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

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 “
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.

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Thank you !

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