Cebu International EFL Conference

Abstract of Paper

Author
Noel B. Manarpiis
Cavite State University – Silang Campus
Silang, Cavite, Philippines

Title
Assessment of Vowel and Consonant Sounds Produced In English by Filipino Tertiary Students

Ten college-level respondents aged between 16 and late 20s were assessed of their English vowel and consonant sounds produced or not produced. Most of these respondents are native-Tagalog speakers living in the Southern Tagalog province of Cavite. Their attitude towards English ranged from generally fair to negative and most of them had reservations towards English as a language used in the classroom.
Four months were spent coaching, testing, and teaching correct English pronunciation of words in phrases and sentences using series of tests composed of memorization and recitation of a given discourse, watching movies, singing popular music, reading aloud poems and using monitored and free conversations – all in English, with the IPA Chart used to gauge their improvement. A pre-test was used to diagnose their pronunciation skills. A post-test was conducted to check their improvement in consonant and vowel sounds.

The respondents:

The researcher concluded that the students’ errors were not at all corrected. Hence, as they had been exposed to English since the elementary, it can thus be said that they produced errors and not mere mistakes.