Cebuano-Visayan influence in English Language acquisition: Turning challenges into opportunities

Abstract

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Learning a new language is a challenging journey filled with obstacles, but these difficulties can transform into powerful tools, turning you into a highly effective and fluent communicator. In lieu of proposing a learning packet to make this possible, this research investigated the Cebuano-Visayan linguistic interference on the students’ school publication corpora at one of the secondary schools in the Division of Danao City, Academic Year 2023 - 2024. Qualitative content analysis was utilized in this research, which involved comparing the primary language, Cebuano-Visayan, and the second language, English, and analyzing the linguistic interference of the primary language on the 28 written outputs of students. Based on the findings, there is Cebuano-Visayan linguistic interference in the outputs of students in subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, and the use of prepositions, pronouns, and articles. This can be seen through the errors in their sentences. Thus, it is recommended to utilize the learning packet crafted through this study to acknowledge, address, and utilize these linguistic interferences to produce more accurate and coherent English writing, ultimately facilitating clearer communication and academic success.</span></p>