Abstract:
The current study investigated how Sesotho speakers of English as a second language
perceived English vowel sounds. It also investigated how first language (Sesotho) interfered
in the perception of English vowels and the effects of failure to perceive the vowels correctly.
The study followed a quantitative approach because the data and it analysis was in numerical
form. The population was the high school learners of Nyakosoba Harmony High School and
Moruthane A.M.E High School. The study opted for stratified random sampling strategy
because the population of interest was the grade 8 and 9 learners. The study sampled 53
participants who were boys and girl ages between 13 and 17. A native English speaker’s
voice was used to investigate how L2 speakers perceive English vowels uttered with a native
English accent. This study discovered that Sesotho speakers have a problem of perceiving
English vowels because they perceived various vowel sounds for each vowel sound uttered.
In some cases, they perceived consonant sounds in place of vowel sounds. The study also
found out that learners’ L1 interferes with the perception of English vowel sounds. Lastly, it
revealed the effects of perceiving the uttered vowel sounds incorrectly
