Factors Contributing To The Sub-Standard English Pronunciation of The Senior Students of The English Department of Maranatha Christian University.

(1)

ii

Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Penelitian ini bermula saat saya menyadari bahwa masih banyak mahasiswa/i Fakultas Sastra Jurusan Sastra Inggris yang masih saja memiliki kecenderungan untuk melafalkan bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris dengan aksen bunyi bahasa Indonesia. Hal ini membuat saya mengadakan penelitian yang bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris manakah yang sulit bagi orang Indonesia dan juga mengetahui motivasi mereka dalam mempelajari English pronunciation.

Dari temuan penelitian ini, dapat disimpulkan bahwa kesulitan utama responden terletak pada perbedaan system yang dimiliki bahasa Inggris dan bahasa Indonesia. Perbedaan tersebut terletak pada dua hal, yaitu pada bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris yang absen di bahasa Indonesia dan bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris yang mirip, tetapi tidak sama dengan bunyi-bunyi bahasa Indonesia. Bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris yang absen dapat berupa bunyi yang sama sekali tidak ada dalam bahasa Indonesia (absent phoneme), bunyi yang diartikulasikan sama persis di kedua bahasa namun memiliki perbedaan alofon maupun perbedaan posisi distribusi. Para responden cenderung mensubstitusi bunyi-bunyi yang berbeda itu dengan bunyi bahasa Indonesia yang terdengar mirip.

(3)

iv

Maranatha Christian University berdasarkan pada intelegensi responden, tetapi juga pada motivasi yang dimiliki responden.

Hasil dari penelitian ini menyatakan bahwa ada banyak faktor motivasi yang dapat mempengaruhi kesalahan responden dalam melafalkan bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris, yaitu: 1. mereka menganggap pelajaran pronunciation tidak menyenangkan

2. mereka tidak memperhatikan pelafalan mereka

3. mereka hanya ingin memiliki kemampuan berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Inggris sekedarnya saja.

4. tidak tertantang untuk memiliki pelafalan yang bagus dan standar

5. tidak percaya diri dengan kemampuan mereka dalam melafalkan bunyi-bunyi bahasa Inggris

6. tidak adanya keinginan untuk pindah ke luar negeri di masa yang akan datang 7. mereka menganggap kemampuan mereka dalam berrbahasa Inggris

(4)

5

(5)

QUESTIONNAIRES

2010

50

Write the letter A for agree, N for neutral or D for disagree besides each following statement.

1. I have Indonesian as my mother tongue.

2. I have been learning English for more than 10 years. 3. I learn English in school only.

4. I am interested in learning English pronunciation.

5. I think learning English pronunciation (RP) is a good thing to do. 6. I think learning standard E. pronunciation (RP) is enjoyable for me. 7. I am satisfied when I can sound like a native English speaker. 8. I feel challenged to sound like a native English speaker. 9. Standard English pronunciation (RP) is important to learn. 10.I think Indonesian English speakers have poor E. pronunciation. 11.I am concerned with my pronunciation when I speak English. 12.I feel confident with my E. pronunciation.

13.I have sufficient training in learning standard E. pronunciation (RP) up to my senior high school.

14.I see a big difference in my RP E. pronunciation and the native speakers. 15.It is not important to sound like native speakers as long as my speech is

communicatively acceptable.

16.During class, I tend to pronounce English with Indonesian accent in order to avoid standing out by sounding like an English native speaker.

17.The main reason I learn the standard E. pronunciation (RP) is to pass examinations.

18.I think improving my E. pronunciation to meet the standard E. pronunciation (RP) will have financial benefits for me.

19.I learn the standard E. pronunciation (RP) because I want to immigrate to an English-speaking country in the future.

20.I want to do well in my E. pronunciation class because it is important to show my ability to my family/friends/supervisors/parents to make them feel happy about it. 21.I think learning the standard E. pronunciation (RP) can be important for me

(6)

QUESTIONNAIRES

2010

51

22.It is important for me to perform better than other students in my E. pronunciation class.

23.I am interested in learning E. culture.

24.I would like to make foreign (English) friends.

25.I am learning the standard E. pronunciation because I can communicate more easily with foreigners (esp. English).

26.I try to have time to talk with native speaker.

(7)

(8)

(9)

1

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Having learned English −including English pronunciation− for several years,

many undergraduate Indonesian students of English as a foreign language (EFL) seem

to stay unable to produce standard English sounds. This reality can be observed in the

pronunciation of the senior students of the English Department in the research site. As

they have been learning English pronunciation for at least three years since their first

semester in the English Department, they are expected to pronounce English words

appropriately. However, many of them seem not to be aware with their sub-standard

pronunciation. As a matter of fact, besides having gained knowledge and skills of

English pronunciation in the Pronunciation class, the students have learned things

relevant to pronunciation, such as when practicing speaking in conversation classes.

Although learning English pronunciation is not the same as learning English speaking

in the conversation classes, pronunciation is evidently a part of speaking. The

lecturers in conversation classes must have helped improve the students’ English

pronunciation by correcting their sub-standard pronunciation when they are speaking.

Thus, these students seem to have no reason to maintain their sub-standard English

(10)

2

Maranatha Christian University English pronunciation correctly leads to an opinion that these students will go on

having this problem even after they have graduated.

The sub-standard English pronunciation of the English Department students is

interesting to investigate because this poor fact is against the purpose of the teaching

and learning English at the English Department. The Pronunciation class and other

related classes are meant to provide students with knowledge and skills that can

support their oral English communication. Having sufficient skills in English

pronunciation will make graduates more appreciated in the job market as it becomes a

general knowledge that almost all companies require their applicants to be fluent in

oral English. Besides, fluency in oral English may also make them communicate more

easily with foreigners, particularly when they study abroad. Since the English

Department students are chosen to be the data source of this study, they are not only

expected just to be fluent in oral English communication but also to have good

English pronunciation.

I choose this particular topic because I am concerned with the fact that many

senior students in the English Department still produce sub-standard English sounds.

Students with the Indonesian mother tongue are chosen to be the data source of this

study because the study is expected to be more feasible than the one using students

with a vernacular mother tongue as respondents. In fact, I do not master any

vernacular language and the literature of vernacular languages is also rare.

In second language (L2) learning, there is a strong assumption that most of the

difficulties faced by an L2 learner are imposed by his or her first language (Ellis 6). It

is assumed that where there are differences between the first language (L1) and the

second language (L2), the learner’s L1 knowledge will interfere with the L2, and

(11)

3

Maranatha Christian University process is called language transfer. There are two kinds of language transfer, positive

transfer and negative transfer (interference).

The interference of the Indonesian sound production system may cause

pronunciation problems for the Indonesian speakers when they try to produce English

sounds. Some English sounds, especially those that are similar to Indonesian sounds

and that are absent in Indonesian sound production system, may be problematic to the

Indonesian speakers. The absent sounds include allophone differences, absent

phonemes and different concepts of long and short vowels in English and Indonesian.

Therefore, I attempt to find out the difficulties that the students have in producing

English sounds with phonological accuracy according to the Received Pronunciation

(RP) standard, as described in Daniel Jones’ English Pronouncing Dictionary 17th

Edition.

RP is also called the Queen's (or King's) English, Oxford English, or BBC

English, which is used by people speaking Standard British English. RP refers to a

form of pronunciation, rather than a dialect, which is known as the use of a particular

variety of vocabulary and grammar as well as pronunciation. Anyone using the RP

will typically speak Standard British English (Burrel 27).

In the research site, I have not been the first to choose pronunciation as the

topic of a study. However, apart from investigating the students’ sub-standard English

pronunciation, I also attempt to reveal the students’ motivation in improving their

pronunciation. So far, in this university, there have been only two students who have

conducted a study concerning problems in producing standard English sounds. The

first study is not quite relevant with this one because it focuses on examining the

(12)

4

Maranatha Christian University this study except that it did not discuss how motivation had influenced the student’s

sub-standard English pronunciation like what I am doing now.

My study belongs to applied linguistics, specifically second language

acquisition, and the analyses are descriptive. The first theory applied in this study is

concerned with English and Indonesian sound systems. I attempt to find out how

Indonesian sound system has interfered with the production of the students’

sub-standard English pronunciation. I use RP as the sub-standard English pronunciation

because in the research site, the pronunciation classes are based on RP. I use all of the

English sounds to test the students’ pronunciation; however, only the most

problematic sub-standard English sounds, which are produced by more than 40 % (>

2) of the students, will be discussed in this thesis because I think it has already been

considered as problematic if more than two out of five students fail to produce the

English sounds. This study deals with individual sounds, so individual English words

are used to test the students’ pronunciation.

Another theory that I use in this study is the theory of motivation in learning

SLA. I choose this theory because it has been widely accepted by both teachers and

researchers as one of the key factors that influence the success of second or foreign

language learning. Motivation is a component that can change comparatively fast and

can be altered by the learner himself according to the learner’s goal of learning a

second language. Therefore, a more motivated learner will put more efforts in his or

her studies. He will be open to do extra work in order to improve his language skills,

spend more time for studying the language and even deal with the subject on a

subconscious level. However, learner’s motivation can be influenced by many factors.

(13)

5

Maranatha Christian University pronunciation. In this study, I intend to find out the motivation factors that may have

contributed to the production of the students’ sub-standard English sounds.

I choose five seventh semester students of the English Department of

Maranatha Christian University as the respondents of this study, particularly because

they have the Indonesian mother tongue. I choose only five students because students

with the Indonesian mother tongue are much fewer than those with a vernacular

mother tongue.

This study is expected to contribute to the teaching of standard English

pronunciation not only in the English Department of Maranatha Christian University

but also in general English classes in Indonesia. I hope this study will also provide

necessary information about Indonesian students’ difficulties in pronouncing English

sounds appropriately. Moreover, the findings of this study can be used by English

teachers in Indonesia as a springboard for improving their methods of teaching

standard English pronunciation. By putting more emphasis on the problematic English

sounds, teachers may help the students improve their sub-standard English

pronunciation. Besides, this study can inspire other students to conduct studies on

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

This study analyzes the most problematic sub-standard English sounds

produced by Indonesian senior students of an English Department. Having examined

the students’ sub-standard pronunciation, I find that the students’ L1 has influenced

their L2 pronunciation. The differences between the L1 and L2 sound production

systems seem to influence the students in producing the standard English sounds.

This study has identified the areas of differences between L1 and L2 sound

systems. The findings show that the students’ L1 does interfere with the production of

the L2 sounds which are absent in the L1 system, such as [_],

̊andIn addition, it also interferes withL2 sounds that are

similar to L1 sounds, such as and [].

In their efforts to produce the above-mentioned sounds, the students have

replaced those sounds with sounds which are available in their L1 sound system. In

the case of allophone differences, for example, the students pronounce [_]_without

aspiration since there is no aspirated sounds in their L1 sound system. Moreover,

(17)

35

Maranatha Christian University ̊for example in the pronunciation of the wordfrog /̊,the students follow the

phonetic rule of their L1 and pronounce this sound as an unaspirated ˃In the case

of similar sounds, the students replace and [] with [Ƒ] and because these L1

sounds have an auditory effect similar to the auditory effect of the L2 sounds.

Therefore, the sounds are easier for them to articulate. The example for the

substitution of these sounds are as in the mispronunciation of the word cheap ]

as ] and danger [] as *[Ƒ].

From the findings, I find that the most problematic L2 sounds for the students

are andFour of them (80%) fail to produce  andwith IPA standard.

This problem happens probably because of the influence of their L1, which has

neither voiced labio-dental sound nor palatal fricative sound in its sound production

system. In the case of  the students pronounce another sound that has a similar

auditory effect to it, namely voiceless labio-dental fricative . Furthermore, the

sub-standard pronunciation occurs probably for the reason that in the Indonesian language,

represents both phonemes  and  The same problem also goes for The

problem may happen because there is no palatal fricative sound in their L1 sound

system. The fact that there is no or any sound similar to it in their L1 has made the

students choose another sound,  or [Ƒ], which are the closest sound to  and

, and which they can pronounce more easily.

In addition to analyzing the data by using some theories of L1 and L2 sound

production systems, this study uses Ellis’ and Schmidt’s motivation theories to reveal

(18)

36

that the students’ motivation and the students’ attitude towards the learning of the

standard English pronunciation play important factors in the production of their

sub-standard English sounds.

In view of the students’ intrinsic motivation of learning standard English

pronunciation, the production of their sub-standard English sounds may due to the

fact that (a) they think that it is not enjoyable for them to perform standard English

pronunciation as they are not used to it; (b) they do not feel challenged to improve

their English pronunciation so that they have no pleasure in themselves to prove that

they are capable of pronouncing English sounds like native speakers; (c) they just

want to have a communicatively acceptable English pronunciation; (d) they have little

concern and little confident in pronouncing English sounds and (e) they are having

pressure from their peers.

The difficulty in training the students’ speech organs to produce foreign

sounds can be the reason for them not to enjoy learning the standard English sounds.

In addition, feeling less challenged in sounding like native speakers leads to an

opinion that the motivation of learning the standard English pronunciation does not

come from their inner desire. It can be seen from the students’ feeling that they feel

no pleasure in learning to pronounce native-like sounds. Moreover, it is interesting

that even though the students state that it is important to learn the standard English

pronunciation (RP), they are not concerned with their pronunciation when they

produce English sounds. Accordingly, they are not aware that inaccurate

pronunciation may obscure the message they want to send. The reason for this

problem can be that they have little confident with their English pronunciation.

(19)

37

recognition of the big difference between the students’ pronunciation and that of the

native speakers are pointed out to be the reasons behind the students’ little confidence.

Moreover, the existence of peer pressure among the students can delay students from

acquiring pronunciation accuracy. Therefore, the production of the students’

sub-standard English pronunciation can be influenced by the students’ intrinsic

motivation.

From the findings, I find that the majority of the respondents are

low-motivated learners. With respect to the students’ instrumental motivation, rewards,

such as good grades, also no desire to move to an English-speaking country in the

future seem to be the contributing factors that influence the production of the

students’ sub-standard English pronunciation. The students’ motivation of learning

the standard English pronunciation can be limited to achieving their minimal goal,

which is passing the examination. Probably, once the students find that their

pronunciation is communicatively acceptable, they may be going to stop learning. In

addition, they also think that having standard English pronunciation will give no

influence in getting a better job with a better salary. As a result, they may do less

effort in improving their English pronunciation.

Concerning the students’ extrinsic motivation, less competitiveness seems to

be the main factor that contributes to the production of the students’ sub-standard

English pronunciation.

Not having any time to make interactions with native speakers can be the

integrative motivation factor that may contribute to the production of the students’

sub-standard English sounds. As a result, they have less amount of exposure to

(20)

38

need to try hard to practice speaking with native speakers of English in order to

improve their own pronunciation. Unfortunately, native speakers of English are

scarcely found in the students’ environment.

In conclusion to the students’ motivation, I found that one student can have

more than one type of motivation at the same time. He or she can be motivated

instrumentally and integratively, intrinsically and extrinsically, intrinsically and

integratively, extrinsically and instrumentally or etc. at the same time.

This study is expected to be the prelude of an extensive study of analyzing all

the L2 sounds, not only the problematic ones as I did. The aim of this study is to find

the difficulties that Indonesian learners might face in learning and acquiring standard

English pronunciation. The research results are therefore can be contributed to the

improvement of the English pronunciation teaching method in Indonesia.

In my opinion, the importance of the teaching of the standard English

pronunciation will be dependent on the aim of the English teaching. If someone learns

English just to communicate with others, they do not really have to concern about

their phonological accuracy. On the other hand, if someone learns English to gain a

proper ability to teach others, or to gain something valuable in their life, then they

have to be concerned with accuracy, not only in written English but also in oral

English. The fact that the participants of this study are English Department students

may show that they are concerned with accuracy because they have greater chances to

teach English in the future.

I hope the results of this study can provide necessary information to be

contributed to the teaching of English Pronunciation classes. Accordingly, teachers

(21)

39

English sounds that are absent in the Indonesian sound production system, or that are

similar but not identical to some Indonesian sounds.

I suggest further research on pronunciation analysis should be about

explaining how to measure wrong pronunciation, how to monitor the speech organs

when the sounds are articulated, or how the influence of L1 toward Indonesian

learners can be very various. The further research can be perfected by making a video

instead of just recording the participants’ pronunciation. This way, the researchers can

pay more attention to the movement of the participants’ organ of speech when they

are articulating English sounds. I believe the results of further research will be more

accurate than those of this study. What is more, I suggest that future researchers

should collect their data by using corpus method. It is the method that researchers use

to gather data without the participants knowing it (Ellis 53). Therefore, their real

competence can be valued.

(22)

47

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alwi, Hasan, et al. Tata Bahasa Baku Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka. 1998.

Burrell, A. A Handbook for Teachers in Public Elementary School. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1891.

Celce-Murcia, et al. Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to

speakers of other languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1997

Chaer, Abdul. Tata Bahasa Praktis Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta: Bhineka Cipta. 1997.

Christophersen, Paul. An English Phonetics Course. Harlow: Longman. 1981.

Ellis, Rod. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University

Press. 1994.

Jones, Daniel. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. 1960.

Keraf, Gorys. Tata Bahasa untuk Sekolah Lanjutan Atas. Ende: Nusa Indah. 1984.

Kenworthy, J. Teaching English Pronunciation. NewYork: Longman. 1987.

Marsono. Fonetik. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press, 1993.

Selinker, L. Fossilization in Interlanguage. Washington D.C.: TESOL.1972.

Schmidt et al. Foreign language motivation: Internal Structure and External

(23)

48

Maranatha Christian University Tobin, R. I. Teaching Returnees in University English Classes. New York: Oxford University Press. 1995.

Internet:

Kikuchi, Takeshi. "Why is Their Pronunciation so Good?"

JALT Conference Proceedings (2005). 27 July 2010.

<http://jalt-publications.org/archive/proceedings/2005/E115.pdf>

Matsuzaki, Junko. "New Framework of Intrinsic/Extrinsic and

Integrative/Instrumental Motivation in Second Language Acquisition."

The Keiai Journal of International Studies 16.1 (2005). 27 July 2010.

Factors Contributing To The Sub-Standard English Pronunciation of The Senior Students of The English Department of Maranatha Christian University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

5

QUESTIONNAIRES

2010

QUESTIONNAIRES

2010

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY