ABSTRACT
Listyarian, Ardhian. 2015. English Language Education Study Program Students’ Mastery and Perception of Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Pronunciation is an indispensable element in establishing effective communication. Word stress, as a part of pronunciation, is essential in determining the meaning of a word because it puts greater force on a certain syllable of a word. Word stress is subject to stress shift caused by several suffixes such as -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion. In this research, the researcher intends to look closely into how the seventh semester students of ELESP year 2014 pronounce 80 English words that end in -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes.
There were two research questions, namely (1) How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program view the stress placement of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes? and (2) How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program stress English words with -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes? The data from the first and second research questions were collected using a questionnaire and an oral test respectively. Thus, the methodology was survey.
The majority of the sample believed that stress placement was very important. They too, believed that different suffixes had different stress rules. Nearly half of them (45%) believed that -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes did not shift the stress and 41% of them believed the opposite. Almost all students (82%) retook no subjects related to pronunciation or phonology. However, their oral performance yielded different results. In the -eous category, for example, many students could not locate the stress because the words presented were less familiar to them. Inappropriate stress placement remained a problem when students pronounced words ending in -ic, -ity and -ion. Many students were unaware of the morphological factor that contributed to stress rules so that they failed to stress words having more than two syllables. Improper articulation of speech sounds had been prevalent in all suffix categories. Thus, in several words, there were no more than ten correct pronunciations although in a few others there were more than 20 correct pronunciations.
As for the recommendations, the researcher recommends that ELESP students be taught using approaches that are more engaging in order to meet their various needs. In addition, the researcher recommends that future researchers investigate other topics related to prosodic phonology or the interrelation between stress rules and morphology.
ABSTRAK
Listyarian, Ardhian. 2015. English Language Education Study Program Students’ Mastery and Perception of Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Pronunciation adalah elemen penting dalam membangun komunikasi yang efektif. Penekanan kata, sebagai bagian dari pronunciation, sangat esensial dalam penentuan makna kata karena ia memberi penekanan lebih pada suku kata tertentu. Penekanan kata dapat mengalami perpindahan yang disebabkan oleh beberapa akhiran seperti -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti bertujuan menganalisa bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh program studi PBI tahun 2014 melafalkan 80 kata Bahasa Inggris yang berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion.
Ada dua pertanyaan ilmiah, antara lain (1) Bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh mengkonsepkan penempatan penekanan kata pada kata-kata Bahasa Inggris berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion? dan (2) Bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh memberi penekanan pada kata-kata Bahasa Inggris berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion? Data dari pertanyaan ilmiah pertama dan kedua dikumpulkan dengan kuesioner dan tes lisan. Dengan demikian, metodologi yang digunakan adalah survei.
Mayoritas dari sampel percaya akan pentingnya penempatan penekanan pada kata. Mereka juga percaya bahwa akhiran yang berbeda memiliki aturan penekanan kata yang berbeda pula. Hampir setengah dari sampel (45%) menganggap bahwa akhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion tidak memindah posisi penekanan kata dan 41% menganggap sebaliknya. Hampir semua mahasiswa (82%) tidak mengulang mata kuliah yang berkaitan dengan cara pengucapan ataupun fonologi. Meski demikian, performa lisan mereka menunjukkan hasil berbeda. Pada akhiran -eous, misalnya, banyak mahasiswa tidak dapat menentukan penekananan kata karena kata-kata yang kurang familiar. Penekanan kata yang tidak pas tetap menjadi kendala ketika mahasiswa melafalkan kata-kata berkahiran -ic, -ity dan -ion. Banyak dari mereka tidak peka terhadap faktor morfologis yang berdampak pada aturan penekanan sehingga mereka gagal memberi penekanan pada kata-kata yang memiliki lebih dari dua kosa kata. Nampak jelas adanya artikulasi speech sounds yang tidak tepat di semua akhiran. Maka, beberapa kata memiliki kurang dari sepuluh pelafalan akurat meski ada beberapa kata yang memiliki lebih dari 20 pelafalan akurat.
Sebagai rekomendasi, peneliti menyarankan agar mahasiswa PBI diajarkan menggunakan metode yang menuntut keterlibatan mereka secara aktif agar dapat memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Selain itu, peneliti menganjurkan agar peneliti berikutnya bisa mengkaji topik lain terkait prosodic phonology atau hubungan antara aturan penekanan dengan morfologi.
i
AND -ION SUFFIXES
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Ardhian Listyarian Student Number: 101214136
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
THIS THESIS IS DEDICATED TO:
MYSELF,
PHONOLOGY & PRONUNCIATION
ENTHUSIASTS,
vii ABSTRACT
Listyarian, Ardhian. 2015. English Language Education Study Program Students’ Mastery and Perception of Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.
Pronunciation is an indispensable element in establishing effective communication. Word stress, as a part of pronunciation, is essential in determining the meaning of a word because it puts greater force on a certain syllable of a word. Word stress is subject to stress shift caused by several suffixes such as -eous, ic, -ity and -ion. In this research, the researcher intends to look closely into how the seventh semester students of ELESP year 2014 pronounce 80 English words that end in -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes.
There were two research questions, namely (1) How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program view the stress placement of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes? and (2)How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program stress English words with -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes? The data from the first and second research questions were collected using a questionnaire and an oral test respectively. Thus, the methodology was survey.
The majority of the sample believed that stress placement was very important. They too, believed that different suffixes had different stress rules. Nearly half of them (45%) believed that -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion suffixes did not shift the stress and 41% of them believed the opposite. Almost all students (82%) retook no subjects related to pronunciation or phonology. However, their oral performance yielded different results. In the -eous category, for example, many students could not locate the stress because the words presented were less familiar to them. Inappropriate stress placement remained a problem when students pronounced words ending in -ic, -ity and -ion. Many students were unaware of the morphological factor that contributed to stress rules so that they failed to stress words having more than two syllables. Improper articulation of speech sounds had been prevalent in all suffix categories. Thus, in several words, there were no more than ten correct pronunciations although in a few others there were more than 20 correct pronunciations.
As for the recommendations, the researcher recommends that ELESP students be taught using approaches that are more engaging in order to meet their various needs. In addition, the researcher recommends that future researchers investigate other topics related to prosodic phonology or the interrelation between stress rules and morphology.
viii ABSTRAK
Listyarian, Ardhian. 2015. English Language Education Study Program Students’ Mastery and Perception of Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Pronunciation adalah elemen penting dalam membangun komunikasi yang efektif. Penekanan kata, sebagai bagian dari pronunciation, sangat esensial dalam penentuan makna kata karena ia memberi penekanan lebih pada suku kata tertentu. Penekanan kata dapat mengalami perpindahan yang disebabkan oleh beberapa akhiran seperti -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion. Dalam penelitian ini, peneliti bertujuan menganalisa bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh program studi PBI tahun 2014 melafalkan 80 kata Bahasa Inggris yang berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion. Ada dua pertanyaan ilmiah, antara lain (1) Bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh mengkonsepkan penempatan penekanan kata pada kata-kata Bahasa Inggris berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion? dan (2) Bagaimana mahasiswa PBI semester tujuh memberi penekanan pada kata-kata Bahasa Inggris berakhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion? Data dari pertanyaan ilmiah pertama dan kedua dikumpulkan dengan kuesioner dan tes lisan. Dengan demikian, metodologi yang digunakan adalah survei.
Mayoritas dari sampel percaya akan pentingnya penempatan penekanan pada kata. Mereka juga percaya bahwa akhiran yang berbeda memiliki aturan penekanan kata yang berbeda pula. Hampir setengah dari sampel (45%) menganggap bahwa akhiran -eous, -ic, -ity dan -ion tidak memindah posisi penekanan kata dan 41% menganggap sebaliknya. Hampir semua mahasiswa (82%) tidak mengulang mata kuliah yang berkaitan dengan cara pengucapan ataupun fonologi. Meski demikian, performa lisan mereka menunjukkan hasil berbeda. Pada akhiran -eous, misalnya, banyak mahasiswa tidak dapat menentukan penekananan kata karena kata-kata yang kurang familiar. Penekanan kata yang tidak pas tetap menjadi kendala ketika mahasiswa melafalkan kata-kata berkahiran -ic, -ity dan -ion. Banyak dari mereka tidak peka terhadap faktor morfologis yang berdampak pada aturan penekanan sehingga mereka gagal memberi penekanan pada kata-kata yang memiliki lebih dari dua kosa kata. Nampak jelas adanya artikulasi speech sounds yang tidak tepat di semua akhiran. Maka, beberapa kata memiliki kurang dari sepuluh pelafalan akurat meski ada beberapa kata yang memiliki lebih dari 20 pelafalan akurat.
Sebagai rekomendasi, peneliti menyarankan agar mahasiswa PBI diajarkan menggunakan metode yang menuntut keterlibatan mereka secara aktif agar dapat memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Selain itu, peneliti menganjurkan agar peneliti berikutnya bisa mengkaji topik lain terkait prosodic phonology atau hubungan antara aturan penekanan dengan morfologi.
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to thank Allah, The Source of all creations and reality itself. Secondly, I am very much indebted to my father, Bambang Sulistriyanto for his unwavering support. If it were not because of him, I would not be the person I am today.
Likewise, Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., who is my thesis advisor, deserves my deepest gratitude for facilitating my learning process in which I had to persevere. Moreover, I would like to thank Paulus Kuswandono, Ph.D., Dr. Antonius Herujiyanto, M.A., Concilianus Laos Mbato, M.A., Ed.D., Fidelis Chosa Kastuhandani, S.Pd., M.Hum., Patricia Angelina, M.Hum., and Laurentia Sumarni, S.Pd., M.Trans. St. for their permission for my data gathering. Drs. Barli Bram, M.Ed., Ph.D. helped me scrutinize my own work. For that, I thank him. All PBI lecturers, who had taught me during my study, have my gratitude. Mbak Dhanik of PBI secretariat, who helped me deal with administrative businesses, also deserves my gratitude.
x
Joshua Apriandi, Sunu Broto Laksono, S.Pd., and Pandhu Mahendra Putra, S.Pd. for their willingness to give their feedback on my thesis. Lastly, I would like to appreciate those whose names I could not mention here.
xi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
DEDICATION PAGE ... iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ABSTRACT ... vii
ABSTRAK ... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xi
LIST OF TABLE ... xiv
LIST OF FIGURES ... xv
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xvi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ... 1
A. Research Background ... 1
B. Research Problems ... 5
C. Problem Limitation ... 5
D. Research Objectives ... 6
E. Research Benefits ... 6
xii
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 11
A. Theoretical Description ... 11
1. Stress ... 11
a. The Definition of Stress ... 12
b. The Importance of Stress ... 14
c. The Nature of Stress ... 15
2. English Suffixes ... 20
a. Suffixes Retaining the Stress by Themselves ... 22
b. Suffixes Preserving the Stress ... 22
c. Suffixes Affecting the Stress ... 23
B. Theoretical Framework ... 25
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 29
A. Research Method ... 29
B. Research Setting ... 30
C. Research Participants ... 31
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ... 32
E. Data Analysis Technique ... 35
F. Research Procedure ... 36
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ... 39
A. Students’ Perception of English Word Stress and English Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes ... 39
1. Attitude towards Word Stress and English Suffixed Words ... 40
xiii
B. Students’ Pronunciation of English Words with eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion
suffixes ... 47
1. Students’ Pronunciation of Words with -eous Suffix ... 48
2. Students’ Pronunciation of Words with -ic Suffix ... 57
3. Students’ Pronunciation of Words with -ity Suffix ... 67
4. Students’ Pronunciation of Words with -ion Suffix ... 77
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 92
A. Conclusions ... 92
B. Implications ... 94
C. Recommendations ... 94
REFERENCES ... 96
xiv
LIST OF TABLE
xv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1 Importance of Word Stress ... 40
Figure 4.2 Suffixes and Their Principles Regarding Stress Placement... 41
Figure 4.3 Stress-shifting Attribute of -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion Suffixes ... 42
xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A: The Oral Test ... 101
Appendix B: Data Summary of eous-Suffixed Words ... 103
Appendix C: Data Summary of ic-Suffixed Words ... 114
Appendix D: Data Summary of ity-Suffixed Words ... 120
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter contains six main sections. These sections are the research background, research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
Phonotactically and phonologically different from Indonesian, English, especially in English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University (later abbreviated as ELESP), is therefore taught thoroughly. This includes pronunciation, which is essential in communication and thus it holds the cornerstone a in successful oral conversation (Kenworthy, 1988, pp. 13-14). If pronunciation is ignored, failure in communicating with foreigners is certain to happen since there is minimum intelligibility of the speaker (Kenworthy, 1988: 3). This minimum intelligibility is what causes misinterpretations and often results in disputes (Kenworthy, 1988: 8). The case happening to Indonesians is that most Indonesian EFL speakers find it challenging to articulate English words due to their first language interference, namely Indonesian. For example, as the researcher examined, a few Javanese students of ELESP of Sanata Dharma University tended to pronounce ‘the’ as /ndə/ or /də/ because the phoneme /ð/ is absent in Indonesian.
pronounced several English words inappropriately. The words such as communication and ability are some of the words that are often mispronounced.
As stated by Dardjowidjodjo (2009: 161), in almost all spoken languages, there always be one or more suprasegmental features accompanying a word. One of these features is stress. Stress does take a large part in expressing meaning since stress itself is the act of putting a greater force on a syllable of a word so the syllable sounds more prominent (Katamba, 1996; Gordon, 2011; Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011)
Stress is considerably important, according to Poldauf (1984), as it deals with the intensification and emphasis, which are naturally present in oral communication (p. 12). For instance, the word import acts either as a verb or as a noun. As a verb, the stress is placed on the second syllable, whereas as a noun, the stress is on the first syllable. If an Indonesian EFL learner speaks without knowing which syllable to stress, he or she then assumes that the stressed syllable is the same as that of Indonesian. Since Indonesian is not a stress-based language, a difference in word stressing does not disrupt the meaning, e.g. mengambil (to take), can be pronounced ˈmengambil, mengˈambil, or mengamˈbil with the initial, the mid, and the final
syllable being stressed respectively.
that cannot exist as an independent word. An example of a bound morpheme is a suffix. A suffix is a part of affix that acts as the complementary final (ending) of a word (Crystal, 2008: 464). In pronunciation, especially when dealing with stress placement, certain suffixes such as -ic, -ity, -ion, and -eous are the ones which affect the stress placement within the syllables (Dardjowidjodjo, 2009: 171).
Therefore, -ic, -ity, -ion, and -eous suffixes do not have the principles of common stress, because the position of the syllable being stressed cannot be justified by only applying the same stress rule as in other suffixes. Compared to other suffixes such as -ful, -able, -al and -ing within which the stress always falls on the root of the word e.g. ˈfanciful, diˈgestible, deˈnial, and adˈvising, the stress of words having the former suffixes cannot be easily predicted. Poldauf (1984) also states that “…neither words with an agglutinatively attached final nor those whose characteristic final requires a particular syllable to be stressed can be subjected to the principle shared by other finals” (p. 52). In other words, suffixes that affect the
stress placement of a word are not subject to stress rules of other suffixes. An agglutinative word is a morphologically parallel word as seen in dis/establish/ment.
B. Research Problems
This research seeks to find the answers to the following questions:
1. How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program view the stress placement of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes?
2. How do the seventh semester students of English Language Education Study Program stress English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes?
C. Problem Limitation
This research only focuses on the stress placement of English suffixed words ending with -ic, -ity, -ion and -eous. As explained earlier in the background, these suffixes can shift the stress placement of a word. That is why other suffixes that cannot shift stress are not dicussed here. There are twenty suffixed words segmented into each suffix, each is either found in daily life or in academic contexts.
opinions so that the researcher could understand how their general attitude was towards English word stress.
D. Research Objectives
There are two objectives of this research, notably:
1. To determine the opinions of the seventh semester students towards stress placement of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes.
2. To determine the mastery of stress placement of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes among the seventh semester students.
E. Research Benefits
The contributions of this research are rigorously described in this subchapter. Four main parties can benefit from this research, notably the ELESP lecturers, the seventh semester students, English teachers, and future researchers.
1. For English Language Education Study Program Lecturers
students, it is still worth considering the long-term effect of students’ oral competence.
2. For English Language Education Study Program Students
Students can also benefit since this research discusses the performance of EFL adult learners’ competence in pronunciation so that they are able to notice the
points that need improvement. Moreover, students can be more confident and literate when speaking, which leads them to becoming accomplished speakers. The quality that the students have will reinforce their speaking ability that results in better chance when applying for a job directly related with the use of spoken English.
3. For English Teachers
The role of English teachers is not solely in giving practical lessons in grammar, but also in developing a communicative purpose. To achieve a specific communicative purpose, English teachers need to pay attention to pronunciation, especially to word stress. English teachers will benefit from this research since it is designed to pinpoint EFL learners’ difficulty in pronouncing English words
4. For Further Researchers
For further researchers, the researcher hopes that there would be more research concerning stress placement on other suffixes. There are numerous other topics covering prosodic phonology that have not been thoroughly researched by undergraduate students, some of which including the relationship between suffixes and stress. Thus, the researcher suggests that further exploration of the interconnection between English stress and suffixes be executed.
F. Definition of Terms
This subchapter discusses two paramount concepts of this research in general. These two concepts are defined so as to avoid misunderstanding. They are defined as follows.
1. Suffix
word, which changes the position of word stress. The suffixes included in this research are only focused on -ic, -ion, eous and -ity since they are some of the stress-shifting suffixes.
2. Word Stress
According to Poldauf (1984), word stress is the syllable that actually carries the peak of force (p. 1). This peak of force results in a higher pitch and a louder voice. As what Katamba (1996) claims, stress is a matter of allocating prominence on a syllable that results in clear distinction from other syllables in the word (p. 221). Thus, the stressed syllable also produces a higher pitch, a longer duration and sometimes a louder voice (Katamba, 1996; Yavas, 2011). Word stress in this research means the appropriateness in pronouncing English suffixed words. The words are to be pronounced accordingly by the seventh semester students of ELESP.
3. The English Language Education Study Program
11 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter embodies two essential parts that support the research, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. The researcher attempts to solve the research problems by using the theories discussed in this chapter.
A. Theoretical Description
This subtopic consists of several theories relevant to the research. The researcher provides two major parts essential to understanding the topic of the research, namely stress placement and English suffixes. Then, these parts are segmented into subcategories by which they are elaborated. The consideration for the use of such theories is that this study focuses on phonology.
1. Stress
placement as well as their attitude towards English word stress. Not only were phonological theories used as the ground, but also some morphological theories were since they were related to English word stress.
a. The Definition of Stress
English is one example of a stress-timed language other than Russian and Arabic (Checklin, 2012: 1). The syllables of these languages are not stressed equivalently, which means that there is always a syllable prominently emphasized among others. Stress-timed languages differ from that of syllable-timed languages in the sense of the stress distribution. Syllable-timed languages do not weigh the differentiation of assigning stress on certain syllables of a word. Thus, syllable-timed languages treat each syllable equally in terms of its duration and length (Crystal as cited in Checklin, 2012: 2). There are two types of a stress-timed language, notably a free-stress language and a fixed-stress language. A fixed-stress language typically has predictable stress patterns. Every word, no matter what it belongs to lexically, is always stressed the same way without weighing the number of syllables (Kager, 2007: 195).
the stress. Quite contrary to fixed-stress languages, the stress on a free-stress language occurs freely, and does not depend merely on the number of syllables, as seen in Russian words such as boroˈda‘beard –singular’, bˈorody‘beard –plural’, baˈgrit‘to paint crimson’, and ˈbagrit‘to spear fish’.
A stress-timed language usually employs culminativity, a way in assigning more prominence to a certain syllable (Kager, 2007; Hayes, 2009). In other words, culminativity is only applicable to a syllable that acts as the peak. Hayes (2009) claims that there are exceptions to this culminativity that include auxiliary verbs, articles, prepositions, and pronouns (p. 271). As neither part of a free-stressed nor a fixed-stressed language, English adopts the stress patterns differently due to the nature of the borrowed Germanic and other Romanic languages such as Latin and French (McMahon, 2002: 120).
The intensification of a syllable of an English word could be the change in pitch, length, and/or loudness. Pitch is the most discernible feature of stress compared to length or loudness (Fry as cited in Ashby, 2011: 160). These distinctive pitch, loudness, and duration are all caused by the amount of energy allocated into a syllable of a word (Katamba, 1996; Roach, 1998; McMahon, 2002; Gordon, 2011; Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011; Yavas, 2011). Stress is relative, which means that not all syllables carry the same amount of stress. There is always a secondary stressed and/or an unstressed syllable (Giegerich, 1992: 179).
b. The Importance of Stress
According to Syafei (1988), stress is an inseparable element of English pronunciation since it is something by which the accuracy of pronunciation is measured (p. 23). Therefore, ignoring the appropriate stress placement means having unintelligible pronunciation, which results in mispronunciation. English stress is influenced by the morphological element of the word. Consequently, a morphologically modified word sometimes denotes different stress placement, depending on the derivational affixes, as in recordaˈbility (Apoussidou, 2011: 98). Indonesian EFL learners will stumble on the challenge to pronounce English words accurately because there is no stressing in Indonesian. Stress in Indonesian does not affect either lexical categories or meaning.
irregular spelling of the English word itself or is due to students’ first language interference (p. 1). The language interference that is being discussed is the difference in vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. The phonemes that are problematic for Indonesian learners are /i:/, /u:/, /æ/, /ʌ/, and /ɔ:/ because these phonemes are a bit different from Indonesian /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/ and /o/ (Syafei, 1988; Dardjowidjojo, 2009).
To help students overcome phonological constraints, an English teacher needs to introduce English sounds and morphology to the students so that they understand how to pronounce morphologically related words. Although Kenworthy (1987) argues that a native-like pronunciation is not something a language learner should aim, he states that “word and sentence stress, rhythm, and intonation are very important in highlighting the important bits of message” (pp. 13-14). He also
notes that learners need to have awareness of being able to stress properly since they will have a hard time recognizing the word said by a native speaker if they do not store it in their mental dictionary (pp. 27-28).
c. The Nature of Stress
existing vowels, the final consonant, and the diphthongs (Roach, 1998, pp. 89-90). These diverse treatments are not affected only by vowels, consonants or diphthongs, but also by the word origin. However, Burzio (1996) argues that stress cannot be predicted by simply applying the transformational cycle theory proposed by Chomsky and Halle (1968) and thus, must not be presumed as having the phonological effect (pp. 10-13).
The transformational cycle theory, or commonly known as the ‘cyclic theory’, is the phonological consideration in determining the stress (Chomsky &
Halle, 1968: 15). The cyclic theory assumes that stress placement must be based on the surface structure containing strings and on phonological rules applied to the strings until it reaches phonological phrase (Chomksy & Halle, 1968: 60). Burzio (1996) rejects this because he believes that there is a relation between morphologically related words to the stress preservation (Burzio, 1996; Kager, 1995). It is also agreed that phonological features are not the only things that constitute the rule of stress placement. Gussenhoven & Jacobs (2011) argue that there is also another consideration in assigning stress rules called foot. Earlier, in The Sound Pattern of English or SPE, it was claimed that stress was constituted by phonetic implementation rules, resulting in transformational cycle theory but it was argued that the structural position or the foot, played a more relevant part (Gussenhoven & Jacobs, 2011: 214).
theory. The way words are constructed by morphological features called morphemes, notably affixes and roots, vitally contribute to the stress placement in English (Giegerich, 1992: 190). Thus, the analysis of stress placement in English cannot be based phonetically or phonologically because additionally, morphology contributes more.
McMahon (2002) summarizes the heaviness of a syllable is what attracts stress generally (p. 120). Katamba (1996) and McMahon (2002) share equivalent notion about a heavy syllable, stating that a syllable is heavy if it consists of a long vowel with or without a coda, or a short vowel with a coda (Katamba, 1996; McMahon, 2002). Likewise, Hayes (2009) proposes that it is more precise to claim stress as the appendage of syllable, not vowel or diphthong (p. 272). The reasoning behind this claim is that there is no contrast of stress within the syllable. For example, if a diphthong in a syllable is primarily stressed, it is awkward to decide which part of the diphthong that really bears the stress (Hayes, 2009: 272). Vowels or diphthongs of a stressed syllable are subject to increasing length, while the ones in an unstressed syllable are more likely to shorten (Kager, 2007: 195). Stress stays within the frame of syllable weight and is commonly attracted to the syllable having the highest sonority (Kager, 2007: 198). In many examples of monosyllabic words, however, the stress is realized on the only syllable there is (Katamba, 1996: 234).
unstressed syllables and thus they become /ə/, /ɪ/, /ɪə/ or /ʊ/ (Poldauf, 1984: 15). However, this tendency is not without its exception. The exception that Poldauf shows is about maintaining the vowel quality in unstressed syllables due to the influence of related words as in representation [ˌreprɪzenˈteɪʃn] that comes from represent [ˌreprɪˈzent] (Poldauf, 1984: 15). Roach (1998), states that a vowel that is of different place of articulation than the rest of other vowels in a word can preserve stress and that syllable length can potentially affect prominence (p. 86). He also mentions that affixes can determine the position of the stress, whether it falls on the affix itself, or remains on the stem but is shifted to another syllable (Roach, 1998: 96). Thus, if the stress moves from its original position because the word has been affixed, the vowel quality differs since the stress stays on a heavy syllable. That is why, according to Crosswhite (2004), the unstressed syllable undergoes a vowel reduction (p. 191).
example, attracts verbs ending in -ify and -ate as seen in purify → purification and duplicate→ duplication.
As what has been discussed previously, other stress-shifting suffixes besides -ion are -eous, -ic, and -ity. When -ity meets some coinages having Latinate suffixes such as those that end in -al (i.e. marginal → marginality), -able (drinkable → drinkability) and -ous (in some cases as in generous→ generosity), it denotes the state of being something (Miller, 2006, pp. 27-28). This principle holds true because the majority of -ity derivatives are those of adjectives ending in -ic, -able, -al and of phonetic string [ɪd] like in readability and solidity (Plag, 2003: 91). The -ic suffix, even though it is sometimes indistinguishable from -ical in meaning like in diabolic and diabolical, only attracts foreign bases and changes the stress placement into a penultimate stress as found in ˈhero→ heˈroic(Plag, 2003: 96). It is obvious that -ic makes for adjectives. That is to say, it is a deverbal suffix. A non-deverbal suffix is a suffix that attracts non-verbal bases such as nouns and then constitutes adjectives; hence, it is also known as a relational suffix.
According to Plag (2003) and Miller (2006), -ous suffix attaches itself to Latinate bases and functions as a denominal suffix (Plag, 2003: 97; Miller, 2006: 166). Its variant, -eous, maintains that principle and affects the stress placement of the base, moving it either to penult or antepenult (third syllable from the last). Burzio (1996) argues that the null vowel at the end of the eous-suffixed words is preserved because “it affects the quality of preceding consonant, including
vowel (semi-vowel), as in advantage and courage, can attract stress if combined with -eous i.e. adˈvantage→ advanˈtageous, ˈcourage→couˈrageous.
2. English Suffixes
English has many borrowed suffixes. Many of which come from Latin. Through years of exposure and blend, countless English words that are now available are the results of French and Latin influence (Miller, 2006: vii). English suffixes generally have two categories seen from the morphological perspective, to wit: inflectional and derivational suffixes (Giegerich, 1992: 190). Derivation is traditionally the formulation of a new meaning of a word through affixation (Beard, 1998; Miller, 2006). Some examples are game, gamer, person, and personify. The first words, game and gamer are both nouns but differ in meaning. A gamer is the one who plays the game. The latter examples, namely person and personify, have very different meaning. A person means someone, while personify means to have a certain characteristic. Therefore, -ify is one example of a derivational suffix that modifies the noun person so that it becomes a verb. Derivational suffixes can be divided again into those that affect the stress placement and those that do not affect stress placement.
not have the stress-shifting manner (p. 3). Thus, Zamma’s classification of English suffixes can be generalized into the suffixes that affect stress placement and suffixes that do not affect stress placement. It means to say that the suffixes in this research, namely -ic, -ion, -ity and -eous, can significantly shift the stress. These suffixes also give impact on the length reduction of a long vowel or a diphthong of a base. The suffix -ic has a fixed stress. Therefore, this suffix is stressed on the penultimate syllable as in symˈbolic, arˈtistic and eˈlastic.
The suffix -ity has many extended forms. If it follows the letter ‘i’, it is spelled as -ety. It is also possible that the suffix -ity is incorporated with another suffix, namely -ial, which could change the stress as in artificiˈality (Poldauf, 1984: 54). Meanwhile, the suffix -ion is special in terms of its extended forms because it has been developed with French influence. Poldauf (1984) states that the suffix -ous has two extended forms, i.e. -eous and -ious (p. 60). The examples of these are ˈanxious, couˈrageous, presˈtigious, and sponˈtaneous.Stress is unpredictable if a
a. Suffixes Retaining the Stress by Themselves
Some suffixes place the stress just before the suffixes themselves. In other words, the stress is always on the final syllable. The following are examples of the suffixes carrying the stress by themselves, derived from Dardjowidjojo (2009) and Roach (1998).
-ee : referˈee -eer : buccanˈeer -ese : Sundanˈese -esque : arabˈesque -ette : roulˈette -ique : oblˈique
b. Suffixes Preserving the Stress
These suffixes below are ones that keep the original stress of the stem. Thus, the stress does not move. Here are some examples of derivational suffixes that do not change the stress placement of English words. These examples are taken from the work of Dardjowidjojo (2009) and Roach (1998).
-ment : ˈpuzzlement -ness : ˈgreediness
c. Suffixes Affecting the Stress
While other suffixes can retain the stress by themselves or keep the original stress, some others affect the stress placement. Thus, the stress is dependent on the suffix because the suffix moves the stress away from the stem. The examples below are from Dardjowidjojo (2009) and Roach (1998).
-eous : sponˈtaneous -ial : subˈstantial -ic : phoˈnemic -ion : communiˈcation -ious : caˈpricious -ity : tranˈquility -ive : reˈflective
English suffix -ity is actually a borrowed suffix originated from Anglo-French, and the original form is -(i)te(e) as in Old French words such as bonté ‘bounty’ and charite ‘charity’ (Miller, 2006: 27). He also states that -ity suffix also
shift and the polysyllabic words to process a trisyllabic lax, a process of vowel shortening (Plag, 2003, pp. 91-92).
The suffix -ion is interpreted as ‘the result of’ (Miller, 2006; Plag, 2003). Miller states that the suffix -ion is not a deadjectival abstract, but is a verbal abstract, which means that -ion only modifies verbs (Miller, 2006: 76). For instance, the word legion (legio –conscription/choose a number of soldiers) comes from Anglo French word legere that means ‘to collect’ (Miller, 2006: 76). There are three allomorphs accompanying the suffix -ion, namely -ion and -ification when it is attached to a verb with -ify suffixand -ation when -ion is attached to a verb with -ate suffix (Plag, 2003: 90). The examples of the variation of -ion suffix include those of verbal bases as well as nouns without the help of -ate suffix, as in sedimentation, where the base is the noun sediment (Plag, 2003: 91). In relation to that, Miller (2006) states that -tion can sometimes attract nouns without any base verbs such as sanitation and sedimentation (p. 98). He also adds, -(a)tion is normally constricted to Latinate words and is not attached to iambic words such as desire and disturb because of the stress clash as in desi'ration and distur'bation although exceptions allow a stress shift as in inspire→inspiration and explain→explanation (Miller, 2006: 98).
a variant of suffix -ous, suffix -eous typically puts the stress either on the penult or on the antepenult (Plag, 2003: 97).
Unusual as it sounds, the Indo-European suffix -ko- is the ancestor of several suffixes including Greek’s -iko-, Latin’s -(t)icus, and English’s -ic (Miller, 2006,
pp. 160-161). Since -ic is a relational suffix, it attaches itself to foreign bases especially nouns and bound roots (Plag, 2003: 96). A relational suffix makes a relational adjective because the suffix implies a certain degree of relation that belongs to the noun as in allergic, which means ‘having an allergy’ or ‘caused by an allergy.’
B. Theoretical Framework
This part highlights the elaboration of theories and how they are used to conduct the research. In this research, the theories function as the ground of analysis of the research results. In regard to analyzing the data, the researcher combined the theories of stress and suffixes elaborated in the previous subchapter.
English pronunciation, the researcher related students’ perception with their performance.
Since the second research problem is about students’ mastery of stress in
English suffixed words, the researcher used the theories explaining the effect of syllable weight from Katamba (1996), McMahon (2002), Hayes (2009), and Kager (2007). These theories imply that there are certain qualifications by which stress rules are applied. In addition to syllable weight, word-formation theories, notably those that explain the relation between suffixation and root support the analysis of the second research problem. Apart from these phonological theories, theories on pronunciation and language teaching support the analysis because they correlate between phonological or morphological concept and students’ pronunciation. English pronunciation is difficult for some EFL learners due to less familiar vowels, diphthongs, and consonants compared to those of Indonesian such as /i:/, /u:/, /æ/, /ʌ/, and /ɔ:/ (Syafei, 1988; Dardjowidjojo, 2009). If this problem persists for a long time, it is likely that learners will substitute vowels continuously that results in unintelligible pronunciation.
diphthong and a consonant, for example, the stress always falls on the first syllable no matter what sound it has (Katamba, 1996: 234). In English phonology, not all allophones and phonemes are permissible to occur under uncommon circumstances, and therefore, a syllable can regulate how a speaker should pronounce words (Katamba, 1996, pp. 164-166).
A lighter syllable can sometimes bear the stress because of the [ə] nuclei on the syllable or because the stress is already on the final syllable by default (Yavas, 2011: 158). This theory is used to answer the second research question since the students’ mastery of stress placement of English suffixed words depends on how
good they notice the nuclei and the heavy syllable. Poldauf (1984) claims that vowels in unstressed syllables often become ə, ɪ, ɪə or ʊ (p. 15). Nonetheless, the unstressed vowel sometimes maintains full vowel quality due to the effect of word formation as in representation [ˌreprɪzenˈteɪʃn] that comes from represent [ˌreprɪˈzent] (Poldauf, 1984: 15). Although that is the case for some instances, most of the time, an unstressed vowel has its syllable reduced and this is called vowel reduction (Crosswhite, 2004: 191).
29 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter summarizes six main parts related to methodology used in this research. In order to clearly give understanding upon the research, the researcher categorizes these parts into the research method, the research setting, the research participants, the instrument and data gathering technique, the data analysis technique and the research procedure.
A. Research Method
This research utilized a survey method because the researcher tried to infer the results from the sample of the population. The intent of this research was to determine whether 116 students of batch 2011 had varied mastery of stress placement of English suffixed words. The first research problem was about the perception of the students with regard to English stress and the second was students’
Christensen (2012) state that a survey also helps a researcher apprehend a population through the use of sample data (p. 217).
Therefore, the survey helped the researcher answer both research questions. To conduct the survey, the researcher utilized a questionnaire in the first place in order to arouse students’ alertness towards the research topic. Following this
through, an oral test was used as the primary instrument to answer the second research question. By giving the participants an oral test, the researcher could hint at the mastery of the stress placement of English suffixed words among ELESP students. As what Johnson and Christensen (2012) write, a combination of instruments can yield a quality result (p. 195).
B. Research Setting
C. Research Participants
Since this research employed survey as its method, the participants were selected out of a prevailing population in ELESP of Sanata Dharma University. Ary et al. (2010) define population as the amount of people, objects and events that exist in a specific area (p. 148). Since it was impractical to involve the entire population, the researcher selected some people from the population in order to denote the population. Thus, a sampling was used. A sample, according to Ary et al. (2010), is a part of the population from which the researcher could make generalizations (p. 148). The population of the target research was about 660 heterogeneous students, each batch was composed of 165 students. Since the 660 students were the target population, it means to say that the accessible population was 165 students who belonged to batch 2011.
stated that a convenience sampling is efficient since the researcher can select the participants quickly (p. 66).
After all sampling procedure had been carried out, the researcher delivered an oral consent form when conducting the research. A consent form is the brief description of the research given to research participants so that they are aware of the nature, purposes, risks, and benefits of the research (Johnson & Christensen, 2012: 107). The use of consent form ensures that the participants willingly and knowingly participated in the research.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
A combination of instruments was used by the researcher, consisting of achievement test as the core instrument and questionnaire as the secondary instrument. To answer the first research question, a questionnaire was used because it dealt with students’ beliefs and experience. Before distributing the questionnaire,
the researcher did the piloting to ensure that the items were clear. All students in the sample were given a questionnaire as well as an oral consent to assure that their identities were kept confidential. There were ten items in the questionnaire; eight of which asked about students’ self-evaluation regarding the English word stress,
Table 3.1 The Questionnaire Blueprint 2 All English suffixes have their
own principles regarding the stress placement of a word.
3 English suffixes such as -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion do not shift the stress from the root.
No. Features Item
The purpose of an achievement test is to give adjudication on test takers’ competence of certain knowledge (Ary et al., 2010: 201). The researcher used a performance test, i.e. an oral test, as a part of achievement test, because the researcher wanted to assess students’ capability in stressing English suffixed words orally. A performance test is a commensurate way to indicate generally whether the examinees can actually produce something (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2003, pp. 154 – 155). The oral test was composed of eighty English suffixed words ending with -ic, -ity, -ion, and -eous suffixes. These words were grouped by the suffixes, with each suffix having twenty suffixed words.
oral test in Multimedia Laboratory because there were computers capable of recording students’ performance simultaneously.
E. Data Analysis Technique
In order to check the accuracy of the stress placement, two dictionaries were used. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2008)or LPD and Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (2011) or CEPD were the main sources of analysis regarding the stress placement. These two dictionaries were specialized references to English pronunciation as they provided spoken pronunciations and a wide coverage of words. Both dictionaries featured spelling-to-sound notes that highlighted the relationship between spelling and pronunciation so that it could easily be understood. In addition, both dictionaries included a CD-ROM that enabled a self-record feature so that one could compare his or her own pronunciation to the standard one. Not only did it have a self-record feature, the CD-ROM from both dictionaries also had the sound search option, from which one could search certain words by selecting the phonetic alphabets available.
Both LPD (2008) and CEPD (2011) provided a great help in comparing the recordings with the correct pronunciation. Then, the researcher laid out not only the correct and incorrect stress placements but also the phonetic errors found in each word.
F. Research Procedure
The following was the procedure the researcher followed to conduct his research. Each step was an essential progress towards the success of this research.
1. Identifying the Research Problems
Since the researcher was interested in English pronunciation, stress placement became the major focus of the research. The researcher finally came up with an idea and sought to investigate ELESP students’ mastery of English suffixed words. The first research question addressed students’ belief about the English word
stress and the English suffixed words while the second research question asked about students’ pronunciation mastery of English suffixed words.
2. Designing the Research
survey method to answer all the questions. In applying the survey, the researcher used an oral test and a questionnaire as the instruments that he piloted first.
3. Gathering the Data
In order to gather the data, the researcher defined the population and the sampling. It was determined that 116 students were the samples and were the appropriate representation of 165 students – the accessible population. A questionnaire was used to gather students’ responses related to their belief about the research topic. In addition, an oral test was also administered to record students’
performance in pronouncing English suffixed words. All prospective participants were given an oral consent form prior to being given a questionnaire.
Having done that, the researcher managed to continue the research in September. At this point, an oral test was administered to answer the second research question. The speeches of the participants were recorded using audio-recording application available in every computer at Multimedia Laboratory. The recordings were then transferred into a laptop.
4. Analyzing the Data
derived from two dictionaries: LPD (2008) and CEPD (2011). Theories from experts were used to help the researcher generate his analysis.
5. Writing the Report
39 CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter reports and discusses the findings. The data from which the discussion was directed were obtained from the questionnaire and the oral test. There are two essential parts acting as the subheadings of this chapter. The first part lays out the ELESP students’ perception of English word stress and English
suffixed words, whereas the second part explains how the students pronounce English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes and compares their pronunciation to the standard one.
A. Students’ Perception of English Word Stress and English Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes
The section answers the first research question. Since the first research question deals with students’ attitude towards English word stress and English
1. Attitude towards Word Stress and English Suffixed Words
Figure 4.1 Importance of Word Stress
Figure 4.1 above shows students’ perception of the importance of word stress in English pronunciation. Most students strongly agreed that word stress was vital. Some students believed that word stress was of moderate importance as seen from the 39% slice of the pie chart. Residing at 6%, the ‘StronglyDisagree’ option gained a small portion of the chart. These students stated that word stress was not vital. Kenworthy (1988) pinpoints that there are learners who are unconcerned about their pronunciation because they have no idea that they may cause difficulty for the listener (p. 8). The smallest proportion of the chart belonged to ‘Disagree’ option in which the student(s) regarded English word stress as a less important part in learning English.
Strongly Disagree 6%
Disagree 2%
Agree 39% Strongly Agree
53%
Word stress is a vital part in English
pronunciation
Figure 4.2 Suffixes and Their Principles Regarding Stress Placement
Although the biggest portion in Figure 4.2 belonged to ‘Agree’ category, many students in this category did not realize that they misplaced the stress during the oral test. For example, when they had to pronounce the word academic, many of them stressed the antepenult instead of the penult. This distorted their beliefs completely. Those who believed that all suffixes had their own principles seemed unaware of their improper way of stressing most words in -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes. Some of the 22% proportion that strongly agreed with the notion also misplaced the stress of most words during the oral test. Both ‘Disagree’ and
‘Strongly Disagree’ categories gained 4% and 1% proportion respectively. Figure
4.2 proves that the students had yet understood what suffix applied what principle. Strongly Disagree
1%
Disagree 4%
Agree 73% Strongly Agree
22%
All English suffixes have their own principles
regarding the stress placement of a word
Figure 4.3 Stress-shifting Attribute of -eous, -ic, -ity and -ion Suffixes
From Figure 4.3, it is apparent that there was a slight difference between ‘Agree’ and ‘Disagree’ options since each of them stayed at 45% and 41%
respectively. On the contrary, only 11% of the sample really believed that eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes did not change the stress and 3% of the sample were very sure that those suffixes changed the position of the stress. As seen from the percentage, there was a tendency not to appear extreme by not choosing ‘Strongly Disagree’ or ‘Strongly Agree.’ They knew little or none about the stress-shifting
attribute of -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes so that they had to assume by looking at the examples given by the researcher in the questionnaire. This conclusion was made after the researcher compared their questionnaire response with their oral performance.
Eight students who gave positive attitude towards the first and the second questionnaire items stated that different stress made for different meaning or lexical
Strongly Disagree 11%
Disagree 41% Agree
45% Strongly Agree
3%
-eous, -ic, -ity
and
-ion
suffixes do not shift
the stress from the root
category. They all emphasized how important word stress was. However, these eight students had different perspectives on the influence of English suffixes over stress placement. Four of them believed that -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes did not shift the stress. Four others believed that those suffixes could shift the stress.
Four students who believed that -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes shifted the stress, stressed the words under the suffix -ion properly, although there were minor slips. These students also did rather well when they had to stress words under the -ity category. Nevertheless, they did not stress the words under the -eous and -ic categories very well because they were less familiar with the stress pattern both suffixes had.
Most students, in response to the fourth questionnaire item, chose to agree with the notion of their increased awareness of English word stress, as shown by the 65% proportion. Around 27% of the sample also appeared to be positive regarding their increased awareness of English word stress while 7% suggested that their awareness remained stagnant. Being in an extreme position, one student strongly disbelieved that his awareness had much improved. Many of the students who chose ‘Strongly Disagree’ or ‘Agree’ showed a rather delusive opinion about their own awareness, for they either mispronounced the word or misplaced the stress when they sat the oral test. It means that they were unaware that they were mispronouncing.
An interesting phenomenon occurred in the fifth questionnaire item because 65% of the sample argued that it was rather easy for them to pronounce words that ended in -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes. Reality shows that many of the 65% proportion mispronounced some words that belonged to those suffixes. Interestingly, a few students who agreed that pronouncing words with eous, ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes was difficult (21%) performed slightly better because they were cautious while the others were not. Those who were less cautious pronounced the words too quickly, as indicated by their haste in pronouncing most of the words in the oral test, which resulted in stress misplacement or mispronunciation. The twelve percent of the ‘Strongly Disagree’ students were confident of pronouncing
In response to the sixth item of the questionnaire, a few students felt that pronouncing English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes was difficult. Thus, they were doubtful in pronouncing them. However, these students performed well on the test because they rarely mispronounced most of the words. Even though some students stated that they were not doubtful (54%) in pronouncing English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes, their recorded pronunciations showed that their performance was not in accordance with their confidence. Therefore, their confidence was not related to their ability. Those who chose ‘Disagree’ in the previous item but chose ‘Agree’ in this item tried to believe that they were able to
predict word stress but they were doubtful in pronouncing words with eous, ic, -ity and -ion suffixes. Interestingly, a small part of ‘Agree’ proportion also chose ‘Agree’ in the previous item about difficulty in pronouncing English words. These
students, although they did not show enough confidence in responding to the questionnaire item, performed better during the oral test compared to those who chose ‘Strongly Disagree’ or ‘Disagree’ in both previous item and this item.
Seventy-nine percent students felt that their pronunciation of English words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion suffixes improved. This number, nevertheless, had little to do with the actual performance because some students that belonged to the ‘Agree’ proportion mispronounced some words during the oral test. This proves
could not stress many ic-suffixed words properly. Students who disagreed with the notion (9%) were unsatisfied with their own pronunciation although a small part of this category performed really well on the test.
2. Experience Related to Word Stress and English Suffixed Words
Figure 4.4 Subjects Retaken by the Students
From 116 students, none retook Pronunciation Practice 1 subject. This, at least, was positive because by the time ELESP students were in the seventh semester, they should have mastered the most fundamental part of English pronunciation, i.e. the recognizing English sound. However, as Figure 4.4 shows, some students retook Pronunciation Practice 2 (7%), Phonetics & Phonology (4%) and seven percent of the sample even retook all subjects related to English pronunciation. This backed the evidence that many of these students could not perform well on the oral test, let alone mimicking the English sounds. The biggest
Pronunciation
Pronunciation Practice 1 Pronunciation Practice 2 Phonetics & Phonology
proportion of the sample (82%) retook none, although there were many pronunciation errors uttered by most of the students of this category.
Three students who retook no subject stated that first language interference affected the quality of English pronunciation. They further added that as long as the speaker could convey the message orally and that the listener could understand it, there should have been no problem in communicating. While this might be true, as teacher candidates, they need to help their students hear and produce appropriate sounds. As stated by Kenworthy (1987), one of the teacher’s roles is to facilitate the students to recognize English sounds (p. 2).
B. Students’ Pronunciation of English Words with -eous, -ic, -ity, and -ion Suffixes
This section answers the second research question. Discussed in this subchapter is ELESP students’ pronunciation of English words with -eous, -ic. -ity
and -ion suffixes in the form of recordings. Only 97 students participated in the oral test either because the other nineteen students could not be contacted or did not submit the recording. By using two English pronunciation dictionaries and questionnaire responses, the researcher elaborates the findings.
1. Students’ Pronunciation of Words with -eous Suffix
erroneous, extemporaneous, extraneous, gorgeous, heterogeneous, homogeneous, instantaneous, miscellaneous, outrageous, righteous, sanguineous, spontaneous, and unrighteous.
The first word to appear in the list of this suffix is advantageous [ˌæd.vənˈteɪ.dʒəs, -v ːnˈ-, -vænˈ-, US -vænˈ-, -vənˈ-]. Many students mispronounced it as advantages because they substituted the diphthong /eɪ/ in the third syllable with /e/ or /ɪ/ and because they stressed the second syllable instead of the third one, as in adˈvantages. Some even substituted the diphthong /eɪ/ with a long vowel /i:/. Few students, although they stressed the word properly, substituted the first vowel /æ/ with /ʌ/ and consonant /v/ with /f/. Only 24 correct pronunciations were present.This is something that Kenworthy (1987) underlines, stating that learners need to develop awareness of recognizing the appropriate stress to avoid misinterpretations as what happened in this research.
In the word contemporaneous [kənˌtem.pᵊrˈeɪ.ni.əs, k n- ˌk n.tem-, US kən] were three dominant stress placements students showed. These were the fourth, the third, and the second-syllable stresses. Although the majority was of the fourth syllable, most of the words pronounced underwent syllable shortening, making contemporaneous sound [k n.tem.poˈreː.nəs]. The stress should have been antepenultimate because originally, the word has six syllables. Although 53 students stressed the fourth syllables, only nine students pronounced it correctly. The problem with misplacing stress remained when students had to pronounce the word courageous that should have been penultimately stressed. The correct pronunciation is [kəˈreɪ.dʒəs].
Instead of stressing the penultimate syllable, 29 students stressed the antepenultimate syllable so that the word sounded as if it were courages. Little did these students realize that stressing the first syllable would change the part of speech. Dardjowidjojo (2009) shows how affixation can shift the stress and how different stress can convey different lexical categories (pp. 164–166). In addition to students’ misplacing the stress, pronouncing incorrect vowels and consonants
remained a problem for most students because only 21 students pronounced courageous correctly. There were frequent /k ː-/ and /koʊ-/ in the first syllable and /-re-/ in the second syllable.
