JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTSâ PRONUNCIATION MASTERY ON WORDS INTRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOK (In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009).

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JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’

PRONUNCIATION MASTERY ON WORDS

INTRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOK

(In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic

year 2008/2009)

a final project

submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

In English

by

Achmad Burhanudin 2201405551

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

LANGUAGES AND ARTS FACULTY

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APPROVAL

The final project was approved by the Board of Examination of the English Department of Faculty of Languages and Arts of Semarang State University on August 29th, 2009.

Board of Examination

1. Chairperson

Drs. Dewa Made Karthadianata, M.Pd

NIP. 195111181984031001

2. Secretary

Dr. Dwi Anggani LB, M.Pd NIP. 195901141989012001

3. First examiner

Drs. Amir Sisbiyanto, M.Hum NIP. 195407281983031002

4. Second advisor as second examiner

Prof. Dr. Warsono, M.A NIP. 194406141970081001

5. First advisor as third examiner

Drs. Alim Sukrisno, M.A NIP. 195206251981111001

Approved by

Dean of Faculty of Languages and Arts

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PERNYATAAN

Dengan ini saya

Nama : Achmad Burhanudin

Nim : 2201405551

Prodi/Jurusan : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris/Bahasa Inggris

Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni Universitas Negeri Semarang menyatakan bahwa skripsi/final project yang berjudul:

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION MASTERY

ON WORDS INTRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOK

(In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009)

yang saya tulis dalam rangka memenuhi salah satu syarat untuk memperoleh gelar sarjana ini benar-benar merupakan karya saya sendiri yang saya hasilkan setelah melakukan penelitian, bimbingan, diskusi dan pemaparan/ujian. Semua kutipan baik yang langsung maupun yang tidak langsung, baik yang diperoleh dari sumber kepustakaan, media elektronik, maupun sumber-sumber yang lainnya, telah disertai keterangan mengenai identitas sumbernya dengan cara sebagaimana lazimnya dalam penulisan karya ilmiah. Dengan demikian, walaupun tim penguji dan pembimbing penulisan skripsi/final project ini membubuhkan tanda tangan keabsahannya, seluruh isi skripsi/final project ini tetap menjadi tanggung jawab saya sendiri. Jika kemudian hari ditemukan pelanggaran terhadap konvensi tata tulis di dunia perguruan tinggi, saya bersedia menerima akibatnya. Demikian, harap pernyataan ini dapat digunakan sepenuhnya.

Semarang,

Yang membuat pernyataan,

Achmad Burhanudin

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Motto and Dedication

Don’t ever be afraid of tomorrow, keep

moving forward!

To:

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ACKNOWLEDMENT

Foremost, the writer would like to praise and express his greatest gratitude to Allah the Almighty who has given him blessing, health, power, knowledge and inspiration. He has also led him to the completion of his Final Project.

Then, his sincerest gratitude goes to the Drs. Alim Sukrisno, M.A., the first advisor for his encouragement, advice, continuous, and valuable guidance during the completion this final project. His deepest appreciation also goes to Prof. Dr. Warsono, M.A., his second advisor for his patience providing meaningful guidance, suggestions and support. The writer is also deeply indebted to the head of the English Department, Drs. Ahmad Sofwan, Ph. D, and all lecturers of English Department of Semarang State University who had helped him in improving his knowledge and skills. His special thanks go to the principal of SMP N 2 Jepara, Drs. Ali Maksum, M.M., who had allowed the writer to carry out the research and the English teacher Dwika Bagus Satria, S.Pd., who had supervised him on doing his research.

Moreover, the writer would like to express his deepest thanks to his beloved parents (H. Abd.Madjid and Hj. Sulasih), his beloved grandmother (Hj. Sukatri), his old brothers (the late A. Soeb and Rouf), his young sister (Diyah), and his young brother (Makruf) who have been giving everything to his life until this time.

Most of all, the writer wishes to thanks his goddess for her tender love, care, support and also soreness on his life. For his greatest friends in D parallel class of English Department 2005, the Rancid (Bayz, Ie_dje, Gunkz, and Well), Tyas, Reddy, Aji, Iva, B3 Park Lovers and also AFC, thanks a million for their help, supports and admirable memories.

Last but not least, his appreciation also goes to all people who cannot be mentioned personally who helped him in writing this final project. Hopefully, Allah gives the blessing to them all. Amin.

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ABSTRACT

Burhanudin, Achmad. 2009. Junior High School Students’ Pronunciation Mastery on Words Introduced in the Government Textbook (In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009). Semarang: English Department, Languages and Arts Faculty, Semarang State University.

This final project discussed about junior high school students’ pronunciation mastery on words introduced in government textbook. The objective of this final project was to know the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara’s mastery in pronouncing English words stated in their textbook. Moreover, this study was also conducted to find the words found difficult for the students to pronounce.

The population of this study was the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009. Out of 300 students were taken randomly 16% or 45 students as the respondents. The data were 564 of content words which were found in their text book entitled Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VII published by Aneka Ilmu. Only 10% or 56 words which consist of 35 nouns, 12 verbs, 7 adjectives, and 2 adverbs were used as the test item. In selecting the data the writer used a purposive and random sampling technique.

The students were tested to pronounce the selected words and the writer recorded them using a tape recorder. Their recordings were used as the source of the data collection. Then, the recordings were analysed and interpreted.

After interpreting and analysing the data, the writer found out that the average proportion of the correct pronunciations was 73.21. It showed that the students were considered to be good in mastering English pronunciation of words revealed in their text book based on the criterion stated in the Curriculum 2004. Furthermore, there were three words found difficult to be pronounced by the students. They were favorite, garden, and word.

Based on the results above, it can be seen that the students’ achievement were satisfying. In order to improve the students whose pronunciation skills are unsatisfactory, the writer suggests several points. For examples, asking them to join the extracurricular activities which are related to English, asking them to watch English movies or English programs on TV, to listen to English songs, and to practice in their daily activities with their fellows so they can acquire the habit of using correct pronunciation.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

2.1: Summary of the Studies ... 12

3.1: Distribution of the ... 15

3.2: The Result of the Selected Samples ... 16

3.3: The Words found in Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VI ... 18

3.4: The Five Words of Adverb which had the Highest Frequency Appearance .. 19

3.5: The Words Selected as the Sample ... 20

3.6: The Table of Scores Analysis ... 23

4.1: The Proportion of Correct and Incorrect Pronunciation ... 29

a: Harris’ Criterion of Mastery Level ... 25

b: Tinambunan’s Criterion of Mastery Level ... 25

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1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1

General Background of the Study

As an English Department student particularly in educational program of Semarang State University (UNNES) and as a would-be teacher the writer faces many cases related to educational issues. Based on his experience, in the seventh semester, when he was an English practicing teacher for the first grade at SMP N 1 Ungaran, he found that most of the students have many difficulties in mastering English.

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He wants to observe whether or not the same problems are faced by students in other schools. Since there are many problems in pronunciation, it is impossible for him to solve all of the problems. In this research just several problems related to students’ pronunciation will be observed.

1.2 Reason for Choosing the Topic

Pronunciation is a crucial aspect in learning English. A little mistake in pronouncing a word will make a different meaning and cause misunderstanding between the speaker and listener. In learning English, one of the most difficult things that students always find is pronunciation. Therefore, he chooses the topic in this study due to lack of attention of the students to master pronunciation in their learning process. Besides, the subject of this study is very interesting to investigate since there is no empirical data at SMP N 2 Jepara showing that a research on this topic has ever been done.

1.3 Statements of the Problem

In line with the numerous problems in the background of this research, there are three questions which are intended to be answered:

1) how well do the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara pronounce English words introduced in the government textbook?,

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1.4 Objectives of the Study

Based on the problems stated above, the objectives of the study are to find out:

1) how well the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara pronounce English words introduced in the government textbook,

2) the words introduced in government textbook are found difficult to be pronounced by the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The results of the study hopefully will be useful for the teacher of SMP N 2 Jepara as a description how well the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara pronounce the words introduced in the government text book, and also it can be used as an input for English teachers of SMP N 2 Jepara and other teachers to be more aware of their students’ ability in pronouncing English words. Moreover, for the writer as a would-be teacher the results can be an input as his teaching profession to be a real teacher in the future.

1.6

Limitation of the Study

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1.7

Organization of the Study

This paper consists of five chapters, as follows:

Chapter I is introduction which consists of background of the study, reasons for choosing the topic, research questions, purpose of the study, the significance, limitation, and organization of the study.

Chapter II is review of related literature. It presents review of the theoretical background which includes pronunciation, textbook, teaching-learning pronunciation at school, and curriculum. It also contains review of the previous study.

Chapter III is method of investigation. It consists of object of the study and subjects of the study which includes population and sample. Moreover, it gives the explanation of instrument for collecting data, method of collecting data, and also method of analyzing data; calculating the students` score, calculating the percentage of correct pronunciation, determining criteria of mastery level, and item difficulty.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter there are two main parts which will be discussed. They are theoretical studies and review on previous research of pronunciation.

2.1 Review of Theoretical Study

This part consists of essential theories which supported this research.

2.1.1

Pronunciation

As we know that the ability to communicate with each other is one of the main characteristics of the human beings. There are many ways in order to communicate with each other. For instance, by using a language or parts of their bodies such as nodding their head, producing facial expression, etc. Language is a more common way than the other which is used in communication. Finicchiaro in Nikelas (1988:3) says “Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols which permits all people in a given culture, to communicate or to interact”. There are four basic skills in language that can be used for communication, they are speaking, reading, listening and writing. In speaking, the crucial aspect of it is pronunciation. Misunderstanding will happen in communication if pronunciation is not mastered well.

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pronounced”. Based on the definitions above it can be concluded that pronunciation in general terms is the two ways of communication. First, the way sounds are produced by the speaker and second, the way sounds are perceived by the hearer.

In English pronunciation the common problems faced by the students are distinguishing sounds and pronouncing words. The students have difficulty when they meet a new sound or new word that they have never heard and never been trained before. As stated by Fulcher (2003:25) “At the level of word pronunciation, second language learners regularly have problems distinguishing between sounds in the new language that don’t exist in language they already know”. This problem usually makes miscommunication/misunderstanding between the speaker and listener in a real communication. The other factors may cause students to have difficulty in mastering English pronunciation. They are the curriculum which does not give an ideal portion for the students to practice their pronunciation, the process of teaching-learning pronunciation at school, textbooks that they use does not present enough material to practice pronunciation, etc. Those factors will be explained further in the next sub-chapters.

2.1.2

Textbook

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Besides the explanation above, textbook also has many functions in order to sustain the teaching learning activity. In line with the statement, Greeny and Petty, quoted by Susanti (2007:23), mention some functions of textbooks:

1) to express some views of lessons and demonstrate its application in the teaching materials,

2) to present various sources of learning which are suitable with the students needs and interest,

3) to provide the source in the expressional skills of communication, 4) to present together with the supplementary books,

5) to provide an evaluation and remedial teaching program which is suitable and useful for both teacher and students, and

6) to present exercises and practical tasks.

From the explanations above, it can be concluded that textbook is a medium for the students to get or improve their skills or knowledge. Yet, not all of the books provide materials which are needed by the students. Pronunciation, in this case, is not presented well in most English textbooks which are used by the students. As a consequence, pronunciation becomes a big problem for students.

2.1.3

Teaching-Learning Pronunciation at School

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Although the students get an English subject at school, they still have big problems in order to pronounce English words. It is because in class they only learn about English structure, understanding text, and grammar. They are rarely trained to pronounce English words in order to improve their pronunciation. Therefore, they never know how to pronounce every single English word correctly because they are not taught properly. Hence, they never care about it. Nunan (in Celce-Murcia, 2001:110) finds that the biggest challenge in the EFL classroom is lack of motivation in getting the students to speak. There is the tendency to use the first language, whereas, the students want to be able to communicate in English like native speakers do. From the statement above, it is clear that there should be a reform in the way teaching English is carried out.

Kelly (1976:309) has a notion that there are four principles in learning foreign languages. They are:

1. that learning foreign language implies the formation of new habits and skills;

2. that the only really natural method of taking foreign language is to teach oral skills before written;

3. the students should work out for himself the grammar of a new structure before seeing the official analysis; and

4. one should take account of cultural facts in learning a language.

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through active learning, students will easily master a foreign language pronunciation, which is part of speaking. Therefore, in this case, teachers should be able to create an active teaching-learning process in order to ease students in mastering English pronunciation. There is a statement from a student who learns a foreign language, “I think the most important is learn from life and practice through real life conversation” (http://iteslt.org/). However, it will be a serious problem when learners keep on the wrong habit of pronunciation as shared by an English learner that “A big problem is that what I learned about the pronunciation of some words was wrong and it has become a bad habit to pronounce those words in a wrong way and I even do not notice it” (http://iteslt.org/).

From the explanations above, it is clear that teachers should be able to create an active teaching-learning process and also pronunciation should get a proper proportion in teaching learning English in order to increase students’ ability. Talking about the proportion, it will be discussed further on the sub-chapter below.

2.1.4

Curriculum

Curriculum in educational system plays a crucial role. It is the major concern of a professional teacher in organizing all educational activities in order to reach the objectives of education. According to Clay (1992:87) “curriculum is a course of study offered in a school, college, etc”. In line with Clay, Winecoff (1989:4) states that “Curriculum is generally defined as a plan developed to facilitate the teaching and learning process under the direction and guidance of a social, college, or university and its staff members”.

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(1) A curriculum is intentions, or plans.

(2) A curriculum is not activities but plans, or a blueprint, for activities. (3) A curriculum contains many other kinds of intentions, such as what

learning students are to develop, the mean of evaluation….required of teachers.

(4) A curriculum involves formal intentions….it does not include random, unplanned, or nonlearning activities.

(5) As an organized set of intentions....a curriculum is a system.

(6) Both education and training are referred to in the definition to avoid the misunderstanding that occurs if one is omitted.

In the Indonesian educational history, there were several English curricula which have been applied, such as 1954 curriculum, 1968 curriculum, 1975 curriculum, 1984 curriculum, 1994 curriculum, 1999 curriculum, the competence-based curriculum, and now the most recent one is KTSP or School-Based Curriculum as the sources of the English teaching process, which is being used. The main reason of the curriculum alteration is to improve the quality of education and to make the students master the required knowledge or skills demanded by the curriculum easier.

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From the discussion above, it is obvious that pronunciation plays a significant role in teaching-learning English at school. Students are expected to master four language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) completely not partially.

Pronunciation as part of speaking just gets a very little portion in a curriculum. It causes the students to get difficulties in mastering English words pronunciation. Therefore, it needs the government’s awareness to reform the system in order to improve students’ mastery in English especially in pronunciation. The following sub-chapter will show several previous studies about students’ pronunciation.

2.2

Review on Previous Researches on Pronunciation

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Kusumaningrum (2008) did a similar research. Her research on the sixth semester students of the English Department of Semarang State University in the field of students’ problems in pronouncing weak form of English functions words was conducted in 2008. Here, she used Gronlund’s criterion in order to interpret her data. The mean was 20.97% which stated that the ability of the students’ pronunciation was at the level of unsatisfactory. The results were caused by the lack of knowledge of the students in pronouncing weak forms of English function words. In another study, Muis (2007), who used Tinambunan’s Criterion for his data interpretation, conducted a research on students’ error in pronouncing English voiced stop in words final position on the tenth grade students of MA AL ASROR Patemon. He found out that the students’ pronunciation was very weak. According to Muis the main problem that the students faced in pronouncing the sounds was due to the fact that sounds which were faced by the students were new and they had insufficient knowledge of the correct pronunciation.

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Table 2.1

Summary of the Studies

Case Study Score Level of Achievement

The Fifth Semester Students of the English Department of the Regular Program of the UNNES.

36.29 E (Fail)

The Sixth Semester Students of the English Department of the UNNES.

20.97 E (Fail)

MA AL ASROR Patemon 56.65 Poor

Mean 37.97 E (FAIL)

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CHAPTER 3

METHOD OF INVESTIGATION

3.1 The object of the Study

The object of the study was junior high school students’ pronunciation mastery on words introduced in the government textbook entitled Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VII published by Aneka Ilmu, particularly on English content words.

3.2 The Subjects of the Study

In this study, the subjects were the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in the academic year of 2008/2009.

3.3

Population

Johnson (1987:110) states that ‘population is the entire group of entries or persons to which the results of study are intended to apply’. In line with Johnson, Arikunto (1993:115) states that a population is the whole research subjects.

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15 Table 3.1

The Distribution of the Samples

No Class Number of students

1 1A (RSBI) 20

2 1B (RSBI) 20

3 1C (RSBI) 20

4 1D 40

5 1E 40

6 1F 40

7 1G 40

8 1H 40

9 1I 40

Total 300

3.4 Sample and Sampling Technique

Sampling is a significant element in conducting a research. Therefore, after the population was determined, the next step was to select the sample to be investigated. Gay (1987:101) defines “sampling as a process of selecting a number of individuals for a study in such a way that the individuals represent the larger group from which they were selected”.

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individual in the population has an equal chance to be selected as the member of the sample.

The procedure of choosing the sample was as follows. First, all of the students’ numbers in the attendance list of each class were written on small pieces of paper. After that the pieces of paper were rolled. Thirdly, they were put into a can, and then the can was shaken well. The desired numbers of rolled pieces of paper were dropped from the can. Finally the numbers which came out of the can were used as the respondents. The same activity was done in every class until the whole samples were met. Below are the complete results of the distribution of the sample:

Table 3.2

The Result of the Selected Samples

No Class Number of

Population

16% out

of

Population

Rounding The students’

number as the

Sample

1 1A (RSBI) 20 3,2 3 12,17,19

2 1B (RSBI) 20 3,2 3 1,7,20

3 1C (RSBI) 20 3,2 3 12,11,18

4 1D 40 6,4 6 9,11,20,26,32,33

5 1E 40 6,4 6 5,7,17,32,35,40

6 1F 40 6,4 6 5,6,10,15,17,26

7 1G 40 6,4 6 1,3,6,8,18,21

8 1H 40 6,4 6 2,5,7,21,25,27,29

8 1I 40 6,4 6 7,11,12,15,20,36

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3.5 Instrument for Collecting Data

In a research, an instrument plays an important role. It influences the process of collecting data. Arikunto (2005:110) stated that instrument is a device chosen by the researcher so that the process of collecting data or information can be easier and systematic.

The test used in this research was pronunciation test in which the words tested were taken from the words in Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VII published by Aneka Ilmu. The process of selecting the words was through the following steps: first all of content words were listed (see Appendix 1) and then secondly, if there was a word appearing twice or even more, it was counted once.

3.5.1 The Data of Words

Based on the observation above, there were 564 content words which consisted of 350 nouns, 124 verbs, 70 adjectives, and 20 adverbs. Table 3.3 below shows the complete results.

Table 3.3

The Words Found in Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VII

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3.5.2 Reducing Population of Test Items

Based on the table above, of course it was impossible to test all the words, consequently sampling technique was required in this research in choosing the words that would be tested. In this research just 10% out of the total words (564) were taken as the representative words and a purposive random sampling technique was used in choosing the words.

The technique of sampling was purposive because the samples were chosen directly, considering word frequency of occurrence. It means that the words which had high frequency of occurrence, in this case, at least more than 5 times in the book would be directly chosen as the sample.

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Table 3.4

The Five Words of Adverb which had the Highest Frequency

Appearance

No Words The frequency appearance

1 never 22

2 here 11

3 always 11

4 usually 11

5 often 8

From the table above, based on the principal of purposive sampling technique the word “never” automatically belongs to the sample of the research. In fact, we need two samples and one was automatically fulfilled, so the other word was taken from the lower frequency after “never”, but there were more than one word having the same frequency which were “here”, “always”, and “usually”. It means that they had an equal chance to be the other sample. Hence, random sampling technique was applied for choosing the second sample of those words. Finally after the words “here”, “always”, and “usually” were randomized, the word “always” accompanied “never” as the samples of adverb.

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20 Table 3.5

The Words Selected as the Sample

Part of speech

Total number

of words

10% out of

population Rounding The words’ number as

the sample

Noun 350 35 35 22, 30, 31, 34, 46, 63, 88,

90, 94, 95, 109, 113, 132, 139, 148, 194, 197, 204, 211, 230, 240, 264, 265, 272, 285, 286,

304, 305, 313, 318, 320, 326, 330, 347, 350.

Verb 124 12, 4 12 364, 377, 392, 403, 402,

408, 411, 419, 420, 459, 458, 473.

Adjective 70 7 7 477, 478, 506, 511, 512,

523, 524.

Adverb 20 2 2 548, 558.

Total 564 56,4 56 56

3.5.3 Arranging Population of Test Items

The test of the vocabulary pronunciation was not arranged into specific procedures, the words were only grouped based the part of speech (see Appendix 5).

3.6 Method of Collecting Data

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1) coming to the class that was prepared for the test, 2) checking the students’ attendance,

3) giving information to the students about the test,

4) preparing some empty cassettes and a recorder to record the students’ pronunciation,

5) asking them one by one to move to language laboratory , 6) giving the student the list of English words that were tested, 7) asking them to read the words and then record their pronunciation, 8) taking the results home.

3.7 Method of Analyzing Data

After the data were collected they were analyzed. In analysing the data, the procedures were as follows:

3.7.1

Calculating Students` Score

The procedures for calculating students` score were: 1) playing the recorder,

2) listening to the students’ pronunciation,

3) transcribing the students’ pronunciation into phonetic transcription, 4) determining whether the students’ pronunciation was correct or wrong,

5) giving score of one for the correct pronunciation and a score of zero for the wrong pronunciation.

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22 Table 3.6

The Table of Score Analysis

Students’ Code

Items’ Numbers

∑

RCA

∑

MCA

1 2 3 ... ... ... ... ... 56

S1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 30 56

S2 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 27 56

S3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 29 56

S4 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …

S5 ... ... ... ... ... ... .... ... ... ... …

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... …

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ….

S-45 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ….

Yn 0.

45 0. 40

0.

39 … … … …

NCI

42 41 39

… … … ….

∑

RCA

2309

MCI

45 45 45 45 45 45 … … ….

.

∑

MCA 2510

3.7.2

Calculating the Scores of Correct Pronunciations

Based on the data above, in order to know the percentage of the correct pronunciation of the students, therefore the formula below was used:

∑

=

MCA RCA

X

x 100

in which:

X = the percentage of students’ score.

∑

RCA = the sum of respondents’ correct answer, and

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3.7.3

Determining Criterion of Mastery Level

After knowing the correct percentage of the students’ pronunciation. Then, the writer determined the students’ mastery level by using one of the criteria below:

a) Mastery Level by Harris (1969:134)

Student’s Achievement

Test Score Level of Achievement 80-100 Good to Excellent

60-70 Average to good

50-59 Poor to average

0-49 Poor

b) Mastery Level by Tinambunan (1988:129)

Percentage of correct answer Grade Level achievement 93% 100% A (outstanding) outstanding achievement 85% 92% B (very good) above average achievement 75% 84% C (satisfactory) average achievement 60% 74% D (very weak) below achievement

Below 60% E (fail) insufficient achievement

c) Mastery Level by Based on Curriculum 2004

Score Criteria

85-100 A (Excellent)

72-84 B (Good)

60-71 C (Average)

50-59 D (Poor)

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From many kinds of criterion of mastery level above, finally, the criterion based on curriculum 2004 was used in this research because it was closer to being fair than others. Besides, the criterion based on curriculum 2004 also had the clear explanation of the mastery level.

3.7.4

Determining Item Difficulty Level

After determining the students’ mastery level, then the writer determined the students` difficulties in pronouncing English words by using the formula below:

ID =

∑

Respondent ni

;

in which,

ID = the index of item difficulty level,

ni = the mean, and

Σ Respondent = the number of respondents. In order to get ni or the mean, the formula below was used:

ni =

∑

Respondent

∑

RCA

The results were then referred to the criterion recommended by Arikunto as follows;

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25

CHAPTER 4

DATA ANALYSIS

Chapter IV deals with the analysis, computation and interpretation of the data of the study. This chapter is designed in order to answer the research questions through the data analysis.

4.1 Data Analysis

After gathering the data, then the writer analyzed the data based on the procedures elaborated in Chapter III. The data analysis answered the first question of this research which is “How well do the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara pronounce English words introduced in the government textbook?. The steps in analyzing the data were as follows:

4.1.2 Playing and Listening to the Recorded Data of the Students’ Pronunciation Test as Many Times as Necessary

4.1.3 Transcribing the Students’ Pronunciation into Phonetic Transcription Based on Hornby’s Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (see Appendix 6) 4.1.4 Judging the Students’ Pronunciation Whether It Is Correct or Incorrect

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4.1.7 Computing the Students’ Mastery Level

From the table on the previous page, there were 56 words pronounced by 45 students. Therefore, there were 2520 phonetic transcriptions used as the data. Afterwards, in order to know the mastery level of each student, the writer measured the average proportion by using the formula below:

The average proportion (X) =

∑

MCA

RCA

X 100

= 2520 1845

X 100

= 73.21

4.1.8 Interpreting the Result of the Data

From the computation above, it can be seen that the average proportion of the correct pronunciations was 73.21. It means that based on the mastery level stated by curriculum 2004, the students’ level of mastery in pronouncing English content words belong to the good level.

Furthermore, based on the result above, it can be interpreted that, in general, respondents mastered the pronunciation of English content words stated in the textbook that they used.

4.2 Computing the Index Difficulty Level of the Test of the Study

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of the test items of this research. The procedures in measuring the difficulty level of the test items were as follows:

1) Measuring the mean of the result by using the formula below:

ni =

∑

Respondent

∑

RCA

= 45 1845

= 41

2) Based on the computation above, then measuring the index of item difficulty level with the formula below:

ID =

∑

Respondent ni

= 45 41

= 0.91

4.2.1 Interpreting the Index Difficulty Level of the Test of the Study

Finally, from the computation above, the result showed that the index of difficulty level was 0.91. Furthermore, in the referring to the level of difficulty proposed by Arikunto, it was in rate 0.70 < ID < 1.00, which means that in general, the test items were easy.

4.2.2 Computing the Index Difficulty Level of Each Item of the Test

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In order to answer the question above, the difficulty level of each item had to be identified. The procedures were as follows:

1) Counting the frequency of each word pronounced correctly by the students by using Table 4.1.

2) Computing the index difficulty level of each item using the formula below:

n

Y

=

MCI NCI

;

in which; n

Y : Level of Difficulty of Individual Item NCI : Number of Correct Item

MCI: Maximum Correct Item

1) Determining the level of difficulty of each word. Some of the computations are presented below:

1) Test item no.1

Y1

=

MCI NCI

= 45 44

= 0.97

Based on the level of difficulty proposed by Arikunto, this test belongs to easy. 2) Test item no.2

Y2

=

(38)

29 =

45 39

= 0.86

Based on the level of difficulty proposed by Arikunto, it also belongs to easy. Furthermore, the complete results of the index difficulty of each item can be seen on Table 4.1.

4.2.3 Interpreting the Result of the Computation

Based on the computation above, here the writer found three difficult words introduced in the government textbook which were found difficult to be pronounced by the respondents of this study. They are favorite, garden, and word. Furthermore, the difficulties faced by the students in pronouncing the words are presented in the following explanation.

(1) The first difficult word was favorite. It becomes one of the difficult words for the students due to a closing diphthong in it. Instead of pronouncing /eɪ/ the students tend to pronounce /a:/ or /ʌ/ . There was also a tendency to pronounce /ɔ/ instead of /ə/. The correct pronunciation is /ˈfeɪvərɪt/, but the results showed many variations, such as /fa:vɔrɪt/, /fʌvɔrɪt/, and /fəvɔrɪt/. (2) The second word, garden, contains a sound of /r/ which is a fricative

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30

(3) Next, the last word was word. There was a tendency to pronounce /ɔ/ and /ə/ instead of /ɜ:/. The correct pronunciation is /wɜːd/, but the students pronounced this word using their own pronunciation, such as /wɔd/, /wəd/, and /wɔt/.

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31

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

After analyzing and interpreting the data of the study in the previous chapter, there are some conclusions that can be drawn:

1) overall, based on the criterion stated in curriculum 2004 the majority of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in the academic year of 2008/2009 were good on the average in pronouncing English words stated in Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class VII published by Aneka Ilmu. From 2520 utterances, the respondents successfully pronounced 1845 utterances, or 73.21%;

2) there were three words found in their textbook which were difficult for the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in the academic year of 2008/2009 to pronounce. They were favorite, garden, and word;

3) the index of difficulty level of the test of the study was considered to be easy;

4) the students’ achievement in this study may be influenced by several factors.

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Jepara belongs to RSBI where the teachers have a good quality especially the English teachers. They can construct a good and effective teaching-learning process, which helps students to learn English easily.

5.2 Suggestions

After drawing some conclusions, here, the writer would like to propose some suggestions which hopefully will be useful for the teachers and the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in the academic year of 2008/2009 in mastering English pronunciation:

1) the teachers can make some variations in English extracurricular or even add the programs in order to improve their students’ skill in mastering English especially in pronunciation, and attract the students whose pronunciation skill is unsatisfactory;

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arikunto, S. 2002. Prosedur Penelitian. Yogyakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta.

Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan. 2006. Standar Isi dan Kompetensi Lulusan Untuk Satuan Pendidikan Menengah SMP-MTS-SMPLB (Peraturan Mendiknas No. 22 dan 23 Tahun 2006). Jakarta: Bp. Cipta Jaya.

Clay, Richard. 1992. Dictionary of English Culture. Britain: Longman Group UK Limited.

Celce-Murcia, Marianne. 2001. Teaching English as Second or Foreign Language. USA: Heinle and Heinle.

Depdikbud, 2003. Kurikulum 2004: Pedoman Penilaian. Jakarta. Depdikbud. Fulcher, Gleen. 2003. Testing Second Language-Speaking. London: Pearson

Education Limited.

Gay, L. R. 1987. Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Application. Columbus: Merril Publising.

Gareis, Elizabeth. 2005. Pronunciation Textbook Discrepancies. Forum, Volume 43, Number 2.

Hammond, Jenny. 1992. English for Social Purpose, A Handbook for Teachers of Adult Literacy. Sydney: Australian Print Group.

Harris, D. P. 1969. Testing Language as Second Language. New York: Mc. Graw Hill Book Company.

Hornby, A.S. 1987. Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English. London: Oxford University Press.

Johnson, D. M. 1987. Approaches to Research in Second Language Learning. Rinehart: Longman Group.

Kelly, Louis G. 1976. 25 Centuries of Language Teaching. USA. Newbiry House Publisher.

Kholidah, Anis. 2003. Problems in Pronouncing Weak Forms the Case of the Fifth Student of the English Department of Semarang State Univeersity in the Academic Year 2001/2002. Semarang: Unpublished.

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Kusumaningrum, Erna. 2008. Final Project: Students’ Ability in Pronouncing Weak Form of English Function Words (A Case of Sixth Semester Students of English Department of the State University of Semarang). Semarang: Unpublished.

Muis, Ahmad, 2008. Final Project: Students’ Errors in Pronouncing English Voiced Stops in Words Final Position: ACase of the Grade Students of MA AL Asror Patemon Gunung Pati Semarang in Academic Year 2007-2008. semarang Unpublished.

Mujiyanto, Yan. 2007. PetunjukPenulisan Skripsi. Semarang: Universitas Negeri Semarang.

Nikelas, Syahwin. 1988. Pengantar Linguistik Untuk Guru Bahasa . Jakarta: P2LPTK.

Nunan, David. 2003. Practical English Language Teaching. New York: Mc. Graw Hill.

Otlowaski, Marcus. 1998. Pronunciation: What Are the Expectations? Online at http://www.iteslj.org/articles/Otlowaski-Pronunciation.html.

Pratt, D. 1980. Curriculum Design and Development. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich Inc.

Ramelan. 1994. English Phonetics. Semarang: IKIP Press.

Sudirman, Anselmus. 2002. Mastery of English. Online at http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2002/01/mastery-english.html.

Susanti, Rini. 2007. Final Project: The Grammatical Cohesion of Reading Text of Seventh Year Junior High School Textbook “Smart Steps” Published by Ganeca Exact. Semarang: Unpublished.

Tinambunan, Wilmar. 1988. Evaluation of Student Achievement. Jakarta: Depdikbud.

Vitanova, Gergana. 2002. Reflective Practice in Pronunciation Learning. Online at http://www.iteslj.org/articles/Vitanova-Pronunciation.html

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Appendix 1

The Data of the Words

A. NOUN

No Words The frequency

of appearance No Words

(46)

37

(47)

38

(48)

39

(49)

40

The

frequency of appearance 167

168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175

librarian library life lion lips lunch machine magazine man

3 10 1 1 1 7 3 6 14

342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350

wife wind window wing woman word writer yard year

(50)

41 B. VERB

No Words The frequency

of appearance No Words

(51)

42

(52)

43 C. ADJECTIVES

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44 D. ADVERB

No Words The frequency of appearance 545

546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564

absolutely actually ahead always carefully easily hard here highly immediately inside loudly near never normally often quickly seldom sometime usually

1 1 6 12

4 1 3 19

2 1 1 1 1 22

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45

Appendix 2

The Data of Words of Noun Which Belong to the Samples

In order to choose the thirty-five words of noun for the samples, beside used a purposive random technique, here also used a random sampling technique. There are six words which were randomized, because they have a similar frequency appearance (17 times). They are cat, chicken, girl, place, shoes and only three of them will belong to the sample. Finally, nose, place, and shoes were selected to complete the thirty-five samples of noun. The table below is the thirty-five words of noun which become as the samples.

No Words The frequency of occurrence

1 Hobby 64

2 name 52

3 School 45

4 Uncle 40

5 Hair 37

6 time 37

7 House 36

8 Garden 33

9 Mother 33

10 father 32

11 Friend 31

12 year 29

13 Class 28

14 Teacher 28

15 Month 27

16 Room 26

17 Word 25

18 Bedroom 24

19 Book 23

20 Brother 23

21 Text 23

22 Explanation 22

23 Rice 22

24 Student 22

25 Boy 21

26 eyes 21

(55)

46

28 Sister 20

29 Day 19

30 Favorite 19

31 Street 18

32 tree 18

33 nose 17

34 Place 17

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47

Appendix 3

The Data of Words of Verb Which Belong to the Samples

In order to choose twelve words of verb as the samples, it only used purposive sampling technique. The table below is the twelve words of noun which become as the samples.

No Words The frequency of occurrence

1 Like 72

2 Look 56

3 go 36

4 Tell 35

5 Please 33

6 play 30

7 call 28

8 meet 26 9 think 26 10 Describe 25

11 Let 25

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48

Appendix 4

The Data of Words of Adjective Which Belong to the Samples

In order to select the seven words of adjective as the samples. Here, only used a purposive sampling technique. The table below is the seven words of adjective which become as the samples

No Words The frequency of occurrence 1 Beautiful 41

2 nice 38

3 Good 34

4 New 28

5 Fine 26

6 Handsome 22

(58)

49

Appendix 5

The Distribution of the Samples

Data number Words Test number

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50

Data number Words Test number

Verb 364 377

392 403 402 408 411 419 420 459 458 473

call describe

go let like look meet play please think tell work

36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Adjective 477

478 506 511 512 523 524

beautiful big fine good handsome new nice

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 Adverb 548

558

always never

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTSâ PRONUNCIATION MASTERY ON WORDS INTRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOK (In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009).