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The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Language is used as a means of communication that cannot be separated from our social life. Successful communication occurred when the message is conveyed and understood well by the listeners. In oral communication, pronunciation has become one of the major components because it will determine whether the listener can comprehend the information clearly or not (Moedjito, 2016). In line with Moeldjito, Gilakjani (2016) states that in a conversation, pronunciation is a big factor in making communication successful.
Pronunciation is the production of sound in a particular language in an acceptable and understandable way (Asmaradhani, 2011). As long as the speaker produces a sound of a particular word that is uttered clearly, it is called as pronunciation. Then, when someone utters a word that cannot be understood, it would be called as a mispronunciation. There will be a misunderstanding that occurs between speaker and listener without an appropriate pronunciation. For example, the word “except” may be pronounced as /əkˈsɛpt/ instead of /ɪkˈsɛpt/
which these sounds will result in different meanings. This mispronunciation will make the speaker fails in conveying the message and makes the listener get confused in interpreting the meaning. As Arslan (2013) also states that in non -
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 native EFL area , inadequate pronunciation skills may result in the failure of spoken communication.
In learning a foreign or second language there are several aspects that must be learned, including pronunciation. According to Lee et al. (2019), there are more than remembering a new collection of vocabulary and a few grammatical principles is involved in studying a foreign or second language. They argue that a number of research have emphasized the importance of pronunciation. Effective communication is impossible when non-native speakers’ pronunciation falls below a certain threshold level, even when they have good vocabulary and grammar (Derwing & Munro, 2015; Levis, 2018). Hago & Khan (2015) state that pronunciation is one of several most crucial parts of learning English as a second or foreign language. In line with Hago & Khan, Egwougu (2012) also states that pronunciation skill is essential to be taught to English learners as it holds a significant contribution to oral communication proficiency.
The sources of standard pronunciation in the field of economic, historical, political and military are British Pronunciation or RP (Received Pronunciation) and American Pronunciation or GA (General American) (Howlader, 2010;
Tahereen, 2015). However, nowadays,the focus of the pronunciation model shifts from standard to concepts of intelligibility pronunciation (Atli & Bergil, 2012;
Derwing & Munro, 2015; Shabani & Ghasemian, 2017). The term intelligibility itself is defined of being understood by the interlocutors (Derwing, 2010;
Murphy, 2014). In the field of education, intelligibility in spoken English is one of the ultimate goals of learning English as a foreign language (Zafary, 2021).
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 There are two pronunciation features that influence a speaker’s intelligibility (Wang, 2020). They are segmental and suprasegmental features or aspects. Vowels and consonants are examples of segmental features. Meanwhile stress, rhythm and intonation are examples of suprasegmental features. This research focuses on investigating the students’ pronunciation accuracy in the field of segmental features.
In spite of its important role, pronunciation teaching is still underemphasized in English teaching- learning (Darcy, 2018). Meanwhile, Suwartono (2014) identifies pronunciation as the most marginalized aspect of English teaching -learning. According to Suwartono, the neglect of teaching pronunciation may be due to the apparent complexity of English pronunciation and a misconception about what the content of a pronunciation course should be.
In the meantime, the teachers have confusion about the way pronunciation should be taught.
On the other hand, English language learners are still struggling with their pronunciation (Eka, 2017; Susanto, 2017). According to Izzah & Sukrisno (2017), one of the most difficult problems faced by non-native English speakers is pronunciation. Pronunciation is one of the severe issues in English language learning that can be the cause of the learners’ poor communicative power (Ali &
Segaran, 2013). It becomes very challenging for the learners since they are rarely in touch with the practice of English pronunciation in the classroom. In Indonesia, in which English is a foreign language, the students predominantly use the language only when they are at school. For that reason, teachers play a substantial
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 role in the pronunciation of the learners since they are the one that facilitates the learning. The students’ errors and mistakes in pronunciation can persist because of the teacher’s ignorance, but the students’ pronunciation can also be improved if their teacher pays attention to it.
Students' perceptions and attitudes have a big role in English language learning, especially in achieving competency and fluency in pronunciation (Zafary, 2021). According to Zafary perception is how we see things depending on our particular choices or ideas. Walgito in Sugiyanti (2014) defines perception as the process in which people think about certain phenomenon that is preceded by the sensory organs. In other words, perception is the outcome of the brain process in understanding or judging a thing that occurs in the surrounding.
Meanwhile Agata (2015) defines perception as how we see things. In this research, students' perception refers to students' understandings or opinions on English pronunciation accuracy.
Attitudes can influence language learning since students with a negative attitude may not achieve satisfactory (Almaqrn & Alshabeb, 2017). They add that characteristics of students can influence their ability in learning a second or foreign language. They believe that there has been a specific correlation between positive attitudes towards the target language (TL) and learners’ competence in pronunciation. Zulkefly & Razali (2019) state that it is very important for students to have positive attitudes to be better language learners
Knowing the significant correlation between perception, attitude and the language learning specifically in learning pronunciation, this study aims in
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 finding out the correlation between the students’ perception and attitude towards the pronunciation accuracy. The researcher is willing to present data about the correlation of Junior High School students’ perception and attitude towards their pronunciation accuracy achievement. Hopefully, the result of this study will give generalization to the overall study of the same field.With hope, the result will be significant and beneficial as it will reveal what to improve as well as what to overcome in the field.
To get the data of the correlation between the perception and attitude toward pronunciation accuracy, the researcher will hold a research in the level of Junior High School students. The subject is eight grade students in five Junior High Schools in Adipala sub- districts, Cilacap regency in the academic year of 2021/2022.
B. Research Questions
The problems of this research are formulated as follows:
1. How is the perception of the students towards the English pronunciation accuracy?
2. How is the attitude of the students towards the English pronunciation accuracy?
3. How is the students’ pronunciation accuracy performance ?
4. How is the correlation between the students’ perception and their pronunciation accuracy?
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 5. How is the correlation between the students’ attitude and their
pronunciation accuracy?
6. How is the correlation between the students’ perception and attitude towards their pronunciation accuracy?
C. Research Objectives
1. To find out the perception of the students towards the English pronunciation accuracy.
2. To find out the attitude of the students towards the English pronunciation accuracy.
3. To find out the result of the students’ pronunciation accuracy test.
4. To find out the correlation between the students’ perception and their pronunciation accuracy.
5. To find out the correlation between the students’ attitude and their pronunciation accuracy.
6. To figure out the correlation between the students’ perception and attitude towards their pronunciation accuracy.
D. Research Contribution
The research can be used as an additional reference for the next researchers who are interested in investigating the perception and attitude and their relationship towards the pronunciation accuracy of the students in English and the background which may follow it. This research can also give teachers knowledge about the students’ pronunciation competence on average. By knowing the
The Correlation Between…Supriatin Agustini, MPBI UMP, 2022 students’ performance on pronunciation, teachers can design suitable material as well as methods and strategies to have better English language learning.
E. Research Limitation
This research is about the students’ perception and attitude, two factors affecting pronunciation accuracy, as the variables. For the pronunciation accuracy, the main focus of this research is the segmental features. According to Collins and Mees (2013), segmental features have a great impact on intelligibility and they should be given emphasized in pronunciation teaching. Vowels and consonants are examples of segmental features of pronunciation.
