English Education Study Program- STKIP PGRI West Sumatera

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STUDENTS’ PRONUNCIATION IN SOUNDING DIPHTHONGS AT FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH

DEPARTMENT STKIP PGRI WEST SUMATERA

Silvia Ade Andriani, S.Pd

¹⁾

,M. Khairi Ikhsan, M.Pd

²⁾

, Astuti Pratiwi, M.Pd

³⁾

1)Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (STKIP) PGRI Sumatera Barat

E-mail: [email protected]

E-mail:

ABSTRACT

This research aims to analyze how the students in pronouncing sounds of centering diphthongs and closing diphthongs and found the difficult diphthong pronounced by the students.

The research was conducted on a first year semester English Language Study Program, College of Teacher Training and Education, PGRI West Sumatra. The researcher chose the first semester students for their own gain Pronunciation courses. The sampling technique based on the total sampling, which all the participants of class 2016 A, 2016 B and 2016 C which totaled 91 participants. In collecting the data, researchers recorded the sound of the participants voice, and the results of this research indicated by how the students in pronouncing sounds of diphthongs centering diphthongs and closing diphthongs based on theory and correct phonetic writing.

Researchers describe the right and wrong the students in pronouncing some words related to diphthong centering diphthongs, fear [Fɪәr] Dare [Deәr] Poor [Pʊәr], and closing diphthongs, Saw [saʊ] Boy [bɔɪ] lime [laɪm ] Maybe [meɪbi] Close [kloʊs]. The difficult diphthong pronounced by the participants is centering diphthong mainly diphthong [eә] and [ɪә].

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis bagaimana siswa dalam melafalkan bunyi diftong tengah (centering diphthong) dan diftong penutup (closing diphthong) serta menemukan bunyi diftong tersulit yang dilafalkan oleh siswa. Penelitian ini dilakukan terhadap mahasiswa semester satu, Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, PGRI Sumatera Barat. Penulis memilih siswa semester pertama karena mereka sudah mendapatkan mata kuliah Pronunciation. Teknik pengambilan sampel berdasarkan total sampling, yaitu seluruh partisipan kelas 2016 A, 2016 B, dan 2016 C yang mana berjumlah 91 siswa. Dalam mengumpulkan data, peneliti merekam suara partisipan, dan hasil dari penelitian ini ditunjukan berdasarkan bagaiman siswa dalam melafalkan bunyi diftong tengah (centering diphthong) dan diftong penutup (closing diphthong) berdasarkan teori dan tulisan fonetik yang benar. Peneliti menggambarkan Benar dan salahnya siswa dalam melafalkan beberapa kata yang berhubungan dengan diftong tengah (centering diphthong )fear [ Fɪәr ] Dare [ Deәr ] Poor [ Pʊәr ], dan diftong penutup (closing diphthong) Saw [ saʊ ] Boy [ bɔɪ ] lime [ laɪm ] Maybe [ meɪbi ] Close [ kloʊs ].

Bunyi diftong tersulit yang dilafalkan oleh mahasiswa ialah diftong tengah (centering diphthong) terutama diftong [eә] and [ɪә].

Kata Kunci: Pengucapan. Diftong tengah, Diftong Penutup

INTRODUCTION

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2 In speaking English, we should be

able to pronounce words correctly. As a matter of fact, pronunciation is one of the important aspect in speaking skill.

Pronunciation is viewed as a sub-skill of speaking. Fraser (in Tantri: 2013) explains that being able to speak English includes a number of sub-skills of which pronunciation is by far the most important (other sub-skills of speaking include vocabulary, grammar, and pragmatics).

Pronunciation is the act or result of producing the sounds at speech, articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability. According to Roach ( 2000 ), pronunciation is the way in wich language is spoken, a way of the person speaks the words of language. In learning pronunciation, students should know about vowels, conconants and diphthongs. Correct pronunciation is one important part in learning speaking English beacuse it help the speaker to communicate with the listener.

Fraser in tantri:2013) argues that with good pronunciation, a speaker is intelligible despite other errors; with poor pronunciation, understanding a speaker will be very difficult, despite accuracy in other areas. from the beginning till the end of the teaching learning process.

In indonesia, the students always have problem with pronunciation, most of them just focus on grammar in learning process. It makes them forget about pronunciation and have a problem in pronouncing it. There is not need to be really similar with the native in pronouncing the words, but it should be corrected to avoid misunderstanding.

Ramelan (1999:84-98) English diphthong is divided into two types. Those are English closing diphthong and English centering diphthong. closing diphthong consists of [eɪ], [oʊ], [aɪ], [aʊ], and [oɪ]. The English centering diphthong consists of [ɪә], [eә], and [ʊә].

Based on the resracher experienced and interview with the first years students at English department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera, the researcher found that some of they were not familiar with diphthongs. And some of them could not pronounce it.

In order to find out the truth about students’ in pronounciation, the researcher feels interested in doing research about an analysis of the first year students’

pronounciation in sounding diphthongs, specifically centering and closing diphthong at English department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera.

RESEARCH METHOD

Regarding to the purpose of the research, the design of this research would be a descriptive research. According to Gay,et.al (2006:160), descriptive research involves collecting data in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the curent status of the subject of the research. Khotari (2004:2-3) states that the major purpose of descriptive research is to describe the state of affairs as it exists at present. It means that descriptive research concerns to describe or investigate the data to answer question about phenomena that to be subject of the research.

In this research, The participants of this research are the first year semester students of the English Department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera. The researcher chooses the first semester students because the students are learning Pronunciation

.

The reseacher chosen the participants using Total Sampling. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (2009:102) for descriptive studies a sample with minimum number of 100 is essential. In this reseach, participant the researcher take total sampling which whole of the students become of this research.

Gay and Airasian ( 2000:210) descriptive data are usually collected through observation, interviews, personal and official documents, photographs, recordings, drawing, e-mail, and informal conversation. For this research the researcher used oral pronunciation test, to records students pronunciation that contain centering diphthong and closing diphthong.

In this research, the researcher used the records as the instrument.To gathering the data in the field, the researcher did some steps. First is collect the record from first year students English Department. The record come from students performance in pronouncing words that related to centering

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3 and closing diphthongs. The researcher

recorded the student sounds when tehir performance. The second step is the researcher listen the recorded in several time. Its purpose to make sure that data is needed by researcher. The last step is the researcher analyzed the students’

pronunciation based on record that help the researcher to found students pronunciation in sounding centering and closing diphthongs at first year students of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera.

FINDING AND DISCUSSION

In this research, the resracher has two research question,they are The first research question was how is the first year students’ pronunciation in sounding centering and closing diphthong. Based on the data, it can bee seen that participants in pronouncing centering diphthong and closing diphthong still influenced by inconsestency between the written in English and the sounds, because of that some participants pronounced words by written only, not sounding the diphthongs, or did not pronounced the word because dont’

know how to pronounced it. The second research question was what is the most difficult of centering or closing diphthongs pronounced by first year students at English Department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera.

Based on the data, it can be seen that participants difficult in pronouncing centering diphthongs that consist of sound [ɪә], [eә], and [ʊә], the researcher found based on transcriptiont participants pronounced words that related to centering diphthong was difficult in gliding sound vowel [e] to sound vowel [ә], So the final sound that researcher hear one vowel only especially sound vowel [e] and many participants omit the sound vowel [ә].

Collecting the data was done at English Department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera, which located in campus 1 Jl.

Gunung Pangilun Padang, Kec. Nanggalo, Kab. West Sumatera. There were 1 lecturer who taught the first year students of English Department in teaching pronunciation subject. Then there are 91 students in 2016/2017 academic year that devide into three class ( class A, B, and C ). Each of class have different amount, class A total 31 students, class B total 32 students, and class C 28 students. The researcher used recording

to collect the studentns’ voice in sounding diphthongs that consist of some words. The researcher came in all of class to record the students one by one as participants.

Moreover, collect the data was star from class B at 10 December, class A 14 December, and the last is class C at 15 December 2017. The researcher take the data after all of the students got pronunciation material about centering diphthong and closing diphthong from the lecturer.

1. How is the first year students’

pronunciation in sounding centering and closing diphthongs

Table 4.4 Participants transcription in pronouncing diphthong [aʊ]

Based on theory Ramelan, 1999:89, Diphthong [aʊ] is a front-back closing full diphthong. In the production of [aʊ] in [ saʊ ] Sow, start with the position of the mouth for [a] , that is open and then change it to the position needed for [ʊ], that is to say that the mouth opening becomes closing. First participant in pronouncing word Sow start with the position of mouth for [o] and then closing with [o] so that participant pronounced Sow [so]. The researcher think that participant did not know how to pronounced Sow correctly and difficult in sounding dphthong [aʊ].

Table 4.1 Participants transcription in pronouncing diphthong [ɪə]

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4 Based on theory Ramelan, 1999:95,

Diphthong [ɪә] is a high-front centering diphthong. In the production of [ɪә] in [ Fɪәr ] Fear, start with the tounge in the position of [i], that is hight front and then change to the position of [ә], which is central vowel.

But participants did not pronounced the words like the direction it self, participant only start with the tounge in the position of [i] without made a movement to the position of [ә], as the result participant pronouncing word Fear [fi:r] with long voice in sounding [i] and did not pronounced of [ә] however as we know the correct pronunciation of fear [ Fɪәr ].

2. What is the most dfficult of centering or closing diphthongs pronounced by participants

There were difficult diphthong when participants pronouncing some words that related to centering diphthong and closing dphthong. When collecting the data, researcher found that, eventough the participants get the material about diphthongs and practice with the lecturer how to pronounced word consist of centering diphthong and closing diphthong, participants stilll difficult to pronounced it caused less in practice or the words that have given by researcher was strange for them, especially in pronouncing centering diphthong, sound [ɪә], [eә], and [ʊә]. Based on the analyzed the most difficult diphthong was in centering diphthong especially in sounding diphthong [ɪә] and [eә]. Diphthong [ɪә] is a high-front centering diphthong then it glides away in the direction of the central vowel [ә]. The two lips are in neutral position during the vowel glide. Table 4.9 Diphthong [ɪә] produced by students in class C in pronouncing centering diphthong.

To finding the answer for the research question. Based on the theory diphthong is a sound made by gliding the

position of the tounge from one vowel to another vowel. But the result from anlyzed show that not all participants be able in made gliding the position of the tongue in pronouncing centering diphthong and closing diphthongs, The first research question was how is the first year students’

pronunciation in sounding centering and closing diphthongs, for example participants pronunciation in sounding diphthong [ɪә]

word Fear [fi:r] with long voice in sounding [i] and did not pronounced of [ә] however as we know the correct pronunciation of fear [ Fɪәr ] and then Based on theory, Diphthong [aʊ] is a front-back closing full diphthong.

In the production of [aʊ] in [ saʊ ] Sow, start with the position of the mouth for [a] , that is open and then change it to the position needed for [ʊ], that is to say that the mouth opening becomes closing, But participant in pronouncing word Sow start with the position of mouth for [o] and then closing with [o] so that participant pronounced Sow [so]. The researcher think that participant did not know how to pronounced Sow correctly and difficult in sounding dphthong [aʊ].

Based on the analysis above, the researcher found that the way of participants pronunciation in soundig still influenced by inconsistency between written and sound of English and lack of knowledge about diphthongs.

The second research question was what is the most dfficult of centering or closing diphthongs pronounced by participants, based on the analysis, the researcher found that the most difficult to pronouncing by the participants was centering diphthong especially in sounding [ɪә] and [eә] because in sounding diphthong sounding [ɪә] and [eә] many participant.

CONCLUSION

Collecting the data about students’

pronunciation in sounding diphthongs, the researcher conducted research at fisrt year students of English Department STKIP PGRI West Sumatera, to answer the research question as stated in chapter 1. The research question about how is the first year students pronunciation in sounding centering and closing diphthongs and what is the most difficult of centering or closing diphthongs pronounced by the first year students at English Department of STKIP PGRI West Sumatera.

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5 To observe the participant, the

researcher used recording of participants oral pronunciation in sounding centering diphthong and closing diphthong. After conducting the result of research, some participants do not know how to pronounce the correct sounds of diphthongs, It is caused by the inconsistency between the written words in English and the sounds. Researcher also found the most difficult in pronouncing centering diphthongs and closing diphthongs based on participnats record and transcription, participants did not used to say and practice English words in their daily conversations, and a diphthong consists of two vowels, so that diphthong is more difficult to be pronounced. In addition, they did not get pronunciation in the senior high school, so they find it difficult when they have to pronounce diphthongs correctly. The most difficult diphthongs pronounced by the participants is centering diphthong especially diphthong [ɪә] and [eә].

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researcher also express her gratitude to her advisor M.Khairi Ikhsan, M.Pd., and Astuti Pratiwi, M.Pd., who have guided her in completing and correcting the draft in this thesis. The researcher also thanks to Armilia Riza, M.Pd., as chairperson of English Department and Mayuasti, M.Pd., as secretary of English Department STKIP PGRI West Sumatera who have helped the reseracher to completing the any kinds of letter needed.

Next, the researcher also would like to express her thanks to contributor Yola Merina, S.S,M.Hum., Melvina, M.Ed., and Yendra, S.S,M.Hum.

Next, her gratitude to all of the lecturer for their support in educating the researcher since first semester until last semester of her study at STKIP PGRI West Sumatera. The researcher’s gratitude to the first year students of English Department who was being participant in this research.

The researcher realies the research report is not perfect yet, therefore the researcher the accepts advices, critics, and suggestions in order to make this become perfect.

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Educational Research Competences for Analysis and Aplication. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, inc.

Roach, Peter. 2000. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Pratical Course.

Third Edition. New York:

Cambridge University Press

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Ramelan. (1999). English Phonetics.

Semarang: CV. IKIP Semarang Press.

Tantri, N. R. 2013. “ English as a Global Language Phenomenon and the

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