Pronunciation Problems of English Segmental Sounds Among the First Graders of SMA Islam Malang

ABSTRACT   Fatimah, Siti. 2010. Pronunciation Problems of English Segmental Sounds Among the First Graders of SMA Islam Malang. Sarjana's thesis, English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Advisor: Drs. Setyadi Setyapranata, M.Pd.   Key Words: pronunciation, segmental sounds, consonants, vowels, sounds   This study is aimed to know the pronunciation problems of certain significant English segmental sounds among the first graders of SMA Islam Malang and in what position of words the problems occur. The instruments were (1) 70 words, containing 11 segmental sounds, which were put in 24 sentences; each contains two or three intended sounds in different position of words to test the students, and (2) a recorder to record the pronunciation of the students. The transcription which was used in this study is based on IPA OXFORD Advanced Learner's Dictionary seventh edition by A. S. Hornby (2005). In developing the instruments, the researcher used Syafei's book (1988) as the guidance for the most problematic sounds to be pronounced. In order to know one of the reasons of the most mispronounced sounds, the research compared the charts of vowels and consonants of English and Indonesian pronunciation. The researcher compared English and Indonesian using English Phonetic (Ramelan, 1988) and Tata Bahasa Baku Indonesia (Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1993). The results showed that the most problematic sounds to be pronounced by the students were the vowels /i:/ in initial, medial, and final positions contrasted with /ɪ/, /e/, /ə/, and /eu/; /u:/ in medial and final positions contrasted with /ʊ/, /ʌ/, /ɔ/; /æ/ in initial and medial positions contrasted with /ʌ/, /e/, /a/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /ɔ/, the aspirated consonant /p/, /t/, /k/ which appeared in initial positions of word; /θ/ which appeared in initial, medial, and final positions of word contrasted with /t/; /ð/ which appeared in final positions of word contrasted with /t/; /v/ which appeared in initial, medial, and final positions of word contrasted with /f/; /ʃ/ which appeared in initial, medial, and final positions of word contrasted with /s/; /ʒ/ which appeared in initial and medial positions of word contrasted with /g/, /dʒ/, /s/, /ʃ/. The comparison of both Indonesian and English for the most problematic words showed that one factor that might cause the pronunciation problems of English segmental sounds are: (1) There are sounds in English which are phonemic, but they are not phonemic in Indonesian, (2) There are some sounds which do not exist in Indonesian, but they exist in English, (3) There are sounds which are voiced in English but they are voiceless in Indonesian, (4) There are sounds which pronounced with aspiration in English, but not in Indonesian. Another indication of the cause is the unfamiliarity of the students toward the words. The results are hoped to be the feedback for the teachers to give model in minimal pairs to the students. Other future researchers are hoped to investigate other problems of pronunciation for supra segmental sounds and do more researches in other schools