YUSNITA SARI-FITK - Unlocked
YUSNITA SARI-FITK - Unlocked
All praise be to Allah, who bestowed upon the writer in completing this
skripsi. Peace and blessing be upon our prophet Muhammad SAW, her household,
his companions, and his faithful followers.
The writer would like to say her great honor and deepest gratitude to her
beloved parents: Usril Chaniago (her late father) and Ayani, her lovely brother:
Muhammad Firdaus, her grandparents: Husna and Rasuna Said, Hasan (her late
grandfather) and Usman who always give their love, support, motivation, and
advice to finish her study.
The writer also wants to thanks to Nida Husna, M.Pd, M.A. TESOL, as the
writer’s advisor for her time, support, advice, guidance, kindness, contribution,
and patience in correcting and helping her to finish this paper.
The writer also realizes that she would never finish writing this paper
without the help and support of some people around her. Therefore, she would
like to give special gratitude to:
1. Drs. Syauki Muchsin, M Pd., the head of English Department.
2. Drs. Nasrun Mahmud, M.Pd., who gave the advice and helped the
writer to approve the proposal of this research.
3. Neneng Sunengsih, M.Pd., the secretary of English Departmen that
gives her contribution to conduct everything, especially which related
to this research.
4. All lecturers who give their knowledge, support, advice, motivation,
kindness.
5. Irawati, M. Pd. and Drs. Moh. Khotim, M.Pd, the headmaster of
SMPN 66 Jakarta, who helped the writer to do the research.
v
6. Diah Nur Pancawati, S.Pd., Zulyetni Syawir, Amd.Pd., and
Fathurrahmah, S.Pd., as the English teachers of SMPN 66 Jakarta, who
helped the writer to conduct the research.
7. All friends in English Department, especially generation 2006, her
beloved friends Rella Agustini S.Pd, Siti Habibah Egiyantinah S.Pd,
Ovalina S.Pd, Isti Widowati, Ius Yusniah, Dini Khoirunnisa, Sawitri
Maya Kuntari, Imas Masturoh S. Pd., Yeni Gustri Wahyuni, etc.,
thanks for the advice, kindness, support, sun, huge, sadness,
knowledge, and everything.
8. All friends in Kahfi Al-Karim, especially generation XI academic year
2010/2011, who supported the writer.
9. All students of SMPN 66 Jakarta, especially class VII.3, who helped
the writer in implementing this research.
10. All others my families members who give support, love, hope, and big
huge to the writer.
May Allah, the Almighty bless them, Ameen. Finally, the writer realizes
that this skripsi is far from perfectness. Therefore, the writer would like to accept
any constructive suggestion to make this skripsi better.
The Writer
vi
ABSTRACT
This research is aimed to know whether minimal pair drills can improve
the students’ ability in pronunciation or not and to discuss how minimal pair drills
improve the students’ ability in pronunciation at the grade of VII.3, SMPN 66
Jakarta. This research is based on the last observation result that the students have
been active their pronunciation learning by using minimal pair drill.
This research is categorized as Classroom Action Research (CAR). It is
carried out to solve the student’s problem in used in improving the students’
English pronunciation. The CAR design that is used in this research is Kemmis
and McTaggart’s design: it consists of two cycles, those are: cycle 1 and cycle 2
with 2 actions for each cycle. Every cycle consists of four phases, those are: plan,
act, observe, and reflect. The subject of this research is the students of grade VII.3
of SMPN 66 Jakarta. In collecting the data, this research uses observation,
interview, and test.
Based on the result and the discussion of this research, it can be said that
the implementation of minimal pair in improving students’ pronunciation is
success since the criteria of success were achieved. The criterion of success that
has been agreed by the teacher and researcher is if the improvement from pretest
to posttest 1 and to posttest 2 is 30%. And the result is 20.29% improvement of
students’ mean score from pretest result to posttest 1. Furthermore, The result
shows 34,01%, the improvement of students’ mean score from pretest result to
posttest 2. Besides, the significant improvement can be seen from the students’
response to teacher’s performance. They seem more active during teaching
learning activity. Based on the result that is mentioned before, the writer suggests
that the English teacher should implement minimal pair drill in order to improve
the students’ pronunciation ability.
vii
ABSTRAK
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER..................................................................................................................i
APROVEMENT SHEET.....................................................................................ii
ENDORSEMENT SHEET...................................................................................iii
SURAT PERNYATAAN KARYA SENDIRI....................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.......................................................................................v
ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................vii
ABSTRAK............................................................................................................viii
TABLE OF CONTENT.......................................................................................ix
LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................xii
LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES......................................................................................xiv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION......................................................................1
A. Background of Study............................................................1
B. Formulation of the Problem..................................................4
C. Objective of Research...........................................................4
D. Contribution of Research......................................................5
ix
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................26
A. Method of the Research.......................................................26
B. Subject of the Research.......................................................27
C. Focus of the Research.........................................................27
D. Setting of Research..............................................................28
E. Research Design..................................................................28
F. Classroom Action Research (CAR) Procedures..................29
1. Action Research in Cycle 1..........................................30
a. Plan..........................................................................30
b. Act...........................................................................31
c. Observe...................................................................32
d. Reflect.....................................................................32
2. Action research in Cycle 2...........................................33
a. Re-Plan....................................................................33
b. Act and Observe......................................................33
c. Reflect.....................................................................33
G. Techniques of Data Collecting............................................34
H. Techniques of Data Analysis...............................................35
1. Qualitative Data...........................................................35
2. Quantitative Data.........................................................35
I. Data Validity.......................................................................36
J. Criterion of the Action Success...........................................37
x
2. Action Research Cycle 2................................................43
a. Revised Plan..............................................................43
b. Action........................................................................44
c. Observation................................................................45
d. Reflection on Teacher’s Improvement in Cycle 2.....45
C. Discussion of the Data after CAR.......................................46
1. Result of Post Interview.................................................46
2. Result of Tests................................................................47
D. Interpretation of Test Result.................................................50
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................54
APPENDICES.......................................................................................................57
xi
LIST OF TABLES
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Penny Ur’s Pronunciation Concepts (1996)15
Figure 3.1 Kemmis and McTaggart’s Action Research Design29
Figure 3.2 The Writer’s Action Research Design30
xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES
xiv
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the writer begins her writing from the background of study,
which will discuss and try to answer some questions that is still debated: (a) why
the writer takes the title for this research, (b) what kind of research the writer will
do, (c) how the research will be applied. Next, formulation of the problem and the
objective of research are also presented. At the end, the writer presents the
contributions of this research for some interrelated sides, those are for the teacher,
the students, the school, and for the researcher itself.
1
Depdiknas, Standar kompetensi Mata Pelajaran Bahasa Inggris SMP/MTs, (Jakarta:
Pusat Kurikulum, Depdiknas, 2004), p.14
language, one of the main goals for English language teaching for Indonesia is,
students are able to communicate English fluently and accurately in social
context. That goal is noted in silabus Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
(KTSP)/School-based Curriculum.
Based on School-Based Curriculum/KTSP, there are four language skills
in English that should be learned by the language learners, they are: listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. In supporting those language skills, three English
components, (sounds of language, grammar, and vocabulary) are also important to
be learned by the learner2. As one of the language components in English,
pronunciation is taught as one of the aspects in targeting the improvement of
students‟ competence that can help them speak fluently and accurately. The
reason why the teacher should teach pronunciation accurately is because wrong
pronunciation may cause misunderstanding in communication. Ucapan
(utterance), penekanan (stress), dan intonasi (intonation) are the phonological
aspects in pronunciation that is recommended to be taught for the English teacher
from the first to third year of Junior High School level to help students be able in
communicating English accurately and fluently.3 Of course, it is not easy for
students to apply the phonological aspects in pronunciation in their daily life
because some problems could arise in this effort.
Based on the writer‟s observation at grade VII.3, SMPN 66 Jakarta and
unstructured interview the main teacher as stakeholder of this classroom during
March and April, the writer found some problems that were appeared regarding
students‟ ability in pronunciation.
The common problem faced by the foreign language learner when they
pronounce English word was caused by the influence of the students‟ mother
tongue of their first language. The problems appeared when they tried transferring
their first language into their target language (English). For example, in
2
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), p.46
3
Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, Silabus Kurikulum tingkat Satuan Pendidikan
Mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggris (Jakarta: Depdikbud, 2006), p. 352
pronouncing /r/, they still sounded it as like as they pronounce in their first
language (/r/ not /a: /).
The other problems faced by students were the difficulties in pronouncing
th which sounds as /θ/ as in „thin‟ and /δ/ as in „that‟, schwa /∂/ as in „occur‟, /i:/
as in „sea‟ (they are often pronounce it as as in ‟see‟, which sounds /i/ not /i:/)
,/t∫/ as in ‟chapter‟, /ǽ/ as in „bag‟,/dj/ as in „george‟. They also pronounce the
English words as they are written, for example, word „study‟ is as /study/, „keep‟
as /kep/,
„thanks‟ as /tank/, etc. Then, misspelling was also happened when they pronounce
the word that had more than one consonant at the end letter of the word, for
example „played‟, „helped‟, „kept‟, backed‟, „could‟, „offices‟, „shops‟,
„questions‟, north‟, etc., those were pronounced as /play/, /help/, /kep/, /bak/,
/koul/, /ofis/, /sop/, /kuestion/, /nor/, etc.. Those showed that the students also
pronounce the English word as its writting totally in Indonesia. It was influenced
by their first language which pronounces the word as its spelling. The other
example was then they uttered the word „know‟, the consonant /k/ could be
assimilated but they pronounced it as /know/. It absolutely seems problematic.
Unfortunately, the teaching-learning English in Indonesian education has
limited time. Based on PERMENDIKNAS (Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan
Nasional-The Law of the Minister of National Education) No. 22, 2006, English is
learned at Junior High School four hours in a week. 4 Meanwhile, to master in
English for communicative competence, as a foreign language learner, they
should practice more inside and outside classroom. In reality, many of students
argue that they have just learned English inside classroom in certain time.
Although English teaching has limited time, the students are expertly able to
practice their English inside and outside of class. If the students practice their
pronunciation with proper method or technique inside the classroom, they might
be highly-motivated in practicing their pronunciation outside the classroom
because the method or technique in learning pronunciation that the students
learned in the classroom might help them to practice their pronunciation outside
4
Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik
Indonesia No. 22 Tahun 2006, (Jakarta: Permendiknas, 2006), p.17
the classroom independently. Therefore, teacher is desirable to use the
appropriately technique which can help students improving their English
pronunciation and increasing their desire to practice it anytime and anywhere.
One of the main ways in teaching pronunciation that is regarded helping
students to improve their pronunciation is minimal pair drills in which it is a kind
of technique in pair two words which have different meaning and differ in one
sound only.5 To distinguish the English sound that has the similar sound obscurely
is by pairing those two words, so it could be easy to recognize whether the sound
pronounced contextually or not, because wrong pronunciation could be
misunderstanding and obstruct the communication fluency. Kelly (2007) assumed,
“Teachers can use minimal pair to good advantage in the classroom as a way of
focusing on sounds which have been causing difficulties for students”. 6 In this
assumption minimal pair drill is considered to help students overcome their
difficulties in pronunciation, mainly for English sounds. For example, sound of
vowels /iy/ as „sheep‟ vs /i/ as ship, and sound of consonants /θ/ (think) seems
similar sound with /s/ (sink) or /t/ (tin), /δ/ (that) vs /d/ (dad), etc. Technique of
minimal pair hopefully helps the students to distinguish the similar sounds in
English word theoretically and contextually and to practice their fluency and
accuracy in oral and reading aloud ability.
In covering this research, the writer would like to take the title of this
skripsi “Improving Student’s Pronunciation by using Minimal Pair Drills (A
Classroom Action Research at Grade VII.3, SMPN 66 Jakarta)”.
5
Peter Avery and Susan Erlich, Teaching American English, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2009), p. 207
6
Gerald Kelly, How to Teach Pronunciation, (England: Pearson Education Limited,
2007), Jeremy Harmer Series Editor, p.18.
C. The Objective of Research
The objective of the research is intended:
1. To know whether minimal pair drills can improve the students‟ ability
in pronunciation or not at the grade of VII.3, SMPN 66 Jakarta.
2. To discuss how minimal pair drills improve the students‟ ability in
pronunciation at the grade of VII.3, SMPN 66 Jakarta.
In this chapter, the writer will discuss pronunciation theory includes the
definitions of pronunciation, the aspects of pronunciation that explain about
sounds of language, intonation, and stress. Next, the goals of teaching
pronunciation, pronunciation problems, the factors that considered in teaching
pronunciation, and minimal pair drill will be also discussed.
A. Pronunciation Theory
1. Definitions of Pronunciation
Here are some definitions of pronunciation recommended by some
dictionaries, firstly, based on Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
(2004), “Pronunciation is the way in which a language or a particular word is
pronounced and a particular person‟s way of pronouncing a word or
words”.7It explains that pronunciation is viewed as how people utter a word
or words that created a good speech, so it be clearly and can be understood by
people. In other definition, pronunciation is also focused on people‟s manner
to utter a word or words that appear in spoken, as it is defined in Oxford
Learner’s Pocket Dictionary (1995) “pronunciation is way in which a
7
Della Summer, et. al., Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2004 (England:
Pearson Education Limited), New Edition,p.1313
language is spoken and way in which a word in spoken”. 8 In addition, Echols
and Sadily (2003) defines „pronunciation‟ in Indonesian is (a) lafal,
pelafalan, pengucapan and (b) cara mengucapkan, ucapan9. This definition is
as it same as with the two-previous definitions that those are still focused on
people‟s way to produce a word or words in their utterance or spoken.
Actually, pronunciation is sometimes not easy to define by the
linguists, indeed they have the various definitions, and basically the aim is
similar. As Kreidler (2004) viewed pronunciation is a terminology that is
correlated among speech and language. He noted “speech is an activity which
is carried on in numerous events; language is knowledge, a code which is
known and shared by people who use their knowledge for transmitting and
interpreting messages in the events.”10 It means when someone delivers the
message to the hearer by his/her voice, then its message could be received by
the hearer clearly and understandable, but the hearer sometimes does not
understand that or even seems confusing about what the speaker said.
Therefore, she/he needs any knowledge to process what the message received
to his/her eardrums. As the words that speaker delivered by his/her voice is
delivered by the wave of speaker‟s voice that created the different sounds
from the words. To catch those sounds the hearer absolutely has a sense to
differentiate the word that speaker said by his/her knowledge or code. That is
why the language is defined as knowledge or code.
On the other hand, Ur (1996) assumed pronunciation is “to say the
sounds right, to use the words to express the appropriate meanings, or
construct their sentences in a way that sounds acceptable.” 11 More and more,
the aim of pronunciation is to ease the speaker and hearer in receiving
message on communication. The message will be easy to receive, if it delivers
8
Martin H. Manser, Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, 1995, (Oxford: Oxford
University Press), New edition, p.331
9
John M. Echols and Hasan Sadily, An English-Indonesian Dictionary, 2003 (Jakarta: PT
Gramedia Pustaka Utama), p.451
10
Charles W. Kreidler, The Pronunciation of English, second ed., (USA: Blackwell
Publishing Ltd., 2004), p.4
11
Penny Ur, a Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996), p.103
clearly and can be understood, so what the speaker wanted from the hearer can
be received as its purpose.
According to those definitions, the writer concludes that pronunciation
is the way of a person in which a word or language sounded and uttered and
one of the people‟s ways in pronouncing, uttering, even in communicating a
language to deliver someone‟s desire in communication, so that the
communication is hopefully more clear and understandable.
12
Penny Ur, a Course in …, p.47
13
Daniel Jones, The Pronunciation of English, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1986), p.11
14
Peter Avery and Susan Erlich, Teaching American English Pronunciation, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2009), p.12
freely, there is no obstruction when it is produced, even it is produced
smoothly without any hard effort to produce it.
In addition, Murcia, et. al (2009) presented “one of the best ways
to appreciate the difference between voiced and unvoiced is to put your
hand against your Adam‟s apple (i.e.) larynx.”15 Somehow, it is one of the
familiar ways to recognize the production of consonants. Here is the
terminology of voice and unvoiced. These are to differentiate the
consonants sounds when it is produced. “If the vocal folds are held gently
together and air under pressure from the lungs is pushed between them, the
folds can be made to vibrate evenly to produce the tone we call voiced.”16
So, when people produce voice sounds, their vocal folds (vocal cords in
older terminology) could be vibrated whilst unvoiced/voiceless not. For
example: /f/ vs /v/. We could feel the difference between them, it could be
light when we produce /f/ sound and there is no vibration/unvoiced. On the
other side, /v/ is produced by vibration on vocal folds and there is a
pressure of the lungs when the air flows.
Then, vowel can be classified based on its sounds. According to
Kelly (2000), there are two kinds of vowel sounds, single vowel and
diphthong that is involving a movement from one vowel sound to another
(like /ei/, as in late). Single vowel sounds may be short (like /i/, as in hit)
or long (like /i:/, as in heat). The symbol /:/ denotes a long sound. 17 It
showed that single vowel sound is vowel that appeared one morpheme in a
word or when it sounded, which diphthong consists of the combination of
two different sounds, and monophthongs are more than two morphemes
combined in one sound or they are produced equally.
15
Marianne Celce-Murcia, et. al. Teaching Pronunciation: a Reference for Teachers of
English to16 Speakers of Other Languages, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), P.42
Michael Arshby and John Maidment, Introducing Phonetic Science, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2005), pp.22-23
17
Gerald Kelly, How to Teach Pronunciation, (England: Pearson Education Limited,
2000), Series Editor: Jeremy Harmer, p.84
Based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the formally
phonemic symbols (vowels and consonants) using in English language as
follow:18
Table 2.1
Phoneme Chart: English Vowel and Consonant Sounds
Showing the Symbols for Phonemic Transcription of English
Vowel Phonemes
Consonant Phonemes
Short vowels
01 Pit 1 Pit
02 Pet 2 Bit
03 Pat 3 Time
04 Pot 4 Door
05 Luck 5 Cat
06 Good 6 Get
07 Ago 7 Fan
08 Meat 9 Think
09 Car 10 That
10 Door 11 Send
11 Girl 12 Zip
12 Too 13 Man
18
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1all.html/may 26th,2010
Diphthongs 14 Nice
13 Day 15 Ring
14 Sky 16 Leg
15 Boy 17 Rat
16 Beer 18 Wet
17 Bear 19 Hat
18 Tour 20 Yet
19 Go 21 Shop
20 Cow 22 Leisure
23 Chop
24 Jump
19
Jeremy Harmer, the Practice of English Language Teaching, (New York: Longman,
2007), fouth edition …, p.42
to the meaning. This statement is supported by Jones (1986), “stress is one
of the factors that may cause or help to cause a sound or syllable to be
„prominent‟.”20 So, stress is a way to press whether the syllable of the
words is as a pointer or not in a speech.
Stress is classified into word stress and sentence stress. Word stress
is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within a word. Harmer
(1991) presented that word stress affects the situation of the speaker said
and the grammatical differentiate within its word. As he noted in the
practice of English Language Teaching New Edition (1991) as follows:
For example, in the word in a word „photograph‟, we can divide it
into three parts: ‘pho’, ‘to’, and ‘graph’. Competence speakers will
say the word like this, „PHOtograph’, stress in the first syllable.
The situation changes with the words „photographer‟ where the
stress shifts to the second syllable, i.e. „phoTOgrapher‟. Stress in
words also changes depending upon a word‟s grammatical
function: ‘perMIT’ is a verb, but ‘PERmit’ is a noun, and the same
is true of the words ‘imPORT’ and ‘IMport.21
20
Daniel Jones, The Pronunciation of English…, p. 140
21
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (New York: Longman,
1996), New Edition, p.12
22
Gerald Kelly, How to Teach…,p.84
run. But if „I CAN run’ is stressed that I am really able to run, someone
could say it because maybe there somebody doubt his ability to run23.
The other terminology in pronunciation is rhythm which is
24
commonly defined as stress in many languages. Ashby and Maidment
(2008) noted “Rhythm can be defined as the pattern of occurrence in time
of relatively „strong‟ and relatively „weak‟ events.”25 Here, the strong is
known as stressed syllable and weak is unstressed one. So, when the words
or phrases are pronounced, the strong syllable is usually spoken in highly
pitched and clearly utterance, while the weak one is not.
c. Intonation
One of the prominent parts in pronunciation to express the meaning
of word or sentence more clearly is intonation. Ashby and Maidment
(2008) denoted that “Intonation is used to signal how a speaker intends his
or her utterances to be interpreted.” 26 Intonation is regarded as a process
where people play the tone of the language in communication. Intonation
also shows the speaker‟s emotion and attitude in his/her utterances, directs
whether the speaker finish his/her speech or not yet, and explains about the
speakers‟ purpose in speaking if that is in statement or question.27 In
addition Ur (1984) agreed that intonation is characterized the speaker‟s
meaning in the utterance that shows the real situation and emotions of the
speakers for example, certainty, doubt, irony, inquiry, seriousness, humor,
etc.28 Even though, the word or sentence grammatically forms as a
question, but intonation performs as a statement, so the meaning could be
different. The meaning expresses based on the speaker‟s aim in delivering
23
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of …, New Edition, p.12
24
Michael Ashby and John Maidment, Introducing Phonetic Science, 2008, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press), p.160
25
Michael Ashby and John Maidment, Introducing Phonetic…, p.161
26
Michael Ashby and John Maidment, Introducing Phonetic…, p.154
27
Gerald Kelly, How to Teach,…p.86
28
Penny Ur, Teaching Listening Comprehension, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1984), p.13
something to the hearer. So that, the intonation could be clearly to avoid
miss understanding in communication.
The writer assumes intonation also shows the meaning of the
speakers‟ utterance, although the sentence structurally equals, but if the
speaker pronounces it in different intonation, it indicates changing in
meaning. Intonation sounded by raising and falling tone, in symbols (/) for
raising and (\) for falling and symbols ˆ ˇ to show fall-rise and rise-fall. In
line, stress may affect speed, volume, and the use of pause. Ur (1986)
states this assumption as follows: “the rhythm of English is, then, mainly
a function of its stress patterns; these may also affect such aspects as speed
of delivery, volume and the use of pause.” For example, PEter, come
HERE, please.29 In this example shows that the prominent words are
„peter‟ and „here‟, those express that the speaker wants the hearer to come
him/her. This related to the stress, the syllable is stressed in “PE > Peter”
and “HERE”.
29
Penny Ur, a Course in…, p.49
CONCEPTS OF
PRONUNCIATION
Vowel Consonant Word Sentenc Speaker‟s
discussion, there is word stress, how the speaker made pointer in the syllable and sentence stre
Monophthong Diphthong Voice Unvoice
30
Penny Ur, a Course in …, p.47
31
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English…, New Edition, p.21
Bowen (1972) in Rosane Silveira proposes 3 realistic goals for the
teaching of pronunciation:
a. Ability to communicate orally with ease and efficiency;
b. Ability to produce the basic contrasts of the target language sound
system;
c. Ability to understand fluent speech as produced by native speaker. 32
The ability to communicate orally with ease and efficiency affects the
fluency in communication.33 When people utter something, indeed they is
desirable know what they are going to say, they should think whether their
utterance can be understood by the hearer or not and predict whether the
word/sentence is efficiently delivered or not.
From that explanation, the students are involved in learning English
pronunciation to recognize the sound system of the target language, and to
produce the sound system of English, prominently to distinguish the sound
system between their target language and their native language. If the students
have been able to recognize the sound system of the target language and have
been able to produce its sound system, they may be able to practice the
pronunciation of English words accurately.
As the writer discussed in chapter 1, additionally, one of the main goal
for students in learning English are able to communicate understandable
English.
Harmer (1994) argued that Pronunciation teaching not only makes
students aware of different sounds and sounds features, but also improve
their speaking immeasurably. Concentrating on sounds, showing where
they are made in the mouth, making students aware of words should be
stressed-all these things give them extra information about spoken
English and help them achieve the goal of improved comprehension and
intelligibility.34
32
Rosane Silveira, Pronunciation Instruction Classroom Practice and Empirical
Research, (Linguagem & ensino: Santa Catarina, 2002), Vol.5, No. 1, p.98
33
Rosane Silveira, Pronunciation Instruction…, Vol.5, No. 1, p.98
34
Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English…, Fourth Edition, p.284
ability. In this case, the students are not only introduced the English sound
system, but they are also given the other information or aspects in
pronunciation that related to the improvement of their speaking ability and that
can help their communication being understood, for example how/where the
words should be stressed in sentence. Absolutely, these goals require lots of
practice in pronouncing the word or sentence.
Furthermore, in Silabus KTSP 2006 noticed that the goals in teaching
pronunciation at junior high school in Indonesia, is to improve the students‟
communicative competence.35 It means the students are involved to develop
their speaking skill. In fact, based on the writers‟ observation, the students
have their own goal. The goal may be different with the main goals in learning
English which is to improve the communicative competence. The goals in
learning English pronunciation that the students set are some of them just want
to communicate English at a basic level or to pass examination. And other goal
is to achieve the best they possibly can, that is to be able to pronounce English
well, and it would be beneficial in getting job later. However, again, the
standard of pronunciation goal is the students have to achieve their
pronunciation to improve their speaking ability.
From the discussion the writer concludes that the goals of teaching
pronunciation is to train the student‟s communication ability in English, so that
they can communicate English accurately and fluently, and make their
speaking can be understood by others.
4. Pronunciation Problem
The errors in pronouncing English word pronunciation that are made by
students; apparently could give bad effect to the improvement of students‟
communicative competence. Ur (1996) explained some pronunciation‟s error
from various sources:
1. A particular sound may not exist in the mother tongue, so that the
learner is not used to forming it and therefore tends to substitute the
35
Silabus KTSP 2006
nearest equivalent he or she knows (the substitution of /d/ or /z/ for the
English th / ð/ as in that is a typical example).
2. A sound does exist in the mother tongue, but not as a separate
phoneme: that is to say, the learner does not perceive it as a distinct
sound that makes a difference to meaning. In Hebrew, for example,
both the /i/ and /i:/ (ship/sheep) sounds occur, but which is used
depends only on where the sounds come in the word or phrase, not
what the word means; and if one is substituted for the other, no
difference in meaning results. 36
The problems showed by Ur seem the common problems that are
appeared and faced by the foreign language learner. Those problems are also
existed in the Indonesia‟ students‟ pronunciation when they speak English.
In addition, Harmer (1994) assumed that “some students have great
difficulty hearing pronunciation features which we want them to reproduce.
Frequently, speakers of different first language have problems with different
sound that the students‟ first language does not have the same sounds.”37 In this
case, the students‟ problem is lack of students‟ knowledge for English sound,
so they might face difficulties when they find the different sound between their
target language and their first language. They seem confused to imagine what
kind of sounds they heard. This problem may influence the students‟ listening
and speaking comprehension because when they are asked to reproduce that
English new sound or word they may be quite or cannot respond the spoken.
Moreover, different sounds between English language and the students‟
native language exist in some moments. This problem is also supported Avery
and Herlich (2009), which the mostly problem in pronunciation is because of
38
the uncommon sounds for the students‟ first language that exists in English.
For example, learners from most language backgrounds have difficulty with
the English th sounds.
Furthermore, Ur (1984) added, “sometimes the foreign learner of English
may have difficulty with the sequences and juxtapositions of sound typical of
36
Penny Ur, a Course in …p.52
37
Jeremy Harmer, the Practice of… Fourth Edition, pp. 249-250.
38
Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, Teaching American English Pronunciation, (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2009), Second Edition, p. 95.
English words.”39 For example, word „crisps‟, the foreign learner is usually
pronounce by /crisp/ or /crips/, the phoneme „s‟ is omitted. Meanwhile, word
„crisps‟ should be pronounced by /crisps/. It happens because the three-
consonants rarely appear in their native language and/or even it disappears.
Based on the writer observation, some of these problems were found in
the teaching learning process at students class VII.3 SMPN 66 Jakarta as it
have been explained in chapter one. The problem mostly was because of the
student‟s difficulties in transferring their mother tongue into target language.
The problem was because the different sound system between their native
language and their target language which were they could be contrasted.
In table 2 below, the writer tries to show the contrastive phoneme
between English and Indonesian language. These are taken from any sources.
Table 2.2
The Contrastive Phoneme between English40 and Indonesian41
Short Vowels
01 01
02 02
03 03
04 /o/ 04
05 /a/ 05
39
Penny Ur, Teaching Listening Comprehension, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1984), p.12
40
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/l1all.html/may 26th,2010
41
Abdul Chaer , Linguistik Umum, edisi baru, (Jakarta: Rineka Cipta, 2007), p.119
06 06
07 07
Long Vowels 08
08 09
09 10
10 11
11 12
12 13
Diphthongs 14
13 15
14 16
15 17
16 18
17 19
18 20 /y/
19 21 /sy/
20 22
23 /c/
24 /j/
25 /?/
26 /x/
27 /ny/
This table displays the contrastive analysis of sound system between the
students‟ native language (Indonesian) and their target language (English). As
the writer discusses previously that one of the students‟ troublesome in
producing English sound is because of some the English sounds does not exist
in their native language, contrastively even the sounds that exist in their native
language, it is pronounced differently.
Based on the IPA (International Phonetic Association) and the other
resources for Indonesian‟ phonemic spelling, English has 20 vowels involving
12 single vowels consist of 7 short vowels and 5 long vowels and 8 diphthongs,
whilst Indonesian has 9 vowels only; it classified 6 single vowels and 3
diphthongs. Moreover, consonants in English are 24 and 25 consonants exist in
Indonesia.
In conclusion, the common problems in teaching learning pronunciation
are because the different sound between their native language and target
language that make the students face the difficulty in transferring their mother
tongue into target language and the difficulty in practicing new sound appeared
in their target language.
Biological factors are one of the factors that influence the students
„pronunciation improvement. These factors are related to their organ of speech
as the set of speech productions. As the writer previously presented that the
words/sentences as a collection of vowels and consonants are produced by
organ of speech. In supporting this assumption, Avery and Erlich‟s statement,
biological factor is stated as the influence by the students‟ mother tongue. 43 As
we know that tongue is one of the organs of speech production. Tongue
influences the student‟s acquiring in pronunciation because some of the sound
system in English does not exist in their native language, so they seem quite
confuse how to pronounce the new sounds and it require lots of practice to
make their tongue smoothly.
The second factor is socio-cultural. This factor may influence the
student‟s desire and motivation in exposing their target language, preliminary
in practicing their English outside of classroom. They absolutely don‟t have
time enough if they just learn English inside classroom. But if there is no one
help student to practice his/her language, it seems dilemma for student even
though the students have highly-motivated.44
The last factor recommended by Avery and Erlich is personality factor.
This factor is considered as the main factor that influences people effort in
42
Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, Teaching American..., Second Edition, p.xv-xvi.
43
Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, Teaching American..., Second Edition, p.xv-xvi.
44
Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, Teaching American..., Second Edition, p.xv-xvi.
doing everything, even less in learning. In this case, student‟s intern
motivation and attitude is highly appreciated. Student is assumed who has a
big desire, out-going, and confident could improve and/or even expand his/her
English quickly. This student will practice and expose his/her target language
into social-life, not only inside classroom.45
45
46 Peter Avery
Michael andand
Ashby Susan Ehrlich,
John Teaching
Maidment, American...,
Introducing Second
Phonetic Edition, p.xv-xvi.
…, p.136
47
Peter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, Teaching American..., Second Edition, p.207.
Production.”48 Bloomfield added that minimal pair is appropriately used for
listening practice and oral production.
Basically, those arguments have the same aim which is minimal pair is a
technique that is used in teaching pronunciation to distinct the quite similar sound
that have the same position in a word or sentence. Students sometimes don‟t
understand the difference of its sound and the effect of its differences. Eventhough
this seems small problem, but it can affect the understanding, efficiency, and
fluency in communication. So, this practice is regarded useful for both the speaker
and the hearer.
There are two kinds of sample in teaching materials of minimal pair, it
demonstrates in word drills and sentence drills.49
Table 2.3
Sample Minimal Pair Teaching Materials
WORDS DRILLS SENTENCE DRILLS
No.
A /iy/ B /i/ Syntagmantic Drills Paradigmatic Drills
1. Sheep Ship 1. Don‟t sit in the 1. a.Don‟t slip on the floor.
2. Green Grin seat. b.Don‟t sleep on the
3. Least List 2. Did you at least floor.
4. Meet Mitt get the list? 2. a. Is that a black sheep?
5. Deed Did b. Is that a black ship?
From the table, it can be seen that the sound differences in the words seem
obvious, but it may seem strange and difficult to a foreign learner who does not
speak the target language.
Minimal pair can be demonstrated in two drills: word drills and sentence
drills. In the word drills, teacher drills the students by contrasting two different
words but the pronunciation seems similar, but actually sound of the words is
different in one sound. Whilst, in the sentence drills, there are two kinds of the
48
Marianne Celce-Murcia, et. al. Teaching Pronunciation…, p.3
49
Marianne Celce-Murcia, et. al. Teaching Pronunciation…, p.3
materials that can be presented in teaching learning activity, they are syntagmatic
drills and paradigmatic drills. Syntagmatic drills contrast two words within a
sentence, while paradigmatic drills contrast two words across two sentences. 50
Minimal-pair drills helps the students to recognize the English sounds and
contrast both the English sounds in their native language and their target language,
thus the sounds are able to be produced flexibility and smoothly. The advantage of
minimal pair for students is the students perceive English pronunciation
accurately and fluently.
In sum up, minimal pair drill is one of the ways in teaching pronunciation
by drilling the words that have the quite similar sound in pair. This drill is to train
the students‟ tongue being smoothly and introduce them to recognize the
difference sound between the students‟ native language and their target language.
Hopefully, they are familiar with English sound and practice its sound correctly.
50
Marianne Celce-Murcia, et. al. Teaching Pronunciation,… p.4
This chapter presents the method of the research, subject, and object of the study, time and place
criterion of the CAR.
A. Method of Research
In this research, the writer uses Classroom Actio
developmental, as classroom action research might help teachers to evaluate their
teaching activity and its progress. In this case, the teacher is not just as an
educator but she also plays the important role as a researcher in evaluating the
educational progress.
Classroom action research is suggested to the teacher as a way to know the
development in the classroom. For further discussion, Carr and Kemmis in David
Nunan (1989) offer the following definition:
A form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social
situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own
practice, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which
these practices are carried out.51
51
David Nunan, Understanding Language Classrooms: A guide for teacher-initiated
actions, (UK: Prentice Hall Ltd.,1989), p.12
Classroom action research is regarded as the teacher‟s work to know the
situation in the classroom, the relevance of student‟s achievement during teaching
learning activity with the teacher‟s guide, the recent result of the student‟s
activity during teaching learning activity, etc. here, the teacher could consider the
obstacles, the positive and negative effects that influence teaching learning
activity and try to think the appropriate ways in variety to make teaching learning
activity be creative and dynamic.
The writer concludes that action research is teacher‟s effort in identifying
the problem that appeared in teaching learning activity and doing something to
solve the problem. In other word, the teacher begins with take out some
educational questions about everything that in line with teaching learning activity.
This is done in the effort to improve the quality of teaching learning activity. After
that, the teacher evaluates the action in solving the problem to know how
successful the effort done, if the result do not obviously improve, so she should
try action research again till the teacher feels satisfied with the result of CAR and
the students can improve their ability. Thus, the teaching learning activity will be
more quality and the CAR can be said successful.
Week
No. Activities 2010 2011
March April May June Jul - Dec January
1. Data Collecting
2. Proposal
3. Instrument
4. CAR Cycle 1
5. CAR Cycle 2
6. Report
E. Research Design
In this research, the writer has chosen Classroom Action Research (CAR)
design of Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1985). It consists of two cycles. The steps of
each cycle are plan, act and observe, and reflect. Design of research by Kemmis
and McTaggart in Nunan (1989) figured as follows: 52
52
David Nunan, Understanding Language..., p.13
PLAN
OBSERVE REFLECT
ACT
REVISED PLAN
OBSERVE REFLECT
ACT
Figure 3.1
Kemmis and McTaggart’s Action Research Design
investigates the class to cover the probl
responses, see what is happening in class. and keep notes in a diary and observation
find the best
PLAN
OBSERVE REFLECT
REVISED PLAN
responses, see what is happening in class. and keep notes in a diary and observation
Develop the idea from cycle 1.
Prepare teaching procedures, media, resources, i
OBSERVEREFLECT
ACT
Figure 3.1
The Writer’s Action Research Design
53
David Nunan, Understanding Language …, p.12
your action research thoughts in a plan that will guide you through your
action work….”54 Here, the writer/the observer and the teacher plan the
appropriate technique to improve the students‟ pronunciation at class VII.3
of SMPN 66 Jakarta, South Jakarta, and then, they arrange a script within a
lesson plan. This work does after the observer finding something
problematic that is assumed as an obstacle in improving students‟ English
pronunciation. Previously, the observer investigates the class by creating
some related questions as a brainstorming. Then, she tries to find out the
best way to solve the problems that faced by students. To make the
assumption stronger, she also interviews the teacher and the participants
about the pronunciation problems they faced.
b. Act
In this phase, act and observe are done all at once. The teacher as a
stakeholder tries to implement the plan. She applies the technique in
teaching pronunciation adequately.
Teacher may do an action research because she recognizes the
conditions of her classroom, the students, and the progress during
teaching-learning activities. Teacher understands what the classroom
should be, how to develop the classroom and all of the completely related
things. In this act, the steps that are going to be practiced by teacher in
teaching pronunciation by using minimal pair drills as follow:
Step 1: Introduces the phonemic symbols and concept of minimal pair
drill and with the advantages for the students. Tell them that minimal pair
would be helpful to distinguish the sound of words that improve their
pronunciation.
Step 2: Presents to students the pairs of words and drill the pair of those
words together using teachers‟ guidance. Then, ask some of them to
54
Geofrey E. Mills, Action Research: a Guide for the Teacher Researcher, (New Jersey:
Merill Prentice Hall, 2003), Second Edition, p.41
pronounce it by themselves. If the students make an error in pronunciation,
peer correction will work.
Step 3: Asks them to recognize if the pair of words that teacher said is
same or different. This is hopefully useful for checking their listening
comprehension.
Step 4: Selects the sounds that are seemed similar with the students‟
native language, this is a comparison between the students‟ native
language and the language they are studying.
Step 5: After drill the pairs of words, asks students to answer the questions
on worksheet in pair (students A and B). Student A will read the sentences
in the worksheet on him while students B choose an appropriate word that
student A mention.
Step 6: Evaluates them using an oral test to check their progress in
pronunciation.
c. Observe
The observation aims to assess teachers‟ action during teaching
learning activities.55 Kemmist and McTaggart (2003) suggested that in
this phase the researcher observes the feedback of action, and the effects
that occur during teaching learning activity.56 The writer observes the
classroom atmosphere when the teacher acts her teaching technique, the
students‟ responses of teacher‟s action and the outcomes of the
intervention and reflecting on its effectiveness. These activities will be
recorded towards the implementation of the action using observation sheet
and field notes.
d. Reflect
Reflection is done after the action and observation. In this cycle, the
writer and the teacher reflect to know the effects of the action and to find
55
Michael J. Wallace, Action Research for Language Teachers, (Cambridge: Cambridge
University
56 Press, 1998), p. 104
David Nunan, Understanding Language…, p.13
out the progressiveness to the whole action. This reflection is held by
unstructured interview the students through teaching learning activity and
reviews their feedback and their progress after doing Action. The teacher
and the writer collaborate in evaluating what have been doing in the
previous phases. Then, they re-plan the phases in cycle 2.
a. Re-Plan
After doing reflection on cycle 1, the teacher and the writer arrange
everything that is related to the phases in cycle 2. The first step is the
teacher and the writer re-plan the items that is required for implementing
CAR. In this case, the teacher and the writer develop the idea that will be
implemented in the Action like the procedures of teaching, media,
resources, instrument and evaluation.
c. Reflect
Here, the teacher and the writer note the results of observation and
evaluate it to know whether the implementing of the action process is held
appropriately with the preparation or not. Then, they evaluate student‟s
feedback. One of the ways to evaluate it is by giving the test to the
students. After doing the reflection of cycle 2, the writer and the teacher
agreed to stop the action if the results of the action succeed.
2. Observation
The writer observed what had been happening during teaching learning
activities. She also observed the problem faced by students. The observation
was done collaboratively. The observer records her observation into
observation sheet.
57
Michael J. Wallace, Action Research…, p.38
3. Interview
The writer interviews the teacher and the students about the problems
that the students faced as long as their studying in English, the teacher‟s effort
in applying teaching techniques, and the students‟ condition when the teacher
carries out the method or the technique in improving students‟ pronunciation.
The unstructured interview is undertaken during the classroom activity to get
the students‟ involving and also does face to face between the teacher and the
writer.
58
Sudjana, Metoda Statistika ed. 6, (Bandung: Tarsito, 2000), p. 67
he students‟ improvement of pronunciation test score, the writer calculates the test in cycle 1 and cycle 2, the writer uses t
%
I. Data Validity
According to Pelto&Pelto in Mills (2003) “validity refers to the degree to
59
David E. Mettzer, The relationship between mathematics preparation and conceptual
learning gains in physics: a possible physics and astronomy, 2008) p.3
60
Geofrey E. Mills, Action Research,…Second Edition, p. 77
61
Geofrey E. Mills, Action Research,…Second Edition, p. 84-85
J. Criterion of the Action Success
In this research, the writer and the teacher agreed that the research is seen successful if there is i
This chapter explains the research finding. In this case, it discusses the way to improve students‟
discussion of the data after implementing the action.
1. Action
In her action to apply the minimal pair technique in regarding
the improvement of students‟ pronunciation, the teacher does some
steps. Firstly, she distributed the handouts to the students; those
included the materials, the practice, and the exercises. In the students‟
handout, there was a cloze dialogue and the students filled the blank
of the dialogue with the words or phrases in the box appropriately.
While the students worked it, the teacher gave her attention to the
students; she walked around the class and checked the students‟
behavior in doing their work. The students who didn‟t understand
about the exercises, they asked the teacher.
After the students finished their work, the teacher asked the
students to write down their answers on the whiteboard while the
other students corrected their classmate‟s answer and matched their
answers with the correct one. Furthermore, the students read aloud the
dialog together by teachers‟ guidance. Then, the students read the
dialog in pair. After they finished it, the teacher introduced them the
phonemic chart at a glance. This activity was involved to introduce the
students about the English sounds and to differentiate the contrastive
sound between English and their native language.
Then, the teacher took out some words. Those words were
presented in pairs. She imitated the students how to pronounce those
words correctly and accurately. The practice was done by reading it
together and continued by reading per seat-line, and then, they were
instructed to pronounce it one by one.
Moreover, the students were given the minimal pair exercise-
practice. They did it in pair. This exercise was assumed to check the
students‟ comprehension in English sounds. Then they completed and
practiced their task. After that, the teacher concluded the topic.
2. Observation
In this observation, the observer tried to record all activities
during teaching learning activity. The recorded categories were the
teachers‟ performance, students‟ feedback/responses, and the class
situation. Related to the teachers‟ performance, she had done the tasks
appropriate with the teaching scenario or lesson plan which had been
made. She also gave the instruction clearly, so it could be understood
by the students. Besides, the students seemed active when they were
introduced minimal pair activities. Unfortunately, they still confuse
when the teacher asked them to analyze the word in pair. The students
were still afraid of making mistake, it could be seen when the teacher
asked them to say the word one by one. The actively students were
still dominant. Only a few students who existed for practicing and
answering the teacher‟s question orally.
Nevertheless, the students sometimes denied the minimal pair
practices because they faced difficulty in pronouncing some new
English vowel or consonant they found. They should work hard to
practice it, so that they can‟t correct their pronunciation.
Furthermore, in the second action of cycle one the students
seemed more active than before. They seemed confident to practice
the pronunciation activities. After teaching learning process finished
in action 2 of CAR cycle 1, the posttest 1 were conducted. Based on
the result of the posttest 1, the mean score of the class was 82.05.
b. Action
For cycle two, the observation was taken on June 9thand 11th 2010.
First, the teacher previewed the previous lesson and stimulating the
students‟ brainstorming. Then the teaching learning activity was differed
than previous action. Here the teacher used media/teaching aid. For the
first action of cycle two, she used pictures and the next action of cycle
two, she did the teaching learning contextually, she used anything around
the class/students‟ environment as media, and it was regarded helping the
students to understand the material easily. From those media, she asked
the students any information that could explain. When she did it, the
students responded it desirably.
Next, she distributed the handouts to the students and then she
explained more about the theme for this section is descriptive text in
animal topic discussion. In this handout, she demonstrated a reading
passage to read out by the students, the post-reading questions, the
minimal pair practice and exercise.
After the handouts are distributed, the teacher commanded the
students to read aloud the text together by the teachers‟ guidance. After
that, she asked the students some question related to the passage, and then
students answer it orally. They are really appreciated in answering those
questions.
Furthermore, the teacher demonstrated some words in minimal pair
design to be pronounced by the students correctly and accurately. The
teacher asked the students to repeat her pronunciation in pronouncing
those words. And, the students were really appreciated and showed their
interesting by pronouncing the words loudly, and they were very
powerful. While the students pronounced the words, the teacher observed
their pronunciation by listening to them carefully. If there were the wrong
pronunciation which pronounced by the students, she asked the other
students to correct their friend‟s pronunciation and asked that student to
repeat his/her pronunciation. But if the students who corrected his/her
friend pronunciation was also wrong, so the teacher gave the opportunity
to other students to do it, but if she/he also pronounced it not well, the
next correction would be done by the teacher.
Next practice for this section was the students were classifying the
English words from the passage to the appropriate sounds of the
available-phonetic symbol in the table. They did it with heir partner. After
they found the words and classified it into the English sound categories,
they pronounced those words together.
c. Observation
All activities were recorded in the observation sheet. In this
observation, the observer found the different atmosphere in the
classroom. The student is very excited in the activities entirely. They
have already familiar with phonetic symbol. They were more active than
previous activity.
Here, the teacher also played her roles to be a guide and facilitator.
She gave full attention to the students and she was fair to them. She
motivates the passive student to be active, and it was well-done. Almost
all students looked confident to do their tasks and practice their
pronunciation. When the teacher asked them to answer the question or to
do the practice, they existed.
Table 4.1
The Students’ Pronunciation Score of Pretest, Posttest 1, and Posttest 2
POSTTEST
STUDENTS’ NUMBER PRE-TEST
1 POSTTEST 2
1 55 85 75
2 60 70 90
3 60 80 95
4 60 85 85
5 65 85 75
6 65 90 95
7 55 85 100
8 45 70 90
9 55 70 85
10 70 85 90
11 60 65 75
12 70 95 100
13 50 80 90
14 90 90 95
15 65 90 95
16 70 85 100
17 70 70 85
18 65 80 95
19 70 95 100
20 75 80 95
21 85 95 100
22 70 75 90
23 80 90 90
24 50 85 90
25 70 85 100
26 75 75 100
27 65 95 95
28 80 80 95
29 80 75 80
30 75 70 85
31 70 60 80
32 80 80 85
33 60 85 100
34 80 85 95
35 45 75 85
36 90 90 100
37 80 90 100
38 70 85 90
39 80 90 95
TOTAL 2660 3200 3565
Mean: x = ∑x
68.21 82.05 91.41
N
From all discussion in this paper, the writer would like to conclude about
the result of this research. And then, related to the conclusion the writer would
give some suggestion. However, before conclude and suggest this research, the
writer would like to summarize this research.
In summarize for this research, the writer conducted the implementation of
CAR (Classroom Action Research) as a research design. The writer used Kemmis
and Mc. Taggart design, which has four phases, there are plan, act, observe, and
reflect. In this moment, the writer used two cycles. In CAR, the writer applied one
of the techniques in improving students‟ pronunciation, which is minimal-pair
drill. In this technique, the students practice their pronunciation intensively, yet
they could practice they pronunciation by using this technique inside and outside
of classroom independently.
Furthermore, the observation and the implementation of this CAR were
held at first grade class VII.3, SMPN 66 Jakarta academic year 2010/2011. The
number of students is 39 students. Based on the writer‟s observation, minimal pair
drill has been successfully improving the students‟ pronunciation and it was also
effective to be implemented in large classroom. Even, the teacher or the students
did the teaching learning activities well. Moreover, the students were more active
in learning English pronunciation.
Based on the result of students‟ pronunciation test, it can be measured that
the students could improve the students‟ pronunciation mean score more than
30%, that it was criterion for CAR success. Thus, the implementation of minimal
pair drills in improving the students‟ pronunciation, especially at class VII.3,
SMPN 66 Jakarta was successful.
A. Conclusion
Based on the research conducted at class VII.3 SMPN 66 Jakarta in
academic year 2010/2011, it could be concluded that the students improve their
English pronunciation by using minimal pair drills. Then, they also could
recognize the English phonetic symbols. Therefore, the students were showed
their progress and be able to gain the best achievement especially in English
pronunciation.
B. Suggestion
The writer would like to give some suggestions for the teacher. First, she
suggests the teacher for keeping the minimal pair drills in improving students‟
pronunciation into teaching learning activity. Second, the teacher is hoped for
continuing to introduce the phonetic symbols to the students step by step because
it helps their comprehension in distinguishing English phonemic sound. Third, the
writer hopes the teacher should expand this technique into the minimal-pair
sentence practice, as in this research the writer is focused on minimal-pair word
practice. Hopefully, these suggestions will be useful for teacher‟s professional job
in improving the quality of teaching learning activity.
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McMillan, James and Sally Schumacher, Research in Education: Evidence-Based
Inquiry, 6th ed,
Menteri Pendidikan Nasional, Peraturan Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Republik
Indonesia No. 22 Tahun 2006, Jakarta: Permendiknas, 2006.
Mettzer, David E., The Relationship between Mathematics Preparation and
Conceptual Learning Gains in Physics: A Possible Hidden Variable in
Diagnostic Pretest Score, Lowa: Department of Physic and Astronomy, 2008.
Mills, Geofrey E., Action Research: a Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2nd ed.,
New Jersey: Merill Prentice Hall, 2003.
Norish, John, Language Learners and Their Errors: Essential Language
Teaching series, London: MacMillan Press, 1983.
Nunan, David, Understanding Language Classrooms: A guide for teacher-
initiated actions, UK: Prentice Hall Ltd., 1989.
Silveira, Rosane, Pronunciation Instruction Classroom Practice and Empirical
Research, Linguagem & ensino: Santa Catarina, 2002.
Sudijono, Anas, Pengantar Statistik Pendidikan, Jakarta: PT. Raja Grafindo
Persada, 2008.
Sudjana, Metoda Statistika ed. 6, Bandung: Tarsito, 2000.
Sukardi, Metodologi Penelitian Pendidikan, Jakarta: Bumi Aksara, 2009.
Thomson, A.J and A. V Martinet, A Practical English Grammar, 4th ed., New
York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Thornbury, Scott, About Language: Tasks for teachers of English, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Ur, Penny, Teaching Listening Comprehension, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1974.
Ur, Penny, a Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Wallace, Michael J., Action Research for Language Teachers, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998.
LIST OF APPENDICES
1. Pretest score, posttest 1 score and posttest 2 score....................................57
2. The graph of the Improvement of Student‟s pronunciation score
during CAR…............................................................................................59
3. Interview guidelines for the needs analysis (before CAR)…...................60
4. Scenario of unstructured interview (before CAR)....................................63
5. Interview guidelines for the needs analysis (after CAR)….......................65
6. Observation sheet…..................................................................................66
7. Lesson Plan…...........................................................................................69
8. Phonemic chart…......................................................................................90
9. Pronunciation tests (pretest)…..................................................................91
10. Pronunciation tests (posttest 1).................................................................92
11. Pronunciation tests (posttest)….................................................................93
Table 4.1
The Students’ Pronunciation Score of Pretest, Posttest 1, and Posttest 2
Mean: x = ∑x
68.21 82.05 91.41
N
CHART 1
The Improvement of Student’s Pronunciation Score during CAR
12
10
Pretest
6 Posttest of cycle 1 Posttest of cycle 2
0
1009590858075706560555045
Interview Guidelines for the Needs Analysis (Before CAR)
(Tuesday, February 9th, 2010)
R: The Researcher
T: The Teacher
T: Teacher
S: Student
Ss: Students
R: The Researcher
T: The Teacher
I. Standar Kompetensi
Berbicara (9)
Expressions
PERTEMUAN PERTAMA
a. Kegiatan Pendahuluan
◾ Greeting.
◾ Apersepsi
◾ Memberi motivasi kepada siswa.
◾ Memberi tahu tujuan pembelajaran
b. Kegiatan Inti
Siswa melengkapi dialog dengan kata dan frasa yang terdapat dalam kotak.
Siswa melengkapi tabel mengenai daftar barang yang terdapat pada dialog
c. Kegiatan Penutup
PERTEMUAN KEDUA
a. Kegiatan Pendahuluan
◾ Greeting.
◾ Apersepsi
◾ Memberi motivasi kepada siswa.
◾ Menyampaikan tujuan pembelajaran
b. Kegiatan Inti
Siswa mempresentasikan tugas di depan kelas yaitu daftar harga barang.
Siswa melengkapi teks sesuai dengan kata yang didiktekan oleh guru.
Siswa mengoreksi jawabannya.
Siswa mempraktikkan kata-kata yang berpasangan secara akurat dan benar.
c. Kegiatan Penutup
dipelajari Refleksi
barang/jasa/fakta
3. Membuat daftar barang beserta jumlah dan harganya
4. Membuat dialog singkat
Instrumen: Terlampir
Rubrik Penilaian:
No. Uraian Skor
1. Pelafalan dan ungkapan benar dan lancar, serta ekspresi tepat >80
2. Pelafalan dan ungkapan benar dan lancar, tapi ekspresi kurang tepat 70-79
3. Pelafalan tepat, ungkapan benar dan kurang lancar, tanpa ekspresi 65-69
4. Pelafalan tepat, ungkapan kurang benar dan tidak lancer serta tanpa 60-64
ekspresi <59
5. Semua kurang tepat
Mengetahui, Jakarta, 2
Juni 2010
Guru Pamong, Observer,
PERTEMUAN I
STUDENT’S WORKSHEET 1
Name :
……………………
Class :
……………………
Date :
……………………
Activity 1
Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words and phrases in the box!
Activity 2
Kilo Now answer the following questions orally. They are about the
But
An What did Sarah want to buy?
d Where did Sarah note the things that she wanted to buy?
How
Nineteen dollars seventy fivemany
cents Carrots did she buy?
Else How much money did she pay for garlic?
Twenty five What kind of vegetables did she buy?
Seventeen dollars twenty-five cents
Shopping list
Need
Thirty-five
Fruit
Thank you
Many
Much
Activity 3
Complete the table with the appropriate information from the dialogue above!
Activity 5
Student A
I. Read the sentence 1-5 to your partner!
1. These are my oranges.
2. The price of this pencil box is nineteen rupiahs.
3. I need to pay for it.
4. These short stories end dramatically.
5. You don’t need to buy it.
Students B
I. Circle the word that your partner reads.
1. These this
2. Nineteen ninety
3. Pie pay
4. End and
5. Bye buy
Activity 1
Listen to the teacher’s voice. Choose the words on the right side to complete the que
Activity 2
Practice the pairs of words in the previo
Activity 3
Match the questions of activity 1 and the responses in the box and
then rewrite down into a short dialogues.
Yes, please. It’s very nice of you.
With sugar and lemon, please.
Yes, please. I love it.
Yes, of course. I’m glad you like it.
Dark or with cream?
Sure, here you are.
Yes, please. I’m so thirsty.
Activity 4
a. Practice the dialogue with your partner!
b. Classify and list the words which have vowel sound /i/ and /i:/ from the
dialogue that you arranged!
c. Create your own dialogue with your partner!
Lampiran
Lembar KBM (Kegiatan Belajar Mengajar) ASKING AND GIVING SERVICE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------- ANSWER KEY!
A. Activity 1 B. Activity 3
1. Pass 5. Your 1. F 5. B
2. Cheese 6. With 2. C 6. A
3. Want 7. Glass 3. G 7. E
4. Recipe 4. D
C. Activity 4 part B
/i/ /i:/
Please
It Cheese
Very
Tea
With
Cream
Thirty
RENCANA PELAKSANAAN PEMBELAJARAN (RPP)
BERBICARA
Satuan Pendidikan: SMPN 66 Jakarta Mata Pelajaran: Bahasa Inggris Kelas/ Semester: VII/ 2
Aspek/ Skill: Berbicara
Alokasi Waktu: 2 x 40 menit
Jenis Teks: Deskriptif Tahun Pelajaran: 2009/2010
I. Standar Kompetensi
Berbicara (10)
b. Kegiatan Inti
Siswa diperlihatkan gambar-gambar binatang dan mendeskripsikan
gambar tersebut bersama-sama.
Siswa membaca teks dengan lantang bersama-sama yang dipandu oleh guru.
Siswa menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang informasi yang terdapat
dalam teks deskriptif.
Siswa mempraktekkan cara pengucapan kosakata dengan benar dan akurat.
Siswa mengklasifikasikan kosakata yang terdapat dalam teks sesuai dengan
bunyinya secara berpasangan.
Siswa mendeskripsikan gambar hewan di depan kelas.
Siswa melakukan tanya jawab dengan teman sebangkunya untuk
melengkapi teks berbentuk deskriptif.
c. Kegiatan Penutup
Menyimpulkan materi pembelajaran
Menanyakan kesulitan siswa
Refleksi
Sumber Belajar
Buku teks:
Wardiman Artono, dkk.,English in focus for Grade VIII Junior High School, Jakarta: Pusat Pembukuan Depdi
Djunaedi, English 1 for the first year Junior Secondary School, Jakarta: Balai Pustaka,1995
Bulyaman K., English in Life VII, Bogor: Regina, 2007
Clark, dkk., Flying Start 1B, Denpasar: Erlangga, 2007
Internet/Majalah/Surat Kabar
Indikator dan Penilaian
TEST
NO. INDIKATOR
LISAN TULISAN
1. Mengucapkan kosakata dengan benar dan akurat.
2. Mengungkapkan berbagai informasi dalam teks
Instrumen: Terlampir
Rubrik Penilaian:
Observer,
STUDENT’S WORKSHET
Practice 1
Read this passage carefully!
Eagles have many sizes, shapes, and colors, but the sea eagle is easy to
recognize because it has a strong a streamlined, sharp beak and a stream-line body.
Its forelimbs (or arms) serve as wings. This means that they are of little use
for anything except flying. It walks on two legs and has a very flexible neck and strong
beak to handle foods, to care for its feathers and for many other jobs that non-flying
animals
Practice 2
Answer the following questions based on the text above.
1. What do you know about eagles?
2. Why is the sea eagle easy to recognize?
3. What do you think of its flying? Is it easy or hard to do?
4. What do the forelimbs of a sea eagle do?
5. What are the sea eagle’s neck and beak like?
Practice 3
Put the words in the box into these sentences. mushroom
1. A grows into a beautiful butterfly. eel
orchid
2. The lives in a land but breeds in water.
caterpillar
3. The usually grows in a dead tree. toad
4. The is a predator bird. It hunts for fish or chickens. bird
5. A is a bird that can imitate words. cockatoo
6. An is a very beautiful flower. owl
raven
7. The sound of a is very annoying.
shark
8. There is a big fish called living in the sea. eagle
a beak
9. I see an in that tree.
10. An is a snake-like animal that lives in the
ANSWER KEY!
PRACTICE 1
1. A bird
2. Yes, it is
3. Middle
4. Yes, it can
5. It has the sharp eyes
Practice 2
1. Eagle is a carnivore animal
The sea eagle is easy to recognize because it has a strong a streamlined, sharp beak and a stream-line
It is easy
Its forelimbs (or arms) serve as wings
It has a very flexible neck and strong beak
Practice 5
Caterpillar
Toad
Mushroom
Eagle
Cockatoo
Orchid
Raven
Shark
Owl
Eel
b. Kegiatan Inti
Siswa melengkapi teks prosedur.
Siswa membaca teks yang telah lengkap dan benar dengan lantang
yang dipandu oleh guru.
Siswa menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tentang informasi yang terdapat
dalam teks prosedur.
Siswa mengklasifikasikan kosakata yang terdapat dalam teks sesuai dengan
bunyinya secara berpasangan.
Siswa mempraktekkan cara pengucapan kosakata yang telah dipasangkan
dengan benar dan akurat.
Siswa diberikan latihan “minimal pair”
Siswa membuat teks prosedur.
c. Kegiatan Penutup
Menyimpulkan materi pembelajaran
Menanyakan kesulitan siswa
Refleksi
berbentuk prosedur.
3. Membuat teks prosedur.
Instrumen: Terlampir
Rubrik Penilaian:
No. Uraian Skor
1. Pengucapan dan ejaan benar, dan pemilihan kata tepat 10
2. Pengucapan dan ejaan kurang benar dan pemilihan kata tepat 5
3. Salah semua 0
Mengetahui, Jakarta, 11
Juni 2010
Guru Pamong, Observer,
Activity 4
Work this worksheet with your partner.
Student A Student B
Activity 1 Activity 2
Stir c
Make a
Add b
Bake d
Remove c
Serve a
Activity 3
/Λ/ /æ/ /э/ or / э:/ /∂/
Chocolate, butter, Bake Egg, Stir, Sugar, Tablespoon,
salt, bicarbonate, Add Together, Serve, Powder, Oven,
soda, large, Well, Center, Together, Another,
another, just, Ingredients, Then Mixture, Center, The,
muffin Combine, A, Completely
Pronunciation Test
(Before CAR/Pretest)
Name: …………………….
Class: …………………….
Date : …………………….
DIRECTIONS:
1. That dad
2. Leave live
3. Than then
4. Van fan
5. Ear hear
6. Foot food
7. Cap cab
8. She see
9. Fawn phone
10.Rock lock
Score……………………..
Pronunciation Test (After CAR I/Posttest 1)
Name : …………………….
Class : …………………….
Date :…………………….
DIRECTIONS:
1. sheep ship
2. chicks checks
3. pepper paper
4. x axe
5. men man
6. pie buy
7. cart card
8. price prize
9. boat vote
Score………………………
Pronunciation Test (After CAR II/Posttest 2)
Name : …………………….
Class: …………………….
Date: …………………….
DIRECTIONS:
1. Those dose
2. keen kin
3. tan ten
4. view few
5. heat eat
6. hit hid
7. bin pin
8. shame same
9. saw so
Score: …………………………….