i

An Analysis of Students’ Pronunciation Error in Speaking of

Eight Grade Students at SMP N 18 Malang

THESIS

by:

Innayatun Nafiah

201110100311191

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2015

i

An Analysis of Students’ Pronunciation Error in Speaking of

Eight Grade Students at SMP N 18 Malang

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Education

by:

Innayatun Nafiah

201110100311191

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2015

ii

iii

iv

v

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

“O believers! When you are asked to make room in your meetings, make room,

Allah will make a room for you in the hereafter. And if you are told to rise up,

then rise up: Allah will raise to higher ranks those of you have faith and

knowledge. Allah is aware of all your actions” (Al Quran 58:11)

I dedicated this thesis to:

My beloved father Suwito who always give the biggest attention, love,

affection and pray for me in order to be a good person. The second for my mother

Mutmaah who always give the best advice, pray for me and support me no matter

in a bad condition.

My brother Edy Risbaihaqi and my beloved sisters: Rini Kartini and Yuli

Fajariani who encourage and motivate me to finish this thesis.

My beloved man: Choyin Setyo Bagus who always give a big attention,

love and support and motivate me to finish this thesis.

My beloved friends: Layla, Ranny, Dina, Bunga and Nana who always

encourage me and give advice to me to finish this thesis.

vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious and Merciful, praise to Him for all

blessing and guidance in finishing this thesis as a requirement for the degree of

Strata 1 (S1) in English Department at the Faculty of Teacher Training and

Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

The researcher would like to express her deepest gratitude to her beloved

father and mother who give support, love and wishes in finishing this thesis. I

dedicated this thesis to them. She loves them both so much.

She also would like to express deeply gratitude to those who help her during

writing procces. They are:

1. The Head of English Department, Dr. Sudiran M.Hum for his attention and

motivation.

2. Rahmawati Khadijah Maro, S.Pd, M.PEd and Puji Sumarsono, M.Ed., M.Pd as

the researcher’s advisors who direct her to a good writing and help her solving

the problems during the writing process.

3. The Headmaster of SMP N 18 Malang Drs. Budi Santoso, MM. who gave me

permission to conduct my research.

4. The English Teacher, Dwi Nurhayati, S.Pd. who allowed me to conduct my

research in her class.

5. The Eight grade students’ especially D class who gave me occasion to conduct

the research.

6. Her English Department friend who cannot be mentioned one by one here.

Thanks for their support to the researcher in finishing her thesis.

She realizes that all of the guidance, support, time and change given are useful for

her to enlarge her knowledge and enable her to arrange the report as well as it should

be. May Allah SWT bless, protects and keeps us on His Right Path. Amien.

Malang, 12 November 2015

The Researcher,

Innayatun Nafiah

viii

TABLE OF CONTENT

COVER PAGE ................................................................................................. i

APPROVAL ..................................................................................................... ii

STATEMENT OF WORK ............................................................................... iv

MOTTO ........................................................................................................... v

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENT .................................................................................. vii

TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................... viii

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... x

LIST OF DIAGRAM ....................................................................................... xi

LIST OF APPENDIXES ................................................................................. xii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study ..................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of Problem ..................................................................... 5

1.3 Purposes of the study ..................................................................... 5

1.4 Significance of Study ..................................................................... 5

1.5 Scope and Limitations .................................................................... 6

1.6 Definition of Key Terms ................................................................ 6

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Speaking ......................................................................................... 8

2.2 The problem of speaking skills ...................................................... 8

2.3 Definition of Pronunciation............................................................ 10

2.4 International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) .......................................... 10

2.5 The Elements of Pronunciation ...................................................... 11

2.5.1 Phonemes ............................................................................. 13

2.5.1.1. Vowels ...................................................................... 13

2.5.1.2. Diphthongs ............................................................... 15

2.5.1.3. Consonants ............................................................... 17

2.6 Errors in Pronunciation .................................................................. 19

2.7 Errors .............................................................................................. 20

2.8 The causes of Pronunciation Error ................................................ 21

ix

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design ............................................................................. 24

3.2 Research Subject ............................................................................ 25

3.3 Research Instrument ...................................................................... 25

3.3.1 Document Analysis ............................................................... 25

3.3.2. Interview .............................................................................. 26

3.4 Data Collection .............................................................................. 27

3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................. 27

CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Research Findings .......................................................................... 29

4.1.1The Students’ Pronunciation Error in English Words ........... 29

4.1.1.1 Errors in Pronouncing Vowel ................................ 29

4.1.1.2 Errors in Pronouncing Diphthong ........................... 31

4.1.1.3 The Error in Pronouncing Consonant .................... 33

4.1.2 The causes of Students’ Pronunciation Error .......................... 34

4.2 Discussion ...................................................................................... 37

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion .................................................................................... 41

5.2 Suggestion ..................................................................................... 42

5.2.1 Suggestion to the students..................................................... 42

5.2.2 Suggestion to the teacher ...................................................... 42

5.2.3 Suggestion to the next researcher ......................................... 43

REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 44

APPENDIX ...................................................................................................... 46

x

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1. The sample result of Pronunciation errors in vowel ....................... 30

Table 4.2.The sample result of pronunciation errors in diphthong .................. 32

Table 4.3. The sample result of pronunciation error in consonant................... 33

xi

LIST OF DIAGRAM

Diagram 2.1. Features of Pronunciation .......................................................... 12

Diagram 2.2. Vowels sound ............................................................................. 14

Diagram 2.3. Diphthongs ................................................................................. 16

xii

LIST OF APPENDIXES

Appendix I The result of pronunciation error in vowel sounds ....................... 46

Appendix II The Result of Pronunciation error in Diphthongs........................ 47

Appendix III The result of Pronunciation Error in Consonants ....................... 48

Appendix IV Transcription Interview ............................................................. 49

Appendix V The students’ dialogues ............................................................... 60

Appendix VI Letter of Research Permission .................................................. 67

xiii

REFERENCES

Akbayrak, Burcu .(2000). A Comparison of Two Data Collecting Methods:

Interviews and Questionnaires. Retrieved from:

http://www.efdergi.hacettepe.edu.tr/yonetim/icerik/makaleler/1051-published.pdf. (Acessed Date: 28 May 2015).

Alam, Qutbi&Uddin, Ayesha Bashir (2013).Improving English Oral

Communication Skills of Pakistani Public School’s Students.Retrieved

from: http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Improving-English-Oral-Communication-Skills-Of-Pakistani-Public-Schools-Students.pdf. (Acessed date: 29 June 2015).

Ary, Donald., Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen, and AsgharRazavieh. (2010).

Introduction to Research in Education. Wadsworth: Nelson Education.

Dulay,et al (1982). Language Two. New York: Oxford University Press.

Florez, Marry Ann Cunningham (1999). Improving Adult English Language

Learners’ Speaking Skills.Retrievedfrom:

http://www.marshalladulteducation.org/pdf/briefs/Imprvg%20ELLspkg.Fl

orez.pdf. (Accessed date: 20 March 2015)

Harmer, Jeremy (2009).The Practice of English Language Teaching.England:

Pearson Education Limited.

Hassan, Elkhair Muhammad Idriss (2014). Pronunciation Problems: A Case

Study of English Language Students at Sudan University of Science and

Technology. English Language and Literature Studies.Vol, 4, No. 4;

November 2014. Pp:31-44.

Hatch, Amos J. (2002).Doing Qualitative Research in Education Settings. New

York. State University of New York Press.

Hidayah, Masrufatul.(2013). The Errors of English Pronunciation in Learning

English Produced by Students of Al-Izzah Islamic Boarding

School.Unpublish Thesis. Malang: UMM

Isyuniandri, Dzaky.(2014). Students’ Errors in Pronunciation at ESP 2 Program

of the English Department of University of Muhammadyah

Malang.Malang:UMM

Kelly, Gerald. (2000). How to Teach Pronunciation. England: Longman Group

Limited

Liddicoat, J Anthony and Scarino, Angela (2009).Teaching and Learning

Languages :A Guide. Australian Government: Department of Education,

Employment and Workplace Relations.

41

xiv

Lin, Liang Cheng (2014). Understanding Pronunciation Variations Facing ESL

Students.International Journal of Humanities and Social Science. Vol. 4,

No. 5(1); March 2014. Pp. 16-19

Linse, Caroline (2005).Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners.

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company

Maicusi, Trianci&Maicusi, Panayota (2000).The error in the Second Language

Acquisition.Retrievedfrom:

http://dspace.uah.es/dspace/bitstream/handle/10017/953/The+Error+in+the

+Second+L?sequence=1. (Acessed date: 5 March 2015).

Nazara, Situjuh (2011). Journal of English Teaching: Students’ Perception on

EFL Speaking Skill Development. Retrieved from:

https://jetuki.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/3-students-perception-on-efl-

speaking-skill-development-pp-28-43.pdf. (Accessed date: 3 May 2015).

Overton, Tina and Lemanski Tom. (2011). An Introduction to Qualitative

Research. Retrieved from:

https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:4506/content. (Accessed date: 10 May

2015).

Riyani, OktaIvana.(2013). An Analysis of Pronunciation Errors Made by

Indonesian Singer in Malang in Singing English Songs.Unpublish Thesis.

Malang: Graduate Program of State University of Malang.

Sharifian, Farzad (2009).English as an International Language:Perspectives and

Pedagogical Issues. The Great Britain: MPG Books Ltd.

Roach, Peter (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Courses

Fourth Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Thornbury, Scott (2005). How to Teach Speaking. United States of America:

Longman Group Limited

Wahyuni, Riski F. (2004). Error Analysis of Students’ Pronunciation at SMP N 1

Pamekasan.Unpublish Thesis. Malang: UMM

Yang, Wenfen (2010).A Tentative Analysis of Errors in Language Learning and

Use. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 266-

268, May 2010

Yates, Lynda (2002). AMEP RESEARCH CENTRE: Fact sheet – What is

pronunciation?.Retrieved from:

http://www.ameprc.mq.edu.au/docs/fact_sheets/01Pronunciation.pdf.

(Accessed date: 18 December 2014).

42