TEACHING PRONUNCATION BY USING PHONETIC SYMBOLS TO THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 1 SUNGAI ARE

 

1. Background

            Language is a means of expressing ideas, thoughts, opinion, and feeling, or it can be said that language is an instrument of communication and interaction used by human being.  In learning English that is taught in Indonesia as a foreign language, the students should accomplish many language aspects such as language skill, components, and functions.  The division of language skills are reading, listening, speaking and writing.  Language components consist of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.  Depdikbud (1999:33) states

The  learning   of English elements namely vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation,  spelling and idiom is to support the ability of four language   skills    in   teaching   and   learning process. English elements   that  are   difficult   for   the  students can be presented separately  in  systematic  way accordance with the theme which was being presented in the class.

            Many students find some problems in learning English especially in pronouncing the words.  It is reasonable, because the system of pronunciation used in English are different from Indonesian language.  In English, most of the words are not pronounced as they are spelled.  As Franklin and Rodman cited in Riman (2009:1) say that grammar, consist of phonology that studies the sound system.  In addition, Lado cited in Riman (2009:1) says, “The system of the sound used in English is different from those used in Indonesian language, and their differences cause difficulties for students in learning English.  These problems are due to the fact that some English sounds do not exist in Indonesian language for examples, the sounds [ æ ], [ Ө ], and [ ∂ ].  The ability to pronounce the English words correctly is very important for the English users.  There fore, the pronunciation of English should be practiced by the students.  As Robinet (1978:64) stated in Sukmarini (2000:3) stated that  one of the most important aspects of learning a second language is the effort to master the sound systems, to pronounce the language. In other words, the linguistic system of English is different from that our mother tongue.  It is very difficult for Indonesian students to pronounce English sounds appropriately and correctly.  Sounds can be very difficult for language learners too, also because of the position they occupy in relation to other sounds in words or sentences.  The different will be difficult.  For example, the words “pain”, some students pronounce it “pain” with no change of the letter “a”.  Therefore, to master the English sounds is not easy.   

            In viewing the above statements, saying that the English pronunciation is difficult as it is, and one effort to help the students for learning English pronunciation is the phonetic symbols.  The writer is interested to use the phonetic symbols in teaching pronunciation, because she referred to what Gerald (in Haviyanti, 2009:2) states that the phonetic symbols are a great help when comes to learning to pronounce English words correctly.  Any time the students open a dictionary, he/she can find the correct pronunciation of words he/she does not know before, by looking at the phonetic symbols that follows the word, understanding of the phonetic symbols can greatly simplify the learning process.  Another reason that the writer realizes that most of the teaching of English does not start with phonetic lessons, even though common sense suggest that good pronunciation and intonation require persistent practice in listening, speaking, and reading aloud.  Students in  all levels of education do not receive such practice.   In addition that English has a alphabetic system of writing, but its sounds and spelling are far from consistent and regular.  The same combination of letters can have quite different pronunciations.  For example, ch in chair, and machine  are pronounce respectively as [ t∫ ], [k], and [ ∫ ].  The letter a in page, tall, dare, rabbit, and dilemma are, respectively, pronounce as [ ei ], [   ]. [ εə ],  [æ], and [ ə ].  The combination of oo in book and food have different pronunciations.  The irregularity of sound combinations makes the learning of phonetic symbols indispensable for ESL students.

            Hence, this study will be entitled “TEACHING PRONUNCATION BY USING PHONETIC SYMBOLS TO THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 1 SUNGAI ARE.”

2. Problem

            In this study, the writer will focused on teaching pronunciation by using phonetic symbols.  To make the problems clear, the writer presents the limitation of the problem and the formulation of the problem.

2.1 Limitation of the Problem

            The problem of this study will be focused on the teaching pronunciation by using phonetic symbols.  The writer limits the study in teaching pronunciation by using phonetic symbols with the words taken from the text entitled “Art “ and the words that will be investigated to be pronounced are only 20 words. 

                                                                                                                          

2.2 Formulation of the Problem

The problem which discussed in this study deals with the teaching pronunciation by using phonetic symbols, in this case the words will be taken from the text entitled “Art” from the students’ book page 71. The formulation of the problem is “Is teaching pronunciation by using phonetic symbols effective to the eleventh grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Sungai Are? 

3. The Objective of this Study

            Based on the problem of this study, the main objective of this study is to find out whether or not phonetic symbol is effective in teaching pronunciation.

4. The Significance of the Study

            The writer hopes that this study would be useful for the writer himself to increase his knowledge of conducting a study and to enlarge of English on the phonetic symbols and pronunciation.  For the teachers of SMA Negeri 1 Sungai Are, the writer hopes the result of this study would be useful at least for giving information to the teachers in teaching pronunciation.  For the students it would give them motivation to study English especially in learning English pronunciation. This study will be carried out in order to know phonetic symbol is effective in teaching pronunciation.

5. Hypotheses

            In relation to the objective of the study as mentioned above, the writer formulates the following two hypotheses.

Ho        :  it is not effective using phonetic symbols in teaching pronunciation to the eleventh grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Sungai Are.

Hi         :  it is effective using phonetic symbols in teaching pronunciation to the eleventh grade students of SMA Negeri 1 Sungai Are..

6. Criteria for Testing the Hypotheses

            For testing the hypotheses formulated above, the writer will use critical value of the students of matched t-test distribution table (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:272).  Due to the fact that the writer will use 40 students as the sample of the study, and the degree of freedom (df) was 39 (40-1), therefore to accept the alternative hypotheses with 5% significance with one tailed test, the result of the matched t-test of t-obtained should exceed 2.021 (Hadi, 1990:443) and the null hypotheses (Ho) is rejected.  On the other hand, if the result of the matched t-test is the same or less than 2.021 as the critical value, the null hypotheses (Ho) can be accepted consequently the alternative hypotheses (Hi) is rejected.

THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 7 PALEMBANG IN USING ENGLISH VERB TENSES

 

1. Background

            In Indonesia, English is taught as a compulsory subject to high school and college students.  At some elementary school, English has ever been introduced as local content subject to their fourth grade pupils.  The objective of teaching English to Indonesian students is that the students are able to communicate in English both oral and written.    To achieve the objective, the students have the four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.  To support their language skills, the students should master the language components, such as pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

            Grammar is one of the language components that the students should master.  Grammar is a linguistic description of a particular language, a set of statements or rules that explain how the language works (Calderonello, 1986:481).  It is important to master grammar because a person who has good grammar mastery would be able to understand sentences produced by other people and to produce grammatical utterances/sentences understood by other people.  According to Langacker (1978:87), grammar is the language components that form the construction of the sentences.  The study and the use of the structure of the language should be more accurate and clear.  Learning a new language gives knowledge how to put words together in right order and other knowledge meaning.  One of the important things in learning the language is order to use the verb patterns.  This verb patterns are the basic elements of a sentence construction.

            Since the mastery of grammar is one of the elements that cannot be disregarded, it becomes a problem both teacher and students, and it is one of the reason to write this thesis.  One of the grammar items that should be taught at junior high school is five tenses of 16 tenses in English.   In this study, the writer would like to write the problems faced by the students in changing of the verbs tense:

For examples:

1) Students write                                  I am get up at five o’clock everyday

    The correct verb tense is                   I get up at five o’clock everyday.

2)  Students write                                 Mr. Boy is teach in the class right now

     The correct verb tense is                  Mr. Boy is teaching in the class right now.

            The problem for the students in sentence 1,  has to do with the verb Be (is, am, are) often used together with the verb, and in sentence 2, the students cannot understand the functional of Present Progressive.  Tense so that, verb Be and verb-ing often changes.  In this case, the teacher should have systematic knowledge how to eliminate that problem.  If the students understand and master the structure, they may develop their language skills.   Based on the explanation above the writer would like to write a thesis entitled “THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 7 PALEMBANG IN USING ENGLISH VERB TENSES.”

2. Problems of the Study

            To make the problems clear, the writer presents the limitation of the problem and the formulation of the problems. 

2.1 Limitation of the Problems

            The problem of this study will be focused on the eighth grade students’ problem in using the English verb tenses of SMP Negeri 7 Palembang.  The verb tenses are Present Progressive, Present Perfect, Simple Past Tense, and Simple Future Tense.

2.1.2 Formulation of the Problems

            There is only one main problem of this study that is “What problems are faced by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 7 Palembang in using English Verb Tenses?”

3.  The Objectives of this Study

            Based on the problem of this study, the main objective will be “to find out the students problem in using English Verb Tenses.”

4.  The Significance of the Study

            The writer hopes that this study will be useful for the writer herself to increase his knowledge of conducting a study and to enlarge of English, especially the verb tenses.  For the teacher of SMP Negeri 7 Palembang, the writer hopes the result of this study would be useful at least for giving information to the teacher in teaching grammar.  For the students it would give them motivation to study English especially in the verb of the tenses. This study will be carried out in order to describe the students’ problem in understanding and using the English verb tenses.

TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION BY USING STUDENTS TEAM ACHIEVEMENT DIVISION (STAD) TECHNIQUE TO THE NINTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 2 BATURAJA

TEACHING READING COMPREHENSION BY USING STUDENTS TEAM ACHIEVEMENT DIVISION (STAD) TECHNIQUE TO THE NINTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 2 BATURAJA

1.  Background

            English is one of the important languages that is used all over the world whether as the first, second or foreign language.  English as one of the subjects is taught from elementary school to university in Indonesia.  English teaching covers four skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.  All these components are taught in integrated ways.  At schools in Indonesia, English subject aimed at developing communication competence in oral and written form (Depdikbud, 2004:6).  This means the students have progress in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

            It is very important for the students to be able to read.  By reading, the students’ can acquire valuable information that can improve their thinking to generate: ideas and solve problems (Wood, 1995:5 in Nurtina, 2004:1).  For instance by having the reading ability, the students can increase their knowledge, do assignment, make notes, write letters, and many other things.  Saleh (1997:41) adds that reading is the skill which they may often use and is retained the longest.  It concerns not only with assigning the English sounds to the written words, but also with the understanding of what is written.

             The students may have problems in understanding passages.  It is the teachers responsible to minimize the students’ failures bay using the appropriate technique in teaching reading so that the students can understand what they read in target language.  By applying appropriate teaching technique in teaching and learning process, the writer hopes can improve the student reading comprehension achievement.

            The application of Student Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) is one of the teaching techniques that can be done in teaching reading comprehension.  This technique makes the students tow work together to learn and responsible for their team mates as well as their own (Slavin, 1994).  

2.  Problem of the Study

             To make the problem clear, the writer will present the limitation of the problems and the formulation of the problems.

2.1 Limitation of the Problems

             The limitation of the problem that will be investigated in this study is that the text that will be used in this study entitled “Public Services” which will be taken from the students’ text book on page 75.

2.2 Formulation of the Problems

             The formulation of the problem is “Is it effective teaching reading comprehension by using students team achievement (STAD) technique to the ninth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Baturaja?

3. The Objective of the Study

            Based on the problem of this study, the main objective of this study is to find out whether or not teaching reading comprehension by using students’ team achievement (STAD) technique is effective?

4.  The Significance of the Study

            The writer hopes that this study would give the beneficial contributions to the writer herself, for the students, for the teacher of English, and for the other researchers.

(1) For the Writer Herself

      By conducting this study, it would increase the writer’s own knowledge on how the reading comprehension is taught to the students and how to measure the students’ achievement on their reading activity. 

(2) For the Students

      By conducting this study, it would give the students some inputs so they could have reading comprehension activity well, and also would give them motivation to study English especially in learning reading comprehension.

(3) For the teachers of English, the writer hopes the result of this study would be useful at least for giving information to the teachers in teaching the students reading comprehension by using STAD and to get some experiences in conduction this study..   

(4) For the Other Researchers, it would give information about the teaching reading comprehension that there is another technique which is by using students’ team achievement (STAD) so that they could improve it for the future.

CONTOH PROPOSAL

THE ERRORS MADE BY THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SMP NEGERI 3 PALEMBANG IN USING PRESENT PARTICIPLES AND GERUNDS  

1.  Background

            In Indonesia, English is taught as a compulsory subject to high schools and college students.  At some elementary schools, English has even been introduced as a local content subject to their fourth-grade pupils.  The objective of teaching English to Indonesian students is that the students are able to communicate in English both orally and writing.  To achieve this objective, the students should have the four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing.  Besides, to support their language skills, the students should master the language components, such as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

            Grammar is one of the language components that the students should master.  Grammar is a linguistic description of a particular language, a set of statements or rules that explain how the language works (Calderonnello, 1986:481).  It is important to master grammar because a person who has a good grammar mastery would be able to understand utterances/sentences produced by the other people and to produce grammatical utterances/sentences understood by other people.

             One grammatical item which the students may make errors is, in using Present Participle and Gerund.   Wren and martin (1985:126) say, “Present Participle is a word which is partly a verb and partly an adjective.”  It represents an action, or incomplete or imperfect, as:

1. We met a girl carrying a basket of flowers.
2. Loudly knocking at the gate, he demanded admission.
3. The child, thinking all was safe, attempted to cross the road.
4. He rushed into the field, and foremost fighting fell.

Richard et all, (1985:208) state that Present Participle is formed by adding –ing to a verb base.  It functions as an adjective, for examples:

a smiling girl

a self winding watch
1.2 Problems of the Study

            To make the problems clear, it is necessary to limit the problem in order to stay focused on the point of discussion, namely the analysis of errors made by the sample students in constructing sentences containing the present participles and gerunds.

1.2.1 Limitation of the Problems

            The problem of this study is only limited to the analysis of the students’ errors in using the present participles and gerunds. The errors that were analyzed were in terms of their combination pattern in sentence constructions.

1.2.2 Formulation of the Problem

            The problem of the study is formulated in the following question: “What errors are made by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Penukal in using present participles and gerunds.”

1.3 Objective of the Study

            The objective of the study is to find out the errors made by the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Penukal in using present participles and gerund words.

1.4 Significance of the Study

            The result of this study would be useful for the following parties:

1)      The teachers of English, especially those who teach in SMP Negeri 3 Penukal recognize the errors made by their students in forming sentences containing the grammatical pattern: “Present Participles and Gerunds”. Then they could prepare a better remedial teaching for the students. 

2)      For the researcher herself, this study would improve her English and give her some experience in conducting a scientific task.

3)      For the students, the results of this study would be their remembrance of making errors in constructing English sentences, especially in using present participle and gerund s analyzed.