Does Mother Tongue Affect The English Pronunciation?: 4 ICLEHI 2016-041 Bobby Pramjit Singh Dhillon

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Running Head: DOES MOTHER TONGUE AFFECT THE ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION?

4 ICLEHI 2016-041 Bobby Pramjit Singh Dhillon

Does Mother Tongue Affect the English Pronunciation?

Bobby Pramjit Singh Dhillon


Department of Teacher Training, Nommensen HKBP University,
Sangnaualuh Street 4, Pematangsiantar, Indonesia
bobbydhillon2002@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
This study is conducted to find out whether mother tongue affects the English Pronunciation.
The problems of this research are formatted in the form of questions, as follows: “What
problems do the students have in pronouncing English words?” and “What are the causes of
their mispronunciation?”. To solve the problems, the researcher uses some theories such as:
Roach (2000), Jones (1979), Gimson (1962), and Skandera & Burleigh (2005). The main
theory in this research is about English pronunciation which is aimed to English vowels,
diphthongs, and consonants. This research is a qualitative study. The subjects are the second
semester students at Teacher Training and Education Faculty Pematangsiantar. The data are
analyzed by first transcribing the students voice into phonetic transcription, and then
comparing them to the Standard English Pronunciation, after that identifying the students
problems. The researcher finds out that the interference of students mother tongue,
namely: Batak Toba language, makes the students difficult to pronounce some English
phonemes, such as (1) vowels /ə/, and / : /; (2) diphthongs /e /, /ə /, /eə/, / ə/, and / ə/; (3)
consonants /ð/, /θ/, / /, /t /, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/; and (4) suffix –s /z/ or /s/, and suffix–ed /d/ or
/t/ or /id/. In conclusion, this study shows the cause of the interference of mother tongue in
the students pronunciation is the absence of such phonemes in Aksara Batak (Batak s
Script). The researcher suggests English teachers to introduce English phonemes (consonants,
vowels, and diphthongs) and stress to class of beginner, and to be a good model in teaching
pronunciation.

Keywords: Pronunciation, mispronunciation, vowels, diphthongs, consonants

Introduction
Research Background
Pronunciation is recognized as a fundamental ability which students should acquire,
primarily because it can affect accuracy and comprehension. Many learners of English as a
second language have major difficulties with pronunciation. Therefore, the emphasis on
teaching correct pronunciation i.e. recognizing errors in pronunciation and correcting them is
necessary for an improvement of students’ pronunciation ability.
In general, it is found that English as Foreign Language (EFL) students encounter
some common difficulties when learning foreign language pronunciation. According to
Brown (1994: 284), the factors that cause these difficulties are phonological differences
between their native language (L1) and their second language/foreign language (L2). He
proposes six factors that affect learner’s pronunciation, i.e., native language, age, experience,
innate phonetic ability, identity and language ego, and motivation and concern for good
pronunciation ability.

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Clearly, the native language is the most influential factor affecting a learner’s
pronunciation. If the teacher is familiar with the sound system of the learners’ native
language, he will be better able to diagnose the students’ difficulties. Since the learners freely
bring their different accents from their native language in the English classroom, then their
English pronunciations sound awkward. This makes a big problem to learning English
pronunciation.
There are two key problems with pronunciation teaching: “Firstly it tends to be
neglected. And secondly when it is not neglected, it tends to be reactive to a particular
problem that has arisen in the classroom rather than being strategically planned” (Kelly,
2000:13). Thus, teachers of pronunciation need:

a. A good grounding in theoretical knowledge


b. Practical classroom skills
c. Access to good ideas for classroom activities.

The fact that pronunciation tends to suffer from neglect may not be due to teacher’s
lacking interest in the subject but rather to a feeling of doubts as to how to teach it (Kelly,
2004). Many experienced teachers would admit to a lack of knowledge of the theory of
pronunciation and they may therefore feel the need to improve their practical skills in
pronunciation teaching. In spite of the fact that trainee and less experienced teachers may be
very interested in pronunciation, their concern with grammar and vocabulary tends to be the
second matters. Language learners, on the other hand, often show considerable enthusiasm
for pronunciation. They feel it is something that would help them to communicate better. So,
even though both teachers and learners are keeping in on the subject, it is often neglected.
Based on the researcher’s experience in teaching Phonology for semester two students
at Teacher Training and Education Faculty Pematangsiantar, whose students were dominantly
from Batak society, most of the students have problems in pronouncing English words. For
example:

Words Students’ Pronunciation Standard English


Pronunciation
High /haik/ /hai/
English /eŋlis/ / ŋ.gl /
Think /tiŋ/ /θ ŋk/
Ask /aks/ /æsk /
Flood /flud/ /fl d /
Figure 1.

Identification and recognition of the speech sounds will certainly help the foreign
learners understand continuous stream of speech sounds used in real communication. In other
words, the ability to identify and recognize the quality of the speech sounds will certainly
help the students to know how the speech sounds are to be uttered.
The variables in mother tongue that hinder effective communication in English are
caused by differences in phonetics. Most languages, for instance, do not use, or pronounce,
the combination in the same way as it is pronounced in the English language.

Research Problems
In line with the research background, the researcher formulates the problems of this
research, as follows:

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a) What problems do the semester two students at Teacher Training and Education
Faculty have in pronouncing English words?
b) What are the causes of the students’ mispronunciation?

Research Purposes
The purposes of this research are to find out:
a) The semester two students’ problems in pronouncing English words.
b) The causes of the students’ mispronunciation.

Research Scope and Limitation


The researcher makes a scope in this research. The concentration of the research here
refers to the English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants. The Standard English
pronunciation used in this research is British style based on Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary 3rd Edition.

Research Significances
Theoretically, this research may give valuable contribution to the development of
phonology, especially in applied linguistics field where phonology is applied in the language
classroom reality.
Practically, this research is expected to be valuable for English teachers. It may give
good ideas for classroom activities in pronunciation. So that teachers know how to treat
students of different accents from different ethnics. Besides, this researcher can be valuable
to the English learners for their ability to identify and recognize the quality of the speech
sounds and know how the speech sounds to be uttered.

Review of Related Literature


English Phonology
Skandera and Burleigh (2005: 5) stated that phonology deals with the speaker’s
knowledge of the sound system of a language. It is therefore exclusively concerned with
competence. It can be divided into two branches: segmental phonology and suprasegmental
phonology.
Segmental phonology is based on the segmentation of language into individual speech
sounds provided by phonetics. Unlike phonetics, however, segmental phonology is not
interested in the production, the physical properties, or the perception of sounds, but in the
function and possible combination of sounds within the sound system. While suprasegmental
phonology (also called as prosody) is connected with those features of pronunciation that
cannot be segmented because they extend over more than one segment, or sound. Such
features include stress, rhythm, and intonation (also called as pitch contour or pitch
movement).

The English Consonants


Consonants are sounds that are produced by an obstruction of an air-stream either in
the pharynx or in the vocal tract. There are 24 consonant phonemes in Received
Pronunciation (RP) and in most other accents of English (Skandera & Burleigh, 2005: 20).
Consonant is regarded as a typical speech sound that is articulated either with complete or
partial closure of the air stream in the mouth cavity by means of certain speech organ. The
features of consonants can be determined by three main aspects they are: place of
articulation, manner of articulation and vibration of the vocal cords.
A place of articulation deals with the speech organ involved in the production of the
consonant. Based on this category, the consonants can be classified into bilabial (articulated
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by the lower and the upper lips), labiodental (articulated by the lower lip and the upper teeth),
alveolar (articulated by the tip of the tongue and the teeth ridge), post alveolar (articulated by
the tip of the tongue and the back part of the teeth ridge), palato alveolar (articulated by the
blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge), palatal (articulated by the front of the tongue and the
hard palate), velar (articulated by the back of the tongue and the soft palate), and glottal
(articulated in the glottis).
Manner of the articulation deals with the way how the speech organs are moved in the
production of the consonants. Based on the movement of the speech organs or how the air
streams is blocked by the speech organs, the consonant can be classified into: plosive (the air
stream completely blocked and suddenly released and produces a plosion), affricative (the air
stream is completely blocked and slowly released, and produces a hissing sounds), nasal (the
air stream in the mouth cavity is completely blocked and released through the nose), lateral
(the air stream is released through either both side of the tongue). Fricative (the air stream is
released through narrow passage formed by the articulators and produced a hissing sound),
and semi vowel (the speech organ are moved or glided from a weakly articulated vowel
position to the other position).
The vocal cord may be held wide apart or closed completely. Besides, they may be
held loosely together so that they vibrate when the air passes between them. During the
production of the consonants, there might be more or less vibration of the vocal cords. When
a stronger vibration is made during its production, the consonant is then classified as a voiced
consonant (vd), but if the vocal cord make less vibration, the sound produced is classified as
voiceless consonant (vl). When the vocal cord are tightly closed so that no air can escape at
all, and they are then suddenly opened, a glottal stop [?] will be heard.
Based on the above explanation, the English consonants can be drawn as in the
following chart:

PLACE OF ARTICULATION
dental

alveolar

alveolar
Bilabial

Labio

Dental

Alveolar

Post

Palato

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Plosive vl p t k ?
vd b d g
Affricate vl tʃ
MANNER OF ARTICULATION

vd dʒ
Nasal vl
vd m n ŋ
Lateral vl
vd l
Fricative vl f θ s ʃ h
vd v ð z r ʒ
Semi vl
Vowel vd w j

Figure 2. The English Consonants Chart


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The English Vowels


This category or sounds is normally made with a voiced agressive airstream, without
any closure or narrowing such as would result in the noise component characteristic of many
consonant sounds; moreover, the escape of the air is caracteristically accomplished in an
unimpeded way over the middle line of the tounge (Gimson, 2001:33)
Vowels are made by voiced air passing through different mouth-shapes; the
differences in the shape of the mouth are caused by different position of the tongue and the
lips (Connor, 1980:79)

Figure 3.

The English Diphthongs


A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whole glide acts like one of
the long, simple vowel (Connor, 1980: 84). Diphthongs can be divided into two groups,
namely: rising and centering diphthongs.

Rising diphthongs. The rising diphthongs are those ending in high vowels such as /ɪ/
and /ʊ/. The English rising diphthongs are: /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aʊ/, and /oʊ/ (for strong form) or
/əʊ/ (for weak form).
Examples:

Graphemes British American


Came /ˈ keɪm / /ˈkem/
Great /ˈ greɪt / /ˈgret/
Gold /ˈ gəʊld / /ˈgold/

Centering diphthongs. The English centering diphthongs are those ending in /ə/
such as: /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/. For examples:
Graphemes British American
Hair /ˈheə/ /’her/
Weird /ˈ wɪəd / /ˈ wɪrd /
Sure /ˈʃʊə/ /ˈʃʊr /

Factors that Affect Pronunciation Learning


According to Kenworthy (1987: 4) there are at least six factors that affect
pronunciation learning, they are:

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1. The native language. The more differences of sounds characteristics of the native
language and English, the more difficulties the learner will have in pronouncing
English.
2. The age factor. This factor is contradictory. Some researchers found that age
determines the accuracy of a learner’s pronunciation; other researchers argued that
age confers no immediate advantage in learning to pronounce foreign sounds.
3. Amount of exposure. It is tempting to view this simply as a matter of whether the
learner is living in an English-speaking country or not. If this is the case, then the
learner is ‘surrounded’ by English and this constant exposure should affect
pronunciation skills.
4. Phonetic ability. This skill has been variously termed ‘aptitude for oral mimicry’,
‘phonetic coding ability’ or ‘auditory discrimination ability’. Researchers have
designed tests which measure this ability and have demonstrated that some people are
able to discriminate between two sounds better than others, and/or are able to mimic
sounds more accurately.
5. Attitude and identity. It has been claimed that factors such as a person’s ‘sense of
identity’ and feelings of ‘group affiliation’ are strong determiners of the acquisition of
accurate pronunciation of a foreign language.
6. Motivation and concern for good pronunciation. Some learners seem to be more
concerned about their pronunciation than others. This concern is often expressed in
statements about how bad their pronunciation is and in request for correction. When
we talk in terms of ‘strength of concern’ for pronunciation we are really pinpointing a
type of motivation. The desire to well is a kind of ‘achievement motivation’. Learners
may be unconcerned because they simply are not aware that the way they speak is
resulting in difficulty, irritation or misunderstanding for the listener.

Research Methodology
Research Design
This research is a qualitative study and conducts descriptive analysis. A qualitative
research is concerned primarily with process, meaning, and understanding, rather than
outcomes or procedures (Creswell 1994: 145). Therefore a qualitative researcher needs to
report faithfully the realities and to rely on voices and interpretations of informants.
Descriptive research is designed to obtain information concerning the current status of
phenomena. They are directed toward determining the nature of a situation as it exists at the
time of the study. The aim of descriptive study is to describe what exist with respect to
variables or conditions in a situation.
This research is a descriptive qualitative study because it concerns with the natural
context of students’ pronunciation. The aim of this research is to describe the students’
problems in pronouncing English words regarding to the using Standard English vowels,
diphthongs, and consonants.

Subject of Research
The subject of this research is semester two students at Teacher Training and Education
Faculty Pematangsiantar..
The researcher will take 4 students randomly. Specifically, the researcher will take 1 student
from 4 classes. These students are supposed to represent the other students to know their
problems in pronouncing English words.

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Objects of Research
The objects of this research are the students’ problems in pronouncing English words
regarding to the using Standard English vowels, diphthongs, and consonants, and the cause of
their mispronunciation.

Technique of Collecting Data


The researcher uses audio method in collecting the data. The steps are:
1. Preparing 10 (ten) sentences that include all the English vowels, diphthongs,
consonants and stress to test their English pronunciation.
2. Asking the students to pronounce all those sentences in turn-taking.
3. Recording the students’ voice.

Technique of Data Analysis


The data will be analyzed based on some techniques, they are:
1. Repeatedly listening to the recorded data.
2. Transcribing the students’ pronunciation by using the IPA phonetic symbol.
3. Finding out the students’ problems in pronouncing English vowels, diphthongs, and
consonants.
4. Classifying the students’ problems.
5. Drawing conclusion pertaining to their problems.

Data Validity
In qualitative research, validity is, like integrity, character and quality, to be assessed
relative to purposes and circumstances (Brinberg and McGrath 1985: 13). It is an approach to
research that uses a combination of more than one research strategy in a single investigation.
Denzin (1989) described three types of data triangulation: (1) time, (2) space, and (3) person.
Time triangulation means researchers collect data about a phenomenon at different
time. Space triangulation consists of collecting data at more than one site. By collecting data
at different time and spaces, the researcher gains a clearer and more complete description of
decision making and is able to differentiate characteristics that span time periods and spaces
from characteristics specific to certain times and spaces. By using person triangulation, the
researcher collects the data from more than one level of persons, that is, a set of individuals,
groups, or collectives.

Data Analysis And Research Findings


Data Analysis
There are 3 data in this research. The data are in the form of recorded voices, and then
the researcher transcribes the students’ voices into English phonetic transcription. The
researcher gives the students 3 (three) sentences. Here, the researcher analyzes their
pronunciation per word.

Analysis of sentence 1.
Sentence 1 : He says that he wants us to take it away
Phonetic Transcription : /hi ˈseɪz ðæt hi ˈwɒnts ʌs ˈtuː ˈteɪk ɪt əˈweɪ/

No Word Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Explanation


1 he / hi/ /hi/ /hi/ /hi/ /hi/ Correct
2 says /se z/ /ses/ /ses/ /ses/ /ses/ - Diphthong /e /was
mispronounced as
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No Word Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Explanation


monophthong /e/
- Suffix –s was pronounced
/s/ instead of /z/
3 that /ðæt/ /dæt/ /dæt/ /dæt/ /dæt/ Consonant /ð/ was
mispronounced as /d/
4 wants/w nts/ /w nts/ /w nts/ /w nts/ /w nts/ Correct
5 us / s/ / s/ / s/ / s/ / s/ Correct
6 to /tu/ /tu/ /tu/ /tu/ /tu/ Correct
7 take /teIk/ /tek/ /tek/ /tek/ /tek/ Diphthong /eI/ was
mispronounced as
monophthong /e/
8 it /It/ /It/ /It/ /It/ /It/ Correct
9 away /ə’weI/ /e’weI/ / ’we /e’weI/ / ’we Vowel /ə/ was
mispronounced as /e/ or / /
Figure 1. Analysis of sentence 1.

Analysis of sentence 2.
Sentence 2 : My friend has just sold a very fine old painting
Phonetic Transcription : / ma ˈfrend həz ˈ dʒ st ˈsə ld ə ˈveri ˈ fa n ˈə ld ˈ pe n.t ŋ /

No Word Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Explanation


1 my / ma / / ma / / ma / / ma / / ma / Correct
2 friend /frend/ /prend/ /prend/ /frend/ /prend/ Consonant /f/ was
mispronounced as /p/
3 has /həz/ /hes/ /hes/ /hes/ /hes/ - Vowel /ə/ was
mispronounced as /e/, or
- Voiced fricative /z/ was
mispronounced as
voiceless /s/
4 just /dʒ st / / dʒ st / / dʒ st/ / dʒ st / / dʒ st / Correct
5 sold / sə ld /, /sold/ /sold/ /sold/ /sold/ Diphthong /ə / was
mispronounced as
monophthong /o/
6 a /ə/ /e/ /e/ /e/ /e/ Weak vowel /ə/ was
mispronounced as /e/
7 very /veri/ /feri/ /peri/ /feri/ /peri/ Voiced fricative /v/ was
mispronounced as
voiceless fricative /f/ or
voiceless plosive /p/
8 fine / fa n / /fa n/ /fa n/ /fa n/ /fa n/ Correct
9 old /ə ld / /old/ /old/ /old/ /old/ Diphthong /ə / was
mispronounced as
monophthong /o/
10 painting /pent ŋ/ /pent ŋ/ /pent ŋ/ /pent ŋ/ Diphthong /e / was
/pe n.t ŋ / mispronounced as
monophthong /e/
Figure 2. Analysis of sentence 2.
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Analysis of Sentence 3

Sentence 3 : I drank a cup of coffee this morning


Phonetic Transcription : / a dræŋk ə k p əv ˈ k f.i ð s ˈ m ː.n ŋ /

No Word Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Explanation


1 I/a / /a / /a / /a / /a / Correct
2 drank /dræŋk/ /dræŋk/ /dræŋk/ /dræŋk/ /dræŋk/ Correct
3 a /ə/ /e/ /e/ /e/ /e/ Weak vowel /ə/
was
mispronounced as
/e/
4 cup / k p / /k p/ /k p/ /k p/ /k p/ Correct
5 of /əv/ / ep/ / e f/ / e f/ /of/ Consonant /v/ was
mispronounced as
/p/ or /f/
6 coffee /k f.i / /kopi/ /kofi/ /kopi/ /kofi/ - Vowel /ɒ/ was
mispronounced as
/o/
- Consonant /f/ was
mispronounced as
/p/
7 this / ð s / /d s/ /d s/ /d s/ /d s/ Voiced fricative /ð/
was
mispronounced as
voiced plosive /d/
8 morning /m ː.n ŋ /morn ŋ/ /morn ŋ/ /morn ŋ/ /morn ŋ/ Long vowel / ː./
/ was
mispronounced as
/or/
Figure 3. Analysis of sentence 3.

Research Findings
After analyzing the data, the researcher found that the interference of students’ mother
tongue, in this case Batak Toba language, made them difficult to pronounce some English
phonemes. The students have problems in:

1. Pronouncing vowels, such as: /ə/, and /ə /


They are accustomed to pronounce /e/ instead of /ə/, and /ə /. For instance, they
pronounce article ‘the’ with /de/, where the correct pronunciation is /ðə/ (when the
preceding noun begins with a consonant sound) or /ði/ (when the preceding noun
begins with a vowel sound). The comparison of English vowels and students’ vowels
can be seen below:

English Vowels Students’ Vowels


/ə/ /e/
/ ðə / / de /
/ə / /o/
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Figure 1.
2. Pronouncing diphthongs, such as: /e /, / ə /, /eə/, / ə/, and / ə/
The students omit one of the vowels from the diphthong in a word. For instance, they
pronounce /ses/ for verb ‘says’ where it should be pronounced with /se z/, or in
pronouncing noun ‘engineer’ with /endˈʒɪner/ instead of /endʒɪˈnɪər/. The comparison
of English diphthongs and students’ vowels can be seen as follow:

English Diphthongs Students’ Diphthongs


/e / /e/
/ə / /o/
/eə/ /er/, /e/
/ ə/ /ir/
Figure 2.

3. Pronouncing consonants, such as: /ð/, /θ/, / /, /t /, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/
The students find it hard to distinguish phoneme /ð/ to /d/, /θ/ to /t/, /z/ to /s/,
pronouncing consonants, such as: /ð/, /θ/, / /, /t / to /j/ or /s/, /ʒ/ to /s/, /f/ to /p/, /v/ to
/p/, and /z/ to /s/. For instance, instead of pronouncing /ðe / for pronoun ‘they’, the
students change the voiced fricative consonant /ð/ to voiced plosive /d/ becomes /dei/.
Another example is /θ ŋs/ for word ‘things’ has been pronounced by the students with
/tings/. The comparison of English consonants and students’ consonants

English Consonants Students’ Consonants


/ð/ /d/
/θ/ /t/
/z/ /s/
/t / /c/, /s/
/f/ /p/
/v/ /p/, /f/
Figure 3.

3. Pronouncing suffix –s and –ed.


The students cannot pronounce suffix –s correctly, and often do not pronounce suffix
–ed. For instance in pronouncing word ‘says’, they mispronounce suffix –s /z/
becomes /s/. They also do not pronounce suffix -ed /d/ in word ‘happened’

Interpretation of Research Findings


The students’ problems in pronouncing English words, which have been formulated
above, are caused by the interference of the students’ mother tongue, namely: Batak Toba
language. In Batak Toba phoneme (Aksara Batak), there are no phonemes such as vowels /ə/,
and /ɜː/; and consonants /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/. Since the research subjects are the
students who are used to speak Batak Toba language in their daily life, so it is obvious that
they find it difficult to pronounce such phonemes by themselves.
But, there is always solution for every problem. It is the great responsibility of an
English teacher to teach and train better English pronunciation to his/her students. Teacher
should speak and read at a normal speed so that the students will not get used to a pace
different to that which they hear outside the classroom. When speaking or reading, it is
important to the teacher to read or speak with more expression so making the
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pronunciation deliberately more audible. Moreover, it is easier for an EFL (English as


foreign language) student to copy and remember an excited expression.

Conclusions and Suggestions


Conclusions
The conclusions of this research can be drawn as follow:
1) The interference of students’ mother tongue, in this case Batak Toba language, made
the students difficult to pronounce some English phonemes.
2) The students have problems in pronouncing:
a. vowels, such as: /ə/, and /ɜː/
b. diphthongs, such as: /eɪ/, /əʊ/, /eə/, /ɪə/, and /ʊə/
c. consonants, such as: /ð/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /f/, /v/, and /z/
d. suffix –s, and –ed.
3) All of those phonemes are not available in Batak Toba language.

Suggestions
The researcher suggests the following points to be considered:
1. For Teacher
a. Teacher should introduce English phonemes (consonants, vowels, and
diphthongs) and stress to class of beginner. He/she decides where the stress is to
be placed in a word or sentence, it must be correct in its context, and he/she
should be able to repeat the sentence several times correctly stressed, in order that
the students may learn it from him/her.
b. Teacher simply repeats the reading or speaking material and maintains the
pronunciation. In order to avoid the students use unusual or strange pronunciation,
the teacher prompts and helps them to read and understand what they are reading
or speaking, making sure that they have tune distinction in reading the material or
speaking.

2. For Other Researchers


The researcher expects other researchers to investigate the students’ problems in
pronouncing English words, especially for students who have different cultural
background. Comparing two or more accents and dialects based on the pronunciation
is essential as well. The finding may give contribution to linguistics and applied
linguistics, such as to give information how different culture affect the students’
pronunciation. In another chance, it may let the world knows how rich our country is,
surely in cultural perspective.

References
Brinberg, David & Joseph E. McGrath. 1985. Validity and the Research Process. Newbury
Park: Sage Publications
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