CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of The Study
Language is the basic skill that is needed for real communication among people. By using language, we are able to express our ideas and feeling. In Indonesia, English learned by the students as a foreign language. English must be taught as early as possible because it is a compulsory subject from kindergarten until the university. For the junior high school student, English is very important to be learnt. Especially with pronunciation, the students are expected to be able to mastery in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
“Pronunciation has been something of an orphan in English programs around the world. Why has pronunciation been a poor relation? I think it is because the subject has been drilled to death, with too few results from too much effort(Gilbert, 1994 p. 38).” The most important part of learning a second language rests on pronunciation. (Celce-Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 1996 p. 23). There is no doubt that we set about pronunciation to learn the foreign language, then we learn speaking, reading, writing and we finally reap the benefits and have access to the second language. English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, non-stressed, words. So the writer believes pronunciation to be crucially important for the whole of the learning process.
About 90% of students said their biggest problems were pronunciation and speaking (Chen, 2005/2006 p. 3). They also understood that the basic knowledge of phonetics and pronunciation would be very important to them. If they didn't know how to pronunciate each word or sentence in the right way, this was sure to lead to a failure of communication.
The first factor is the students’ factor. Most of the students’ admit that:
1. English is difficult because it is not their own language. The difference between the writing and pronunciation of the words make the students are confused.
2. They are afraid of making mistakes.
3. They feel ashamed because their friends sometimes laugh at them when they try to practice it.
4. The subject is not delivered interestingly.
5. They find difficulties in practicing it because there are limited opportunities and place to do it.
It is relevant with Lowties’ opinion (in Hidayati, 2006 p. 11). She states that:
“If students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get the motivation and lose interest in learning.”
The second factor is the teacher factor. Sometimes English teachers find the difficulty to determine the appropriate method in teaching English to motivate and attract pupils’ interest in learning English.
In relation to the language teaching, there are some ways that can be used to motivate the pupils in learning English. English teacher can use some possible and successful media, strategies, approach, or methods for the classroom activities such as audio visual, game, picture, etc. For the students of junior high school, learning English as a foreign language is not easy. Butter (in Wendra, 2002 p. 2) said that English teacher should provide pleasant atmosphere to motivate and attract students’ interest that are very important in learning English achievement.
B. Statement of The Problem
Based on the phenomena above, the writer needs to answer the following research question:
“Is audio visual effective in developing students’ pronunciation at the first year students of SMPK St. Antonius Mataram in Academic Year 2011/2012?”
C. Purpose of The Study
Referring to the statement of problem above this study is purposed to find out whether the use of audio visual is effective in developing the students’ pronunciation at the first year students of SMPK St. Antonius Mataram in Academic Year 2011/2012.
D. Significance of Study
This study is hopefully useful to:
- Encourage the English teachers to use audio visual in teaching English pronunciation.
- Give more experience or input for readers that audio visual can be used to improve English pronunciation.
- Help the students to learn English Pronunciation easily.
- Make sure that audio visual can be interesting in teaching English pronunciation.
E. Scope of Study
This research is focused on the effectiveness of using audio visual to develop students’ pronunciation in the first year students of SMPK St. Antonius Mataram in academic year 2011/2012 that consist of 50 students. In this research, the writer focuses in analysing vowel sound (a, i, u, e, o) and sound of dental fricative [Ө, ð]. The pronunciation standard used is American standard.
F. Hypothesis
Kranzler and Moursund (1999 p. 82) divides hypothesis into two; the null hypothesis (Ho) and alternative hypothesis (Ha). The Null Hypothesis, in this study is that there is no significant difference in mean adjustment level between the experimental group receiving treatments and the control group receiving no treatments; whereas, the Alternative Hypothesis, in this study is that there is significant difference in mean adjustment level between the experimental group and the control group.
The writer will take conclusion in which:
- If the mean of an experimental group is higher than the mean of a control group, alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted.
- If the mean of an experimental group is lower than the mean of a control group, null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected.
G. Definition of Key Terms
In order to avoid any other misinterpretations, misunderstanding and to give clear concept about the study of the variable involved the following key terms should be defined:
1. Audio Visual
The materials using sight or sound to present information. Such as tape recorder, video cassettes, camera recorder, TV, etc. (http://www.answer.com/topic.audio-visual.html accessed on Tuesday, November 22nd 2011, 21.30 WITA).
2. Effectiveness
The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved. In contrast to efficiency, effectiveness is determined without reference to costs and, whereas efficiency means "doing the thing right."
(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/effectiveness.html accessed on Monday, January 30th 2012, at 20.09 WITA).
3. Pronunciation
There are three meanings of pronunciation:
(1) The act or manner of pronouncing words; utterance of speech.
(2) A way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood.
(3) A graphic representation of the way a word is spoken, using phonetic symbols.
(http://www.eref-trade.hmco.com/houghtonmifflincompany accessed on Sunday, November 27th 2011, at 17.00 PM).
4. Nursery rhymes
According to www.poetrypark.com/glossary.html, nursery rhymes is regular rhyme that handed down from generation to generation, and according to Wikipedia (2006) the free encyclopaedia, nursery rhymes is a traditional song taught to young children, originally in the nursery, in addition, specific actions, motions, or dances are often associated with particular songs.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. The Nature of Language
Language is a tool of communication in our daily live, we use it when we play or fight – we talk to friends, association, wives or husband, lovers, parents or even to the person that we have not met before. We use language to talk face to face, over the telephone to everyone and even by the letter. That is why language cannot be separated from us.
When we talk about language, we have to talk about pronunciation too. Pronunciation is the foundation of speaking. Good pronunciation may make the communication easier and more relaxed and thus more successful. That is the reason why pronunciation is the most important aspect in acquiring English as foreign language because it is a core of language. It is impossible for us to use language in our communication if we do not know how to pronounce every words of that language. But if the speaking is disjointed and mispronounced, others might not understand the meaning.
According to Alwasilah (1985), Language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feeling by the use of conventionalized sign, sound, gesture having understood meaning.
If we know the language, we can speak and be understood by others who know that language too. Language makes human beings different from animals and both normal - hearing individuals and deaf persons use it. In which language is owned by human, and exists wherever human exist. As Chomsky (in Sahidu, 1991: 6) stresses the characteristics of human language “Language as a set of very specific universal principles which are intrinsic properties of human mind and a part of our species genetic endowment.
Mankind as social human, in normal condition cannot live alone without other people. They need them to fulfil their need in society. That is why language is used to bridge them to other people in order to continue their lives. As Safir (in Sahidu, 1991 p. 7) defines the language as purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotion and desire. In the stressing language function as a means of communication which is used by human in society. Barber (in Sahidu, 1991 p. 7) gives the definition of language as signalling system which operates with symbolic vocal sounds and used by some group of people for purpose of communication and social co-operation. Pei et.al (in Alwasilah, 1985) also states that it seems reasonable to view language as primary speech that is to say, audible sounds produced by the human vocal apparatus and transmitted by sounds waves to the ear of human beings. But in order to be language, these human sounds have to be based upon a previous understanding among their users that they carry certain definite meanings otherwise they will be more noises.
Those explanations above describe the language function as communication but communication just one of the functions of the language. Language is not only for communication as Hirst et.al (in Sahidu, 1991 p. 9) state that words are more like tools, they do specific works in social life obviously one of the main jobs that words do is conveying information to describe things and situation the use of words. In the other word, it is a form of purpose behaviour, but it must be understood in terms of the other non-linguistic purposes that people have in their social life. Ewing (in Sahidu, 1991 p. 9) also adds that language is not merely a means of communication others, but is necessary even for our own thinking in abstract thinking words usually is just thinking to our self.
It is considered that the mastery of language is very important, especially mastering English that becomes an international language in the world. By that consideration, the basic thing that the learner should know in mastering English is about its pronunciation.
B. Teaching Pronunciation Using Audio Visual
English as a compulsory subject learned at junior, senior high school up to university level has now been introduced to elementary school pupils. It is considered that teaching English in kindergarten and also in elementary school will motivate and encourage the students to continue the study to the higher level.
One of the first things that students should know in learning English pronunciation. Knowing its pronunciation will also cover the knowing of its spelling, stressing and how to speak correctly and fluently in communication.
Using audio visual will help students to learn English pronunciation easily and enjoying it. The students not only hear the sound but also see some interesting sights simultaneously. Teacher can use many kinds of audio visual to teach students in the class; such as MP3, Video Cassette, Cassette Recorder, Computer Program, Audio Book, or the teacher him/herself.
According to Chen (2005/2006 p. 6) tried many ways to encourage my students and they mainly fell into three types:
1. Asked the students to do a Listening Test. This is a test of their ability to tell the difference between sounds. At the beginning, noted down the information about a few students. It is difficult to hear the difference for students especially some similar pronunciation, and it is very difficult to learn how to pronounce the difference, such as [s] and [ ] [ ] which pronounce the similar sound. Make a checklist of the student's pronunciation problems.
2. Use the checklist to choose a study area of pronunciation. For example, some individual sounds, stress in words and sentences, or intonation. Non-stress words and syllables are 'accepted' in English, oftenly and it always focus on the stress of pronunciation as well, whereas non-stressed words can be glided over. “Do not focus on pronouncing each word. Listen to the model pronunciation on the tapes or in the computer programs” Normally, observing the shape of the speaker's mouth as the different sounds are pronounced would benefit users. In this case, the narrator's lips and the soundtrack were not synchronized and made a PowerPoint demonstration about pronunciation with a link to the web. So, the students were more interested in this, and they remembered the pronunciation with the help of the PowerPoint. It is necessary to get a clear idea of the position of the tongue and lips. In making simple vowels, the tongue, together with the lips, remains in the same position from beginning to end.
3. Ask each student to read it and correct the mistakes. Asked most students to read them out. If the students still pronuncing the words wrongly especially some similar and particular like [ai] [ei] [e] [æ] and [w] [v] [s] [] then listened to the tape again or I taught the phoneme again.
C. The Media in Developing Pronunciation
Media as defined by Miarso (in Anna 2007 p. 13) is tools that can be used to stimulate thought, sense and desire of students so that they can be motivated in teaching and learning process. Gagne (in Hidayati, 2006 p. 10) state that media in learning process objectively will support the effective learning achievement. In the other word, using media in instructional as a part of educational system at school which also support the learning achievement.
In teaching English foreign language for primary students is not easy. The teachers should provide pleasant atmosphere to invite the motivation and interest of the students. The motivation and interest of students are very important in learning achievement (Butter in Anna, 2007 p. 13). That is why we need motivational and interesting media in teaching English.
There are some media that can be used in teaching pronunciation such as:
1. Audio Visual
By using audio visual the students will learn English unconsciously where they can enjoy it and fun to follow the speaker speak or when the singer sing a song in the audio cassette. Audio visual contain motivational aspect and invite the interest in learning the language.
2. Game
This activity is fun and enjoyable for the junior students and the words involved in it easier to be memorized. The situation and condition of the classroom is less formal, so the pupils could express their interest and motivation unconsciously.
D. The Role of Audio Visual in Developing Pronunciation
As most teacher find out, students love to listen to music, watching some movies, playing game and read a short story. It also can to be a teaching media. Often students have strong views about music, movie, story and game and students who are passive can be very talk active when discussing it. Music, movie, story, and game can help to build a positive, not - threatening classroom environment in which the shy students may feel free to express him/herself freely.
Melodic recognition, contour processing, timbre discrimination, rhythm, tonality, prediction, and perception of the sight, sound, and form of symbols in context are required in both music and language. Like supportive sisters, they comprise "separate, though complimentary systems of structured communication... language primarily responsible for content and music evoking emotion” (Jourdain 293 in Stansell 2005 p. 2). Music positively affects language accent, memory, and grammar as well as mood, enjoyment, and motivation. Language teachers and music therapists alike should encourage the conjoined study of these natural partners, because communicating through a musical medium benefits everyone.
Teacher can use simple songs that make students feel easy to memorize and following every word. Such as nursery rhymes, according to the result study of Stead et.al (1999 p. 20), he found that by using nursery rhymes students would learn English unconsciously where they can enjoy it with its words because nursery rhymes are fun. They do not realize that they are learning English because nursery rhymes contains motivational aspect and invite the interest in learning the language and also enrich young children’s vocabulary and supply some lessons in the ways of our language works. And also, rhymes is important in developing phonemics (hearing) awareness in children and they actually want to hear them repeatedly because nursery rhymes are abundant, often short and have a great deal of repetition that offers children an opportunity to tune in to the words a second and third time, and helps the children to remember what they have heard, and either parents or children are also familiar with them.
There are also the systematic systems in teaching through nursery rhymes explained by Cakir (in Anna, 2007 p. 17) are as follow:
1. First listening
2. The repetition of the nursery rhymes by the teacher in the spoken form
3. Repeating together
4. Listening to the nursery rhymes from the camcorder or CD.
E. Assessment
Assessments involve making considered judgments about learner’s performance and determining how satisfactory they have achieved the objectives of the course. It is used therefore important for learners to know what they are. In other words, it is to monitor and measure learner’s performance in relation to goals and objectives (Vale et.al in Anna, 2007 p. 17).
The assessment in learning is important. After the students are taught, the teacher needs to know how far the students could absorb the material. There are some purposes of teacher. In conducting assessment, which explained by Vale et. al (in Anna, 2007 p. 18) as follows:
- Motivate the learner to always study
- Motivate themselves as teacher in developing material
- Evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching and thereby obtain guidance for future planning.
- Inform other relevant people about learners’ progress, e.g. parents
- Encourage learner to be responsible and involved.
They also give some purpose for assessment is as follows:
- Teacher needs to know who will succeed and fail
- Assessment makes the learner to the teaching and learning procedures
- Assessment tells the learners how they are progressing compared with others
- Assessment tells teachers which learner need further support
- Learners like to know who the top is. So do with some parents
- Teacher needs to know to be able to compare their school’s standards with those the other schools
- Teacher needs to know whether they are doing an effective job or not
- Teacher needs to know which learners are enough to go on next year
- Parents want to know how their children are progress
- Teacher needs to meet parents’ and learner expectation
- Teacher needs to inform the school about learners’ progress
In this research, the writer would conduct formative assessment by using speaking test. It is done before and after the activities. It was conducted in order to know how far the activities influenced the pronunciation of students by comparing the result of the first assessment and the last result assessment
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
A. Research Design
This research is an experimental research. According to Arikunto (1985: 257) Experimental research is a study to know whether there is an effect or not to the subject, that is given a treatment. The writer cooperates with the English teacher of the first year students of SMPK St. Antonius Mataram in academic year 2011/2012 in conducting this research and find out the answer of the problem.
B. Population and Sample
1. Population
Population is a complete set of individual or subject having some common observable characteristics (Arikunto, 2002 p. 110). The population of this study was the First Year Students of SMPK St. Antonius Mataram in academic year 2011/2012 were 100 students. There were four classes of the First Year Students with range 25 students in each class.
2. Sample
Since the limitation of time, energy and finance the writer took 50% of the population as the sample. This sample was divided in two classes: VIIA Class and VIIB Class. There were 50 students as a sample of this research. The sample was selected by cluster random sampling (technique lottery). One of the classes was control group and the other was an experimental group. This conclusion was taken logically based on Arikunto’s opinion (2002 p. 112), “If the subject of the research less than 100, it will be better if all the subjects are taken as population, so the research called research population” or “If the subject of the research is more than 100, the subject can be reduced between 10-15%-20-25% or more as the sample.”
C. Instrument
The instrument used in this research was test which consists of; pre-test and post-test to gathering data. The researcher choose the test only because test would be measured the degree of students’ understanding about certain material given with different treatment. The instrument can be seen in the appendices.
D. Technique of Collecting Data
In this study, data is all information that was directly gathered from the research subject. The data were the items obtained from the students after doing the test (instrument). There were two pronunciation tests (vowel test and dental fricative [Ө, ð] sound test) in English vocabulary. Firstly, the students have to read a simple conversation in pairs in front of the class. Secondly, the writer gave the students a different treatment appropriate with class group (experimental group and control group). Thirdly, the test which consist of 20 English vocabularies. The students have to read it loudly and clearly. The steps of collecting data as follow:
1. Pre-test
The writer delivered a set of test as a pre-test to all students sample in the first meeting in which they have not get the treatment by using audio visual yet and the writer asked them to did it in pairs and carefully in certain time and finally they submitted it. It was aimed to find out whether the students already know how to pronounce some word in English or not. The kind of test was read a few words in English conversation text in pairs.
2. Treatment
In this research, the lesson would be held 4 times for control group and 4 times for experimental group. The writer taught English pronunciation. The writer used oral treatment. For experimental group, the writer asked students to listen nursery rhyme in audio cassette or the writer carefully and students followed the song. Audio cassette repeated three times. In contrast, the writer taught the English pronunciation to control group using dictionary (phonemic).
3. Post-test
The test was given to the students after four times treatment. The test was the one in pre-test. It was aimed at finding out the significant result after using audio visual. There were two ways the writer gathering significant result:
a. The writer asked students to read some words loudly, clearly, and correctly English pronunciation one by one in front of the class.
b. The writer recorded this test with using camcorder, cell phone, or digital camera.
The scoring process from test value, the writer recorded the students test and evaluated them on vowel aspect and the sound of dental fricative [Ө, ð] aspect. The test was made by writer herself, they were supposed to be valid. Especially contain validity since the materials inserted were from “the teaching program” of English. Each correct pronunciation have 5 (five point) and each wrong 0 (zero point). So, the highest score of the students are 100 and the low score is 0 (zero).
The classification of the students’ score would be classified into the following table:
Table 1: the grading system on students’ ability in vowel sound and dental fricative [Ө, ð] sound.
The above table means:
Excellent (4) : Those students who were able to answer the test items between 80 – 100 correctly.
Good (3) : Those students who were able to answer the test items between 70 – 79 correctly.
Fairly (2) : Those students who were able to answer the test items between 60 – 69 correctly.
Poor (1) : Those students who were able to answer the test items between 50 – 59 correctly.
C. Failure (0) : Those students who were able to answer the test items between 0 – 50 correctly.
E. Data Analysis Procedure
After having the result of students’ oral test, the writer was scored students’ English pronunciation (vowel and dental fricative [Ө, ð] sound test). After raw scores were collected from both groups, experimental group and control group, then it was computed by using the following steps:
Firstly, to get the individual’s oral final score the writer drew the following formula:
Where:
Fs = is the final score of students
5 = is the maximum points for correct answers
N = number of correct answers of each questions is successfully done
Secondly, the writer calculated the main score of the experimental group and control group (pre-test and post-test), for the sake of calculating the main score, the writer applied the formula:
1. Experimental group (x)
Where:
Mx = the mean score of experimental group
x = the deviation score of pre-test and post-test
N = the number of sample
Ʃ = is the sum of’
2. Control group (y)
Where:
My = the mean score of control group
y = the deviation score of pre-test and post-test
N = the number of sample
Ʃ = is the sum of’
(Arikunto, 2002 p. 280)
Finally, the writer found out the effectiveness of audio visual with this t-test formula:
Where:
Mx = mean score in experimental group
My = mean score in control group
Nx = the number of the students in experimental group
Ny = the number of the students in control group
= the total deviation square of experimental group = the total deviation square of control group
(Arikunto, 2006 p. 311)
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