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Praptika Septi Femilia State University of Malang, Malang, East Java In broad definition, pronunciation is the way a word

sounds when it is spoken. According to Harmer (2001:26), pronunciation is the knowledge of how to say a word that is how to pronounce it. There are as many different kinds of English as there are speakers of it; no two people speak exactly alike, we can always hear differences between them, and the pronunciation of English varies of great deal in different geographical area. Having good pronunciation for EFL learners is a must to avoid the failure in effective communication. As the main aim of having good pronunciation is to convey meanings properly, the teachers have to make their students work towards an intelligible pronunciation rather than achieve a native-speaker quality. Intelligibility of pronunciation implies that the students should be able to use pronunciation which is good enough for them to be always understood. In other words, the teaching of pronunciation is more emphasized in training the students to pronounce English words correctly rather than making them perfect in pronouncing certain English accent. EFL learners will get complicated problems in mastering English pronunciation because of some factors. Pronunciation should be taught integratedly with language skills, such as speaking and listening to make it easier for the learners. Nunan (1991) states six main factors affecting pronunciation learning, such as the native language, the age factor, amount of exposure, phonetic ability, attitude and identity and motivation and concern for good pronunciation. Another expert, Ehlrich in Hakim (2012) divides the factors into three groups: 1. Biological factors Adult learners almost always have a foreign accent while child learners almost always attain native like pronunciation. 2. Sociocultural factors The more strongly learners identify with members of the target culture, the more likely they are to sound like members of the culture. Conversely, if it is
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important learners to preserve their own culture identify, they may hold on to their foreign accent as marker of this identify. 3. Personality factors Learners who are out going, confident and willing to take risk have more opportunities to practice their pronunciation of the second language simply because they are more often involved in interaction with native speakers. For the reason above, it is true that having good pronunciation is crucial in speaking. Allen (in Hakim, 2012) states that pronunciation is one of element of the language that has big contribution for better English speaking. However, as we know in Indonesia, people do not use English in daily communication. Only certain communities use it as daily language. No wonder most of Indonesians have difficulties in speaking English with good pronunciation because they are not familiar with the language. Their English pronunciation is still influenced by their regional dialect, accent, environment, and their mother tongue. In the article entitled Teaching and Learning Pronunciation in ESL/EFL Classes of Bangladesh (2011:36), Jahan distributed a questionnaire contained of eight multiple questions to fifty one lecturers in Bangladesh. They were asked about their instructions on how to improve pronunciation in their EFL classes. In addition, Jahan also conducted focus group discussion to find out their students problems and difficulties in mastering good English pronunciation. The result of Jahans (2011) study reveals that language teachers should give the priority to help the students develop their pronunciation skill. Based on the data taken, most of the teachers were still dissatisfied with their students pronunciation level. Almost of them stated that the poor students in pronunciation achieve about 60% of the total number of all students that they have. Furthermore, they admitted that this phenomenon occurred because of some factors, in which the most influenced one was the students mother tongue. Jahans (2011) study results have inspired the present research. This study tries to find out the pronunciation mastery level of EFL learners in Indonesia. However, this study will not look for the dominant factors that influence the learners pronunciation. Since Jahans study reveals that the most dominant factor
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that influences EFL learners pronunciation is mother tongue, it will investigate how mother tongue of each subject in this research influence their pronunciation. It is known that every EFL learner in Indonesia has their own mother tongue that is different one another. Therefore, the research questions proposed in this research are: 1. How is the pronunciation level of Graduate Students in ELT of State University of Malang? 2. Does mother tongue also infuence English pronunciation produced by Graduate Students in ELT of State University of Malang? Since the main objective of this study is to analyze how to pronounce English phonetics for Indonesian English learners, the researcher chooses some vowels and consonants that are difficult for Indonesian learners to pronounce. According to Swan and Smith (2001:280-281), Indonesian learners seem to have difficulty in pronouncing: Consonants Vowels : /f/ /v/ // // // // : /I/ // // // // /ei/ /e/ // // /I/

RESEARCH METHOD Design The design used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The researcher collect the data from the subjects, then analysis the results descriptively. Participant The subject of this research is eleven Graduate Students in English Language Teaching Program of State University of Malang. The reason of selecting these eleven students is based on the consideration that these students come from different ethnics in Indonesia which bring their own mother tongue, such as Javanese, Madurese, Banjarese, Bataknese, Balinese, Gayonese and Bimanese. Based on an informal interview, it is known that they have studied English for about 14-17 years and still actively use English in their study.
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Table 1. The Subject

No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Ethnic Javanese Madurese Bataknese Banjarese Bimanese Gayonese Balinese Total

Male 1 1 1 1 -

Female 1 2 1 1 1 1

Total 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 11

Instrument The instrument that is used in this research was pronunciation test material with direct observation which was done through record player. Record player is used to record the students pronunciation when they pronounced the words given by the researcher and afterward, the researcher analyzed the subjects pronunciation by matching them with the correct pronunciation given by Oxford Learners Dictionary. The last, the researcher would do an informal interview with the subjects about their problems in pronunciation. The vocabularies that must be read by the subjects of the research are stated as follows.
Table 2. Pronunciation Test Material

Sound

Phonetics /f/ /v/ // // // // /I/ // // // // /ei/ /e/ // //

Words Refine Oversleep Sash Something Therefore Vision Sit Saw Touch Jackpot Fabulous Bass Bear Localize Pure

Phonetic Transcription /rifain/ /vsli:p/ /s/ /smI/ /ef(r)/ /vIn/ /sIt/ /sw/ /tt/ /kpt/ /fbjls/ /beis/ /ber/ /lklaIz/ /pjr/
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Consonant

Vowel

/I/

Nausea

/n:sI/

Data Analysis The data was analyzed based on the descriptive qualitative in scoring test, the researcher used the following formula: P = N x 100 % F Note: P = Total error percentage N = Number of subjects who pronounced the words wrongly F = Total number of the subjects Procedure In collecting data, the researcher followed these steps: 1. finding the subjects based on the criteria which have been determined previously 2. providing the English phonetics which are difficult for Indonesian learners to pronounce 3. providing the English words contained of the phonetics chosen 4. asking the subjects to read the words 5. recording the subjects voice by recorder 6. conducting informal interview with the subjects 7. listening to the results from recorder and analyze their English pronunciation

RESULT AND DISCUSSION Result


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The result of the subjects pronunciation test can be seen from the following tables. Table 3 describes the subjects pronunciation test result in pronouncing English consonants in words, while Table 4 provides the result of subjects pronunciation test result in pronouncing English vowels. Table 3 shows the subjects result in pronouncing /v/, /f/, //, //, //, and //. From the table, it seems that the subjects do not have much difficulty in pronouncing those consonants. There is only one subject who cannot pronounce the phonetic /v, /f/ and // properly. Banjarese 1 made errors in pronouncing /v/ and /f/, while a Balinese could not pronounce // properly. Besides, all the subjects pronounced // correctly. However, the result of pronunciation test shows that some of them have a difficulty in pronouncing // and //. There are 46% of them who made an error in pronouncing //. It means that almost a half of the subject cannot pronounce // correctly when it is applied in an English word. The mispronouncing had been done by Balinese, Banjarese 1, Bataknese 1, Bimanese and Madurese 1. For the phonetic //, the total error made by the subject is less than the total error they made in pronouncing // that is 36%. The error happened to Banjarese 2, Bataknese 2, Bimanese and Javanese 2. The result of vowel pronunciation test is proposed in Table 4. By reading the table, it can be said that most of the subjects could pronounce the vowels /I/, //, // and // correctly. Their most p roblems occur when they have to pronounce a certain diphthong within an English word. There was no one who mispronounced the sound /I/ and // and there was only Balinese who pronounced the sound // incorrectly. For the vowel //, 36% of the subject made an error in pronouncing it, which are Balinese, Bataknese 2, Bimanese and Javanese 2. There are six diphthongs which are investigated in this research; //, /ei/, /e/, //, //, /I/. The result in Table 4 shows that the subjects in this research did not have a difficulty in pronouncing diphthong // and //. All of them could pronounce the word [localize] and [pure] properly. The biggest problem occurs to sound /I/ and /ei/. Almost of the subject pronounced these sounds incorrectly. There were 82% of them who pronounced /I/ wrongly, only Madurese 1 and Madurese 2 who pronounce it properly. In line with the sound
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/ei/, most of the subject mispronounced the sound. The total error made is 73%. The correct sound of /ei/ is only produced by Madurese 1, Madurese 2 and Javanese 2. Meanwhile, for diphthong // and /e/ the subjects shared the same percentage of error done. It was more than a half of them who made a wrong production of these both sounds, which was each 54%.

Table 3. The Result of Pronunciation Test of English Consonant

No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Name Balinese Banjarese 1 Banjarese 2 Bataknese 1 Bataknese 2 Bimanese Gayonese Javanese 1 Javanese 2 Madurese 1 Madurese 2 Error Total

Oversleep /vsli:p/ /v/ = 1 (9%)

Refine /rifain/ /f/ = 1 (9%)

Word Something Therefore /smI/ // = 0 /ef(r)/ // = 1 (9%)

Sash /s/ // = 5 (46%)

Vision /vIn/ // = 4 (36%)

Table 4. The Result of Pronunciation Test of English Vowels

No

Name

Sit /sIt/ /I/ = 0

Saw /sw/ // = 1 (9%)

Jackpot /kpt / // = 6 (54%)

Fabuluos /fbjls / // = 4 (36%)

Bass /beis/ /ei/ = 8 (73%)

Word Bear /ber/ /e/ = 6 (54%)

Localize /lklaIz/ // = 0

Pure /pjr/ // = 0

Nausea /n:sI/ /I/ = 9 (82%)

Touch /tt/ // = 0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Bl Bjr 1 Bjr 2 Btk 1 Btk 2 Bm Gy Jv 1 Jv 2 Mdr 1 Mdr 2

Error Total

Discussion Based on the result of Jahans study (2011:39), it is known that about 60.78% of the lecturers in Bangladesh were still dissatisfied with their students pronunciation. Related to that idea and the result revealed by the current research, it can be said that EFL learners in Indonesia, especially for Graduate Program in ELT of State University of Malang, do not have difficulty as much as the EFL learners in Bangladesh do. This research investigates vowels and consonants which are believed difficult for Indonesian students to pronounce because of the differences between Indonesian and English phonological system (Swan and Smith, 2001:280). The result shows that most of them could pronounce those vowels and consonants correctly. The biggest errors only occur to some sounds, such as // for consonant and /ei/ and /I/ for vowels (diphthongs). Furthermore, Jahans study (2011:44) reveals that 41.18% of lecturers admit that the students native language is the big problem faced by their students. Their mother tongues still very influence the students English pronunciation. Concern to the result given by Jahan article, the researcher of this mini research chose EFL learners in Graduate Program in ELT of State University of Malang which come from different ethnics. It is known that Indonesia consists of some ethnics in whom each of them has their own mother tongue. However, the result of this research found that those mother tongues do not interference too much to the subjects English pronunciation. Each subject has been able to reduce their mother tongue accent when pronouncing English words. There are some reasons why the subjects in this research enable to reduce their mother tongue accents. Based on the informal interview done by the researcher to each subject, it is found that all of them have been studied English for about 14-17 years. Their study in mastery degree of ELT also demands them to speak in native like accent as much as they can and reduce their mother tongue accent. Although most of them feel that their English pronunciation is intelligible enough, they still admit that sometimes, subconsciously, their mother tongue accents still influence their English pronunciation.

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Based on the pronunciation test result, the subjects felt it difficult when they had to pronounce unfamiliar words, such as [sash], [bass] and [nausea]. It also occurs when they find such unfamiliar words in another context or situation. Since they have no model previously of how to pronounce those words, they tend to pronounce them incorrectly. Some of the subjects stated that it is their biggest problem when they face English pronunciation. The chance of having exposure also becomes the important point of having good pronunciation. Still, the main case is about the model. They think that having interaction with native speakers will increase their pronunciation proficiency to be better. Biological and personal factors also can be a problem of having good pronunciation. One of the subject states that he cannot control his mouth production correctly, although his brain think of it correctly. Another admits that she is usually full of doubt in pronouncing something. Anxiety is one of personal factors which prevent someone to achieve a native like pronunciation. CONCLUSION The finding of this research presents a comparation between the EFL learners pronunciation in Bangladesh and Indonesia, especially for Graduate Students in ELT of State University of Malang. Jahans (2011) finding states that the problem faced by the students in Bangladesh is because of the inteference of mother tongue accent. However, this research reveals that the main problem faced by the Graduate Students in ELT of State University of Malang is about the lack of having exposure. The finding of this research shows that the subjects need more models of how to pronounce english words, especially for such unfamiliar words. In addition, the various of mother tongue accents they have do not too influence their English pronunciation anymore. From the findings, it can be recommended for the lecturers in Graduate Program in ELT of State University of Malang to provide more contexts or situations for their students to have more exposure of native like accent. In line with it, it can be a consideration for Graduate Program in ELT to have some native speakers to teach the students.
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REFERENCES Hakim, M. Arif Rahman. 2012. An Analysis of Phonetics b, d, g, j, , and into English pronunciation for Java Students (A Study on Java Students at English Department on STAIN Bengkulu Academic Year 2011-2012). International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 2(20):244-256. Harmer, Jeremy. 2001. How to Teach English. New York: Longman ink. Jahan, Nusrat. 2011. Teaching and Learning Pronunciation in ESL/EFL Classes of Bangladesh. Journal of Education and Practice 2(3):36-45. Nunan, David. 1991. Language teaching Methodology. London: Prentice Hall International Ltd. _______. 1995. Oxford Learners Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Swan, Michael and Smith, Bernard. 2001. Learner English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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APPENDIX 1 The guide for Informal Interview 1. How long have you studied English? 2. In your opinion, how is your English pronunciation so far? 3. Is it difficult for you to have a native like accent? 4. What is your mother tongue? 5. Do you think your mother tongue influence your English pronunciation? 6. What English phonetics difficult for you to pronounce? 7. In your opinion, what is your main problem in pronunciation? 8. Read these following words, please! oversleep mortify refine something therefore sash vision sit saw jackpot fabulous bass bear localize pure nausea touch reflate lotion goblin

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