ENGLISH FRANCA: Academic Journal of English Language and Education Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022, IAIN Curup P-ISSN 2580-3670, E-ISSN 2580-3689 DOI: 10.29240/ef.v6i1.3915 Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique Henny Septia Utami Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup hennyseptiautami@iaincurup.ac.id Ruly Morganna Institut Agama Islam Negeri (IAIN) Curup rulymorganna@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study used classroom action research at SMPN 1 Curup Timur in Bengkulu, using the shadowing technique to assist students in resolving their English pronunciation issues. As participants, 25 ninth-grade students were involved. The shadowing technique was carried out in two cycles, with each cycle consisting of three meetings. Two meetings were scheduled for the shadowing learning processes, with the third serving as a post-test. Observations and tests were used to collect data. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. This study uncovered two sets of data. First, for each meeting in each cycle, the process of learning English pronunciation using shadowing techniques included ten stages that included listening, listening while marking, mumbling, parallel reading, comprehending meanings, shadowing prosody sounds, recording, listening, and making comparisons, reviewing, and reflecting. Second, the shadowing technique was effective in improving students' English pronunciation skills. In cycle one, this technique was capable of improving English pronunciation indicators such as phonemes, sound combinations, and sound linkage. Following that, in cycle two, this technique could improve four other indicators: allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. Keywords: English pronunciation, speaking skill, shadowing technique INTRODUCTION Pronunciation is important in English communication because it contributes to the extent to which a spoken message can be understood by an interlocutor (Evers & Chen, 2020). Jeong et al. (2018) stated that attaining the level of intelligibility is an ideal yardstick for non-native English students in learning English pronunciation. The term "intelligible English pronunciation" refers to the ability of a listener to mailto:hennyseptiautami@iaincurup.ac.id mailto:rulymorganna@gmail.com 128 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 perceive a speaker's speech sounds and understand the messages represented by those speech sounds (Blake et al., 2019). As a result, non-native English students must learn and practice producing proper and intelligible English speech sounds to improve their English speaking skills. Beginning in the seventh grade and continuing through the twelfth grade, English is taught in an integrated manner in Indonesia. English pronunciation is taught in tandem with English speaking ability in this manner. Because the phonemic constructions of the Indonesian language differ from those of English, English pronunciation is a difficult skill for Indonesian students to master. Furthermore, English pronunciation contains many complex details, making it difficult for Indonesian students to adequately acquire the indicators of English pronunciation. Segmental and suprasegmental sounds are used in English pronunciation (Chen & Han, 2018). Vowel sounds, consonant sounds, and sound combinations are all covered by segmental sounds. Vowel sounds include monophthongs, diphthongs, and triphthongs; consonant sounds include voiced and voiceless sounds; and sound combinations include the presence of proximate positions between two vowel sounds or two consonant sounds (Sewell, 2016). Stress, rhythm, pitch, and intonation are thus examples of suprasegmental sounds (Szyszka, 2016). The aforementioned components of English pronunciation must be learned and practiced by Indonesian students so that they understand the complexities of English phonemes and are capable of correctly articulating those phonemes when communicating in English. Our interest in bringing English pronunciation issues in the context of Indonesian students into a study stem from the complexity of English pronunciation. We conducted a preliminary study at SMP N 1 Curup Timur in Bengkulu to identify students' difficulties with English pronunciation. After observing each grade at that school, we discovered that English speaking skill is taught more dominantly in the ninth grade than in the other grades, and the students appeared to have many problems with English pronunciation when engaged in English speaking practices. The English teacher appeared to be frustrated by the students' English pronunciation issues. According to observations, the majority of students struggle with English vowel sounds, consonant sounds, allophones, sound combinations, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. The problems with English pronunciation depicted above must be resolved. One effective way to solve such problems is to engage students in English pronunciation practices. The shadowing technique is one of Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-129 the most effective methods for teaching English pronunciation (Oord et al., 2022). Casillas (2020) defined shadowing as a listening activity in which students track spoken utterances that they listen to and repeat those utterances as precisely as possible. The shadowing technique, according to Thi Huyen et al. (2020), activates students' memory and quick response to English utterances as language input. In this regard, the shadowing technique can be a good alternative technique for assisting students in improving their proficiency with all English pronunciation indicators. Latest studies on the shadowing technique seem to have been conducted by the application of experimental designs which by nature only examine the working hypotheses without the necessity to make further revisions to provide further related interventions for the ultimate betterment of students’ English pronunciation (e.g. Christa et al. (2020); Leonisa (2020); Maini and Rachmanita (2020); and Salim et al. (2020)). However, after reviewing prior studies on shadowing techniques, there is a dearth of research making use of shadowing techniques as the main orientation of classroom action research. In this study, we make an effort to fulfill this void by taking the shadowing technique as the main technique applied in the classroom action research. Given the problems depicted above, as well as the sophistication of the shadowing technique as a good technique to help students improve their English pronunciation, this study is conducted to bring the shadowing technique to teach ninth-grade students at SMPN 1 Curup Timur, Bengkulu, for them to solve their English pronunciation problems. This study benefits several parties, including students and English teachers. This study has the potential to motivate students to improve their English pronunciation. This study could be one of the resources for English teachers offering an applicable technique (shadowing technique) for teaching English pronunciation. The following research questions guide this study. First, how is the implementation of shadowing technique in implementing students’ English pronunciation? Second, how effective is the shadowing technique in improving students' English pronunciation? THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK Pronunciation Pronunciation exists as a subset of the larger field of phonetics research. Pronunciation is defined as the act of producing a language's sounds (McLeod et al., 2021; Younes & Mueller Gathercole, 2020). Furthermore, Seong et al. (2020) defined pronunciation as the study of 130 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 the physical aspects of speech that are directly related to both speech production and speech perception. This definition is derived from the fact that the role of pronunciation in the actual act of communication includes not only the production of language sounds but also their perception or reception. By the preceding definition, pronunciation refers to the act of producing and receiving a language's sounds, which include both segmental and suprasegmental sounds (Noviyenty, 2017; Oladipupo & Akinola, 2022). Furthermore, Xue and Dunham (2021), using the same concept, stated that pronunciation is both the way speech is produced, along with all of its phonological features, and the way it is perceived and interpreted. This definition is supported by Sewell (2016) and Szyszka (2016), who defined pronunciation as the process of uttering or articulating both segmental and suprasegmental features of a language, as well as how to perceive and interpret them. The act of producing, receiving, and perceiving the sounds of the English language, which are an interrelated combination of segmental and suprasegmental sounds, can be constructed from the various definitions of pronunciation as mentioned above. In this context, segmental sounds refer to all types and modifications of English phonemes such as vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs, consonants, cluster sounds, and so on. Following that, the suprasegmental ones indicate the broader aspects that go beyond the English phonemes, such as stress and intonation, as well as their variations and modifications. Components of English Pronunciation Some experts have classified the components of English pronunciation. According to Kortmann (2020), the components of pronunciation include individual speech sounds such as monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs, semi-vowels, and consonant sounds; syllable and word sounds such as stress and pitch; and sentence sounds such as stress and intonation. Furthermore, Duranti et al. (2015) stated that pronunciation is made up of several components such as single sounds (phonemes), sound combinations, sound linkage, word stress, rhythm, weak form, sentence stress, and intonation. Furthermore, Saito and Saito (2016) defined pronunciation as a language element that includes the sound of the language or phonology, stress, rhythm, and intonation. Cruttenden (2014) proposed that what should be taught in pronunciation is primarily concerned with phonemes such as vowel and consonant sounds, allophonic variation, combinatory phonetic rules, stress, rhythm, and intonation. According to Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-131 Yeldham and Choy (2021), vowels, consonants, word stress, sentence stress, and intonation are all important aspects of pronunciation. According to Chu and Xuan (2020), pronunciation features include consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, weak form, strong form, rhythm, and stress. The following ideas about the components of English pronunciation can be summarized. The first type of sound is phonemes, which include monophthongs, diphthongs, triphthongs, and semi-vowel, consonant, and consonant cluster sounds. The second category is allophones. The third is sound combinations that include both weak and strong forms. The fourth is sound linkage. The fifth type covers syllable, word, and sentence stress. The sixth element is rhythm and pitch. Subsequently, intonation is the seventh. Teaching English Pronunciation The teaching of English pronunciation has evolved into a variety of techniques. The first technique is phonetic transcription. Phonetic symbols are used in phonetic transcription. Each symbol represents a single sound, which is distinct from a letter of the alphabet. The second technique is referred to as auditory reinforcement. According to Lasagabaster and Doiz (2016), teachers commonly assume that perceptual and productive language skills such as listening and speaking are taught through the same medium, namely speaking and listening. As a result, despite the current trend toward communicative language teaching, many of them continue to use the traditional listen-and-repeat approach. This is frequently production-oriented, intending to improve students' spoken English. The third technique is to use visual reinforcement. To teach English pronunciation, visual reinforcement employs word charts and color rods. The fourth technique is tactile reinforcement. This technique is referred to as visual reinforcement by Yamaguchi and Atkeson (2019). Placing fingers on the throat to feel the vibration of the vocal cords is one form of this reinforcement, and it may be useful when teaching the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants. The fifth technique is drama voice. The emphasis of this technique has generally been on sound and stress accuracy at the word level. The sixth technique is audio feedback. This technique involves students listening to a recorded native speaker discourse and then responding with their version. The seventh technique is by making use of multimedia sources. Following the audio medium, one of the major developments in the field of linguistics has been the use of video recorders and software. These are superior to audiotapes in that they provide visual support, which is just as important in pronunciation 132 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 instruction as auditory support. The eighth technique is shadowing. The shadowing technique is a listening act or task in which the learner tracks the heard speech and repeats it as precisely as possible while attentively listening to the incoming information. To fit into this research, Thi Huyen et al. (2020) delineated a working memory model that clearly illustrates the mechanism of retaining memory and recognizing sounds. Among the various techniques and methods for teaching English pronunciation, the shadowing technique is thought to be the most unique and promising in terms of its ability to improve students' English pronunciation competence. Shadowing Technique The shadowing technique was originally developed in Europe as a training technique for simultaneous interpreting and has piqued the interest of language educators in improving learners' listening and speaking skills, as 'shadowing' necessitates proficiency in both listening and speaking (He et al., 2021). It was first used on a large scale in Japan in the 1970s. It took twenty years for it to be pedagogically implemented in the field of language education, and it has recently piqued the interest of second/foreign language educators. It is also embedded in the information-processing model, which views second language learning as two performance behaviors: controlled process or automatic process, which formed the theoretical basis for the 'shadowing' technique. He described the processes as follows: the speakers begin slowly and haltingly, sometimes with a great deal of conscious awareness, and then, over time, learners will be able to automatize the entire process and execute the relevant programs and routines quickly and without reflection. When we try to remember a phone number in everyday life, we repeat it in our heads or say it quietly. It is referred to as 'sub- vocalization' and is noticed in the information processing model (Thi Huyen et al., 2020), which is favored by cognitive psychologists. Casillas (2020) defined 'shadowing' as a listening act or task in which the learner tracks the heard speech and repeats it as precisely as possible while attentively listening to the incoming information. Thi Huyen et al. (2020) elaborated on a working memory model that demonstrates the mechanism of memory retention and sound recognition. According to this model, 'shadowing' is a high cognitive action as opposed to a purely automatic memory action or parroting. Procedures of Shadowing Technique Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-133 According to Hayakawa as cited in Sugiarto et al. (2020), there are 10 steps in the application of the shadowing technique as displayed in the following table 1. Table 1. The procedure of shadowing technique Step Procedure 1 Listening and understanding the given audio 2 Viewing the script of the audio and marking the pronunciation aspects while listening 3 Trying to shadow the audio at a low volume while listening 4 Viewing the script of the audio and learning parts that are not understood yet 5 Searching for the meanings of difficult words or phrases in dictionaries 6 Trying to shadow the audio using all aspects of pronunciation as similarly as possible to the audio without bringing students' accents 7 Shadowing smoothly and understanding the contents of the audio well 8 Recording the process of shadowing 9 Listening to the recording and checking the error parts 10 Reviewing the error parts and making improvements RESEARCH METHODHOLOGY This classroom action research was conducted at SMPN 1 Curup Timur, Bengkulu. This study involved 25 ninth-grade students as the participants. This study was conducted on an English subject. This study was conducted from October 2021 to November 2021. The classroom action research model of this study contained planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. In respect of planning, this study was undertaken based on the main problem faced by students concerning English pronunciation, and this study utilized the shadowing technique as a treatment for students. As the foregoing, we made a plan about what to prepare and what to be applied to solve students' problems related to English pronunciation. The plan was structured according to some steps. First, we compiled several references to both teaching materials and literature related to the shadowing technique to know the proper implementation of this technique. Second, we set a schedule for teaching and learning. Third, we created instruments in the form of tests, field notes, questionnaires, and interview guides. Fourth, we 134 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 adjusted the material taken from the syllabus and created lesson plans from these materials. Fifth, we created an assessment rubric to assess students' English pronunciation skills. The next step was implementation. It was worth noting that the implementation of the shadowing technique was undertaken online under the school's regulation leading to online learning during the Covid-19 outbreak. Based on the plan, we subsequently carried out the process of teaching English pronunciation to the participants by applying the shadowing technique. The shadowing technique was implemented in two cycles. Each cycle contained three meetings. Two meetings were for shadowing practices, and one meeting was for post- test. After cycle one, a reflection was made and information from the reflection was used to plan cycle two. About observations, the essence of observation in this sense was not only applying an observation technique to describe the process of learning but also completely including making observations and giving tests (post-test) to get information for further reflection so that the next cycle could be designed more effectively. The last stage was reflection. At this stage, we analyzed the results of the observations. Reflection was made for planning effective and efficient learning processes in the next cycle. The technique of collecting data This study used two instruments as data collection tools. The first instrument was the observation sheet. The observation sheet was held by the English teacher at SMP 1 Curup Timur because he was a fellow researcher who helped us observe the teaching and learning process using the shadowing technique. Meanwhile, the shadowing technique was taught by us, the researchers themselves, one at a time. The next instrument was a test. The test was given as a post-test at the final meeting of each cycle. We developed a test based on the principles of developing an English pronunciation test. Furthermore, we made an English pronunciation rubric which was constructed from various theories. The technique of data analysis The data in this study had two types. The first data referred to qualitative data obtained from observations of the learning process of English pronunciation using the shadowing technique. The second data referred to quantitative data obtained from the post-test given to students at the final meeting in each cycle. Qualitative data were analyzed using the interactive model as proposed by Miles et al. (2014) Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-135 in which the elements of analysis included data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusion. Furthermore, the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistical principles to find the means of English pronunciation test results. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Results (The Implementation of Cycle one) Planning of cycle one Based on the problems discovered in the preliminary study, we and the English teacher planned the actions taken in cycle one. According to the preliminary findings, students required alternative methods to improve their English pronunciation. We decided to use a shadowing technique to assist students with their pronunciation issues. We and the English teacher collaborated to create lesson plans for one cycle. The first cycle included three meetings. Two meetings were scheduled to distribute materials and engage students in shadowing technique practice. The other meeting was to administer a post-test to the students. The syllabus, textbooks, and the internet were used as sources to create the teaching materials. In the first cycle, the shadowing technique was used to teach English for two meetings with the same steps of learning activities. The reason for splitting it into two meetings was that the skill taught was English pronunciation, which required students to practice. Each meeting consisted of three phases: an opening activity in which we checked students' attendance and explained the materials as well as any practical ways students were about to participate, the main activity in which students were led to do shadowing based on the materials and guidance we provided, and a closing activity in which we and students established interactive discussion in the form of questions and answers, and the recitation of the materials. We provided the Mp3 audio as well as the script, which included English conversations, in the main activity. The English conversations included phrases like "congratulations," "I hope so," "good luck," "thank you," and "you're welcome." Following that, each student was asked to perform ten stages of the shadowing technique. Because the learning process was carried out online at the students' respective homes, we asked students to record a video of their shadowing activities, which were then uploaded to the prepared Google drive for further review. The first of the ten stages was listening. Students listened to the Mp3 audio at this point. Stage 2 involved listening and marking. Students read the audio script and marked syllables associated with stressed and 136 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 unstressed sounds or other pronunciation elements at this stage. The third stage was mumbling. At this point, students uttered the scripted conversations in hushed tones while listening to the Mp3 audio. Parallel reading was the fourth stage. At this point, students viewed the script while listening to the audio, paying close attention to the points or parts that they had not yet grasped. The fifth stage was to comprehend meanings. At this point, if students come across difficult words or phrases, they would look up the meanings and pronunciations in dictionaries. If there were several questions, the students would write them down and then discuss and answer them with their peers or with us at the end. The sixth stage was to cast shadows over the prosody sounds. Students practiced shadowing the audio at this stage by focusing on tones, rhythms, stresses, intonations, and all aspects of pronunciation without looking at the script. They did it again and again. They should be careful not to pronounce the conversations using their accents, but they should try to imitate the ideal accents as heard in the audio. The seventh stage was content shadowing. The goal at this point was to shadow smoothly while attempting to understand the content and meanings. The eighth stage was a recording session. At this point, students used their cellphones to record their shadowing practices. The ninth stage was to listen and compare. Students listened to their shadowing and compared it to the original audio and script at this point. The tenth stage was to review and reflect. At this point, we went over and reflected on what the students had done using the Zoom application. After two meetings of practicing the shadowing technique, students were given a post-test at the third meeting. The post-test was administered by providing students with a conversation script that included the expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. Following that, students were asked to read the conversation using proper English pronunciation. Students were instructed to record audios of themselves reading the conversation script. The audios were then uploaded to a Google Drive folder where we could access and review them. Observations of cycle one During the teaching and learning processes, observations were made. There were two methods used: observation and post-testing. The purpose of this phase was to observe the implementation to overcome the students' poor English pronunciation ability. The observation was centered on the teaching and learning processes in the classroom. The implementation of the shadowing technique in the classroom Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-137 theoretically relied on the grand theory of the communicative language teaching method (Leonisa, 2020). Therefore the syntax of the shadowing technique was central to three main elements, namely interactions, tasks, and learner-centered activities (Cheng, 2015). As the foregoing, first, interactions mean that the learning process should engage students in the efforts of identifying and understanding the learning input. Second, tasks represent authentic language use. In terms of the shadowing technique, tasks mean engaging students in dealing with authentic native English-speaking audios. Third, learner-centered activities mean that the learning activities should pave the way for learners to practice much and gain the acquisition of the targeted skills and knowledge. According to observations, the learning process at the first meeting of the first cycle went well. The learning took place entirely online. We demonstrated the ten stages of the shadowing technique to the students. Following that, we instructed students to practice shadowing the Mp3 audio that we had shared. We also provided a script for the audio conversations. The conversations contained materials such as “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. The online class was attended by all students at the first meeting. All indicators of English pronunciation were also observed to determine which ones students had mastered and which ones they had not yet mastered. Phonemes (single sounds composed of vowels and consonants), allophones (the same phoneme but with a different pronunciation depending on the surrounding phonemes), combinations of sounds (a combined sound of two or more phonemes but representing one syllable), linkage of sounds (a unified sound which is usually an encounter between consonant sounds and vowels), stress (sounds with syllable stresses), rhythm, and pitch. At the first meeting, the identification of the seven indicators of English pronunciation revealed that students still struggled with allophones, sound linkage, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. This meant that students could only pronounce the phoneme and sound combination indicators at the first meeting for the materials concerning “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. At the second meeting, using the same learning materials and procedures, it was discovered that the students' English pronunciation had improved in terms of the indicator of sound linkage, in which students were able to connect the final phoneme of a word with the initial phoneme of the next word. Students, for example, were able to connect the phoneme (s) at the end of the word (congratulations) with 138 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 the phoneme (o) at the beginning of the word (congratulations) in an expression (congratulations on your good grade) (on). As a result, students were able to combine (congratulations on) with continuous pronunciation because Americans do not separate the pronunciation of (congratulations) from the pronunciation of (congratulations) (on). However, students continued to struggle with the indicators of allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation in this second meeting. These four indicators became the areas of learning that should be prioritized in the second cycle. The third meeting was concluded by administering a post-test to the students. The post-test results confirmed the second meeting's observation that students had mastered the pronunciation indicators of phonemes, combinations of sounds, and sound linkage. However, students continued to struggle with allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. The results of the post-test in cycle one are shown in Table 2. Table 2. Post-test results in cycle one No. Scoring aspects Scores 1 The highest score 86 2 The lowest score 61 3 The mean score 72 Table 2 is completed with the detailed scores per indicator of English pronunciation as presented in the following table 3: Table 3. Post-test scores per indicator in cycle one No Indicators Average scores The minimum standard 1 Phonemes 80 70 2 Allophones 68 70 3 Combinations of Sounds 78 70 4 Linkage of Sounds 77 70 5 Stress 65 70 6 Rhythm and Pitch 68 70 7 Intonation 68 70 The mean of post-test scores 72 70 Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-139 Reflection of cycle one Analyzing post-test results served as a means of reflection. According to the post-test results, students met the minimum standard (70) on the indicators of phonemes (80), combinations of sounds (78), and sound linkage (77). Meanwhile, students continued to struggle with some indicators because they had not met the minimum standard (70) for allophones (68), stress (65), rhythm and pitch (68), and intonation (68). These findings became the reflective materials for the second cycle, which was aimed at improving four indicators of English pronunciation: allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. Cycle two Planning of cycle two Based on the reflection on the learning results in cycle one, we and the English teacher planned the implementation of learning in cycle two. Based on their reflections, students continued to struggle with four indicators of English pronunciation: allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. We decided to use a shadowing technique that was more focused on the four indicators in this second cycle. The materials studied were the same as in the first cycle, namely speaking material that included utterances such as “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. The material was speaking material, but the learning orientation in this study was only focused on the aspects of pronunciation. Cycle two's lesson plan was created by us and the English teacher. This second cycle was made up of three meetings. Two meetings were held to deliver materials and shadowing practices, and a third meeting was held to administer a post-test to students. If the teaching material in the first cycle was in the form of Mp3 audio and the conversational script, the teaching material in the second cycle was in the form of video and the conversational script containing expressions such as “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. Implementation The second cycle's implementation of shadowing technique learning was similar to the first cycle's, in which we led students through the 10 steps of shadowing technique practice. The source of material in the second cycle, on the other hand, was video and the conversational script. The ten steps were followed for two meetings. We emphasized in this second cycle that students had to repeat shadowing for four indicators twice as many times as usual. Allophones, stress, 140 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 rhythm and pitch, and intonation were among the indicators covered. After the first two meetings, the third meeting was to administer a post- test to the students. The post-test was administered by providing students with a conversational script containing the expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. Following that, students were instructed to read the conversation aloud in an appropriate English pronunciation style. Students were asked to record themselves reading the conversational script. The audio was then uploaded to a Google Drive folder where we could access and review it. Observations of cycle two Observations were made during the learning process in cycle two. There were two methods used: observation and post-testing. This face aimed to observe learning implementation and overcome students' low ability in English pronunciation, particularly on allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation indicators. According to observations, the learning process at cycle two's first meeting went well. The training was completed entirely online. During this first meeting, we went over the ten stages of the shadowing technique with the students once more. In addition, we asked students to practice shadowing the video that was shown to them. The video's conversational script was also provided by us. The material in the video conversation related to “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. The online class was attended by all students at the first meeting. Observations were made on four indicators based on the findings of cycle one reflection. Allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation were among the four factors considered. At the first meeting, it was discovered that students had mastered three of the four indicators of English pronunciation, namely allophones, stress, and rhythm and pitch. The students also appeared to have mastered the three previous indicators, namely phonemes, sound combinations, and sound linkage. This means that there was only one indicator of English pronunciation with which students struggled in the first meeting, namely the indicator of intonation for the materials concerning expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. At the second meeting of cycle two, using the same learning materials and procedures, it was discovered that students had improved in terms of intonation. Students, for example, were able to distinguish between interrogative and affirmative sentences in terms of English Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-141 intonation. Based on the results of their shadowing exercises, students appeared to have sufficiently mastered various intonations in English. As a result, by the second meeting of this second cycle, students had mastered all indicators of English pronunciation for expressions such as “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. In general, it could be seen that the shadowing technique was effective and capable of improving students' abilities to correctly pronounce English utterances. The third meeting in cycle two was held by administering a post- test to the students. The post-test results confirmed the findings of the first and second meetings of the second cycle, in which students had mastered all indicators of English pronunciation, namely phonemes, allophones, sound combinations, sound linkage, stress, rhythm, pitch, and intonation. The post-test results for cycle two are shown in Table 4. Table 4. Post-Test results in cycle two No. Scoring aspects Scores 1 The highest score 88 2 The lowest score 70 3 The mean score 76 Table 4 above is completed with the detailed scores per indicator of English pronunciation as displayed in table 5 below: Table 5. Post-Test scores per indicator in cycle two No Indicators Average of scores The minimum standard 1 Phonemes 77 70 2 Allophones 75 70 3 Combinations of Sounds 78 70 4 Linkage of Sounds 77 70 5 Stress 75 70 6 Rhythm and Pitch 75 70 7 Intonation 75 70 The mean score of post-test results 76 70 142 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 Reflection In cycle two, reflection was carried out by observing the students' post-test results. According to the post-test results, the students met the minimum standard (70) on all pronunciation indicators, including phonemes with an average score of 77, allophones with an average score of 75, sound combinations with an average score of 78, sound linkage with an average score of 77, stress with an average score of 75, rhythm and pitch with an average score of 75, and intonation with an average score of 75. The average of all scores was 76, which was higher than the required minimum of 70. As a result, it was possible to conclude that the shadowing technique was effective and had succeeded in improving the English pronunciation competence of students at SMP 1 Curup Timur on the material concerning “congratulations, I hope so, I wish. Best wishes, thank you, and you're welcome”. Discussion In this study, the shadowing technique was used in three meetings during cycle one. The first and second meetings were shadowing activities based on expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. The material was used in the first cycle in the form of Mp3 audio and a conversational script. The third meeting of cycle one was to administer a post-test for reflective resources to students so that the second cycle could be better planned. Based on the post-test results from cycle one, the students were able to achieve three indicators of English pronunciation: phonemes, sound combinations, and sound linkage. The post-test average scores of the students for the three indicators had already exceeded the minimum standard (70). The students' mean scores on the three indicators were 80 for phonemes, 78 for sound combinations, and 77 for sound linkage. Students benefited from the simulation process of using the shadowing technique in cycle one, including an improvement in their listening, understanding, and speaking skills. According to Nashta and Rahimy (2018), shadowing techniques allow students to practice various skills such as listening, analyzing, and processing speech. In this context, improving listening skills also refers to efforts to improve awareness and phonemic perception in the context of pronunciation. The shadowing technique gives students a lot of listening practice. More importantly, it allows them to focus on what they are hearing. As a result, their comprehension of what they are hearing improves. According to Hamada (2014), the shadowing technique was effective for improving listening comprehension. Hamada (2016) further asserted Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-143 that, when compared to dictation, shadowing techniques improve students' listening skills. The shadowing technique can be a useful exercise for students to improve their public speaking skills. Sugiarto et al. (2020), for example, claimed that the shadowing technique allows students to succeed in their English practice. As a result, students can effectively communicate, express their opinions, and convey messages. Julian (2012), in particular, emphasized that shadowing is a very effective technique for improving students' speaking skills. According to the first cycle's observations, there were flaws in the application of the shadowing technique. This flaw pertained to the conditions of online learning. Because the distance between students and us was quite far, and they were only connected by the zoom application, it was difficult for us to provide immediate assistance to students who were having trouble shadowing. On the one hand, some students experienced internet network issues, causing them to take longer to download the MP3 audio material and the script. This barrier could be overcome if the shadowing technique was learned offline. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the learning shadowing technique could be done offline during the conduction of this study. In cycle two, the shadowing technique was able to help students improve the four aspects of English pronunciation that had previously become students' problems in the previous cycle, which was carried out using a resource in the form of video and the conversational script. Cycle two also required three meetings. The first and second meetings were shadowing activities based on expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. Following that, the third meeting of cycle two was to provide a post-test. The four improved indicators were allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. It was also discovered that students were still capable of maintaining their English pronunciation competence on the three indicators they had already mastered in the first cycle, namely phonemes, sound combinations, and sound linkage. Overall, the cycle two post-test results revealed that the average scores of all students' English pronunciation indicators met a minimum standard of 70. The average score for each English pronunciation indicator was as follows: phonemes with a mean of 77, allophones with a mean of 75, sound combinations with a mean of 78, sound linkage with a mean of 77, stress with a mean of 75, rhythm and pitch with a mean of 75, and intonation with a mean of 75. The overall average was 76, which was higher than the minimum of 70. Thus, the simulation results from cycle two demonstrated that the 144 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 shadowing technique was effective in improving students' English pronunciation competence. There are several benefits or advantages that students gain from the simulation process of using the shadowing technique in cycle two, including increased fluency in English pronunciation, increased prosody and concentration, and increased working memory because students are accustomed to shadowing English utterances from native speakers, managing mental lexicon, and increased self-confidence in English pronunciation. Students appear to speak more fluently when using the shadowing technique to improve their English pronunciation. Shadowing techniques can help students improve their oral fluency. Doubts, for example, can be eliminated by extensive shadowing practice, and pronunciation can be improved because shadowing trains students to produce appropriate variations of English phonemes. In other words, students are taught to use shadowing techniques to automatically correct their pronunciation. In exercises utilizing the shadowing technique, students attempt to pay attention to the input from the video by copying several important aspects related to pronunciation. This condition teaches students to imitate the speaker's speed, rhythm, pressure, intonation patterns, and other characteristics in the video. Students direct their attention to speech because shadowing requires intense concentration. Furthermore, Hamada (2014) stated that by using the shadowing technique, students improve their prosody, gain more concentration, and become accustomed to natural speed. Furthermore, the shadowing technique strengthens students' memory concerning the improvement of working memory. The shadowing technique, in particular, stimulates the mental area responsible for producing language sounds and repeating the message. Furthermore, according to Hamada (2016), the process of repeating speech input and monitoring shadowing material involves many different areas of the brain. Furthermore, he emphasized that by using the shadowing technique, students can automate their speech perception, increase their working memory capacity, and strengthen the practice process, allowing them to store phonological information in phonological circles for long periods. When it comes to managing mental lexicons, the shadowing technique teaches students how to manage various aspects such as speech imitation timing and vocabulary usage. According to Sugiarto et al. (2020), the shadowing technique allows students to manage their mental lexicons, including vocabulary development and processing. Overall, mental lexicons include vocabularies that a person may be familiar with and use to Henny Septia Utami: Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Competence by Using Shadowing Technique-145 understand language and perform various tasks. Another advantage of the shadowing technique is that it increases students' confidence in pronouncing English words. However, a flaw in the shadowing technique was discovered in the second simulation. This relates to the difficult challenges of the shadowing process in cycle two because students are required to focus and shadow twice as much as usual, particularly on the four indicators of English pronunciation, namely allophones, stress, rhythm and pitch, and intonation. When compared to cycle one, this condition presents more challenges to students. This is consistent with Nashta and Rahimy (2018), who stated that the shadowing technique sounds difficult, and it is difficult for students who are required to use heavier materials. This weakness, however, can be overcome because the students' post-test results show that the shadowing technique improves all indicators of students' English pronunciation. CONCLUSION This study employs the shadowing technique to assist students at SMPN 1 Curup Timur in dealing with issues related to poor English pronunciation. The shadowing technique is chosen to be taught to them over a series of meetings divided into two cycles. Each cycle consists of three meetings, two of which are used for the learning process using the shadowing technique and one meeting is used to administer a post-test. The material refers to expressions of “congratulations, I hope so, I wish you luck, thank you, and you're welcome”. The shadowing technique is used in ten stages for each cycle meeting. In the first stage, students listen to and comprehend the provided audio (cycle 1) and video (cycle 2). In the second stage, students view the audio and video scripts and mark the pronunciation aspects while listening. At stage 3, students attempt to shadow the audio and video while listening at a low volume. In the fourth stage, students view the scripts for the audio and video, as well as the learning parts that they have not yet mastered. Students in the fifth stage use dictionaries to look up the meanings of difficult words or phrases. In the sixth stage, students attempt to shadow the audio and video by pronouncing all aspects of the audio and video as similarly as possible by reducing students' accents. Students at the seventh stage can shadow smoothly and understand the audio and video content well. In the eighth stage, students record their shadowing processes. In the ninth stage, students listen to the recording and check for errors. Students review the erroneous parts and make improvements at the tenth stage. The shadowing technique is effective in improving students' English 146 | ENGLISH FRANCA, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2022 pronunciation skills. In the first cycle, students improved their English pronunciation on the indicators of phoneme (80), sound combinations (78), and sound linkage (77). They are, however, unable to meet the minimum standard (70) for allophones (68), stress (65), rhythm and pitch (68), and intonation (68). After reflecting on the first cycle, students can pass the standard minimum (70) for each indicator of English pronunciation in the second cycle. Students' mean scores for each English pronunciation indicator are as follows: phonemes with a mean of 77, allophones with a mean of 75, sound combinations with a mean of 78, sound linkage with a mean of 77, stress with a mean of 75, rhythm and pitch with a mean of 75, and intonation with a mean of 75. The overall average is 76, which is higher than the minimum of 70. As a result, it is possible to conclude that the shadowing technique is effective and has been successful in improving the English pronunciation competence of students at SMPN 1 Curup Timur on the material concerning expressions of “congratulations, REFERENCES Blake, H. L., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2019). 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