Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP https://e-journal.undikma.ac.id/index.php/joelt Email: joelt@undikma.ac.id June 2022, Vol.9 No.1 online: 2548-5865 print: 2355-0309 pp.13-28 doi:10.33394/jo-elt.v9i1.5156 Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 13 LEARNING CONNECTED SPEECH BY PRONOUNCING SONG LYRICS: STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE #1 Auliatuz Zahrotul Jannah, *2 Sulton Dedi Wijaya, *3 Ro’ifah #1 English student, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya, Indonesia *2 English lecturer, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya, Indonesia *3 English lecturer, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya, Indonesia Corresponding Author Email: auliatuz.zahrotul.jannah-2018@fkip.um-surabya.ac.id A B S T R A C T S A R T I C L E I N F O Connected speech is a big role in English and has to be understood and mastered by English learners. 20 English Education Department students which are included in the English learner category are the subject of this research. This study aims to investigate how students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. This study used a qualitative method to focus on analyzing students‟ thoughts and it presented descriptively. To collect the data, the researcher used questionnaires and interviews. Totally 58 statements in questionnaires and 16 questions through interviews have given to the subject as a completion. The main finding of this research is all subject loved to listening English song. They has positive responses on learning connected speech using song lyrics. They state that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics can be an effective and fun way. They also feel confident, happy, and close to natives. By seeing the finding, it can be conclude that the problem that existed like students' difficulty when listening to the native speaker speaking, bad pronunciation, shame, less fluency, and even no connected speech are tackled. Moreover, they can learn without boredom because they learn in the way they loved. Article History: Received: May, 2022 Revised: May, 2022 Published: June, 2022d 16 Aug 2018nline 09 Sep 2018 Keywords: Connected Speech, Pronouncing, Songs How to cite: Jannah, A., Wijaya, S., & Ro'ifah, R. (2022). Learning Connected Speech by Pronouncing Song Lyrics: Students' Perspective. Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa & Seni Prodi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, 9(1), 13-28. doi:https://doi.org/10.33394/jo-elt.v9i1.5156 INTRODUCTION English speakers are necessary to pronounce English well, specifically for English learners. Pronunciation itself is the production of sounds that people use to create meaning. It includes attention to the particular sounds of a language (segmental aspects), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound, such as intonation, stress, phrasing, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), and how the voice quality is projected (Putra, 2018). English learners have to connect the words when they are speaking because connected speech is an actual real part of the English language. Indeed, it may perhaps be part, of all living languages. Students need to be exposed to and thought all the features of connected speech (Suleiman & Qunayeer, 2020). It is great in English pronunciation when they speak naturally by blending the word together. Bumping the words to each other makes them speak easier, quicker, smoother, and does not like a robot. By connecting the words, it can ake us speak mailto:auliatuz.zahrotul.jannah-2018@fkip.um-surabya.ac.id Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 14 better and be close to natives. It can also help non-native speakers understand oral English and produce comprehensible spoken English. The understanding of connected speech also makes students understand well when native speakers are speaking. As (Rosa, 2002) pointed out, "working on sentence stress and intonation can help students to better understand spoken English. It is crucial for English learners when they get listening subject because research from Musrifah (2018) assure listening is one of the most difficult skills for foreign language learners. It is caused by the complexity of its process and the different types of knowledge required for successful listening. Moreover, they could understand the regularities and patterns which underlie the actual use of sound in language. Thus, connected speech is a big role in English and has to be understood and mastered by English learners. Connected speech marks up “a very real part” of the oral language and happens in “all levels of speech” from casual to even very formal levels. The naturally occurring speech of native speakers is most rapid and continuous with frequent linking, sound alteration, or reduction at word boundaries, which may cause comprehension difficulty when non-native speakers listen to it. Since certain words are lost, and certain phonemes linked together as we attempt to get our message across, in English spoken discourse, words are not pronounced in isolation but rather tend to run together (Hafira & Misnawati, 2014). Connected speech is based on a set of rules used to modify pronunciations so that words connect and flow more smoothly and rhythmically in natural communication, in connected speech one aim is usually not maximal distinctiveness but maximal ease of communication (Hamad, 2014). There are four types of connected speech which are the main features of connected speech. There are assimilation, elision, linking words, and intrusion (Nkongho & Tize, 2021). First, assimilation is a process found in languages that causes speech sounds to be modified in a way that makes them more similar to their neighboring sounds. Example: /d/ can change to /g/ such as “good girl” /gʊg gɜ:l/ and /t/ and /j/ into /ʧ/ in the words “don´t you know” /dəʊnt jʊ nəʊ/ or /dəʊnʧə nəʊ/. Second, elision occurs when a sound is omitted. Even though in a word spoken in isolation a sound would be present, in connected speech it would disappear. This kind of reduction occurs mainly in words ending with /t/ and /d/ and particularly when they are between two other consonants. Example: “Post the letter” /pəʊs ðə letə/, “sandwich” /sænwɪʧ/ and “stand there” /stæn ðeə/ (Akram & Qureshi, 2014). Third, linking words is a cycle association of conclusive sound vowel or consonant of one word or syllable with the underlying sound of the following word or syllable. There are two kinds of connectors. They are consonants to vowels, like “stuck in” /stʌk ɪn/ and vowels to vowels, such as “we are” /wiː jɑːr/ (Bakri, 2020). Fourth, intrusion refers to the cases where an extra sound intrudes for ease of articulation. Three sounds in English behave as intruders: / r/, / j/ and /w/ as in the following examples: “go on” turns into /gowon/ “I agree” converts /aiyagree/, “law and order” becomes /lawranorder/ (Hamad, 2014). In fact, many students cannot produce the words correctly. They often have been mispronounced, and difficult when getting a listening subject. Corroborated by research from (Rosa, 2002) language learners still face difficult challenges when it comes to understanding natural native speaker conversations. Besides, when they are speaking, they pronounce word by word without connected speech. Speaking without connecting speech makes students look less fluent and sound bad in English. These problems happen because of some reasons such as they think that pronunciation study is too difficult and boring for learners, they are difficult to distinguish words that are almost the same pronunciation, rarely practice, lack of vocabulary, carried regional accent, shame, and difficult to say sentences rarely found (Lasabuda, 2017). Whereas these problems should not happen in English learners, because it will make them sound like a newbie, far from the good communicator, difficult to understand when natives are speaking and the worst is decreasing the learners‟ quality because they could not close to native speakers. Supported by Rosa (2002) If students do not have an occasion to practice Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 15 good pronunciation at the beginning of their learning, they may possibly build their habits in the wrong way. For this reason, learning words without pronunciation during beginning lessons is potentially damaging to their overall success. Pronunciation is crucial because people can understand what English learners say when they are speaking. To be understood, a learner needs a practical mastery of the sounds, rhythms, and cadences of English and how they fit together in connected speech. Without it all, people are likely to assume that they do not know much English and worse that they are incompetent (Yates & Zielinski, 2009). Looking at the situation, the students need a way to overcome those problems. It is necessary for them to speak fluently like a native speaker. Through good pronunciation especially connected speech, they could communicate without difficulty and with pleasure. Suggested by Rahmania & Mandasari (2021) that listening to the English sound is an effective way to learn English. Producing or pronouncing the word after listening to the language, then trying to speak the words that we hear before is one of the ways to learn to pronounce a word. Therefore, almost all students are like a song, they feel happy to listen, and pronounce it. Pronouncing English songs are a favorite thing to be done by many people typically English adult learners. Romero et al. (2012) stated that song also has been implemented as a source by teachers to develop communicative abilities properly in English subjects. It also offers the chance to talk confidently and learn in a fun way. Study by Setia et al. (2012) revealed that from this survey, it has been discovered that the use of song not only supports the understanding but also it stimulates and increases the students‟ interest to learn, enjoy and engage in the learning process. Furthermore, it accelerates students‟ confidence, learning ability, and skill when activities are highly motivating and memorable. This study showed through song could accelerate students learning and English skills. It can be said that learning connected speech include in it. Another study from Suwartono & Mayaratri (2019) also conveyed that based on the gain and the students' perception, the use of songs for teaching the English connected speech tended to indicate a prospective better learning outcome. Addition study from Yanti et al. (2022) that expose the implementation of English song to improve students‟ pronunciation skills can make students more activated, motivated, and interested. Therefore, based on the background above, this study formulates a question: how students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics? The objective of this study is to investigate how students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. This study has a scope that refers to the parameters which the study will be operating (Simon & Goes, 2013). The scope of this research focuses the research on students‟ perspective, especially in connected speech. Hopefully, it will be able to contribute to learning and teaching English pronunciation, particularly connected speech material. RESEARCH METHOD Research methods refer to the all those methods which are used by during the course of studying his/her research problem (Clarke, 2014). To analyze and answer the research question, this study held some preparation and dealt with several ways. The source of the data was primary data in terms of the perspective of the participants which are students in college and data test results. This research also demonstrated the research design, subject, instrument, and data analysis. Research Design Research design can be well thought-out as a conceptual blueprint within which research is conducted. It is the structure of research and the “Glue” that holds all of the elements in a research project together, in short, it is a plan of the proposed research work (Creswell & Creswell, 2017). In this study, the researcher used descriptive qualitative. The Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 16 qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the meaning persons or collections ascribe to a social or human problem (Wijaya et al., 2019). This kind of method was used because the researcher focuses on analyzing students‟ perspective, so the data that the researcher used will be presented descriptively. Subject A research subject is an individual that participates in research. The subject used in this study was English Education Department students of the University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya. It is one of the famous private campus in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. They were in the fourth and sixth semesters because they had learned about pronunciation peculiarly connected speech lessons when they were in the third semester. Thus, they were suitable to be a subject because they had background knowledge about the material which was investigated. The total subjects who participated were 20 students. Instruments The researcher used an instrument in terms of a questionnaire and interview. Interview is the most common data collection method in qualitative research relating to social science studies (Aldaihani & Data, 2021). It was used to get study the students' perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. First, the questionnaire was distributed through a google form. The questionnaire consists of 58 statements containing connected speech and song. The connected speech was shown in 43 statements containing three statements of basic knowledge alike they have known about connected speech, its type, and its process. Then, there are 15 statements presented about songs. It consists of four types of connected speech, there were: Assimilation, linking words, elision, and intrusion. All of them have been validated by experts. The researcher used a nominal scale that has no order and there is no distance between “Yes” and “No”. There are also greatly sophisticated modeling techniques available for nominal data. An ordinal scale is next up the list in terms of the power of measurement. Second, the interview was held through online media because of long-distance and Covid-19 social restriction. Thus, it runs via WhatsApp text and voice note. The question of interview consisted of 16 questions. Data Analysis The researcher analyzed the data in a descriptive statistics. Descriptive statistics will help researcher summarize the overall trends or tendencies of data, provide an understanding of how varied your scores might be, and provide insight into where one score stands in comparison with others (Marwa, 2019). First of all, the answers of the respondents in questionnaires and interviews were gathered. Second, the researcher reduce the unnecessary data to make meaningful data and simplify it in order to create conclusions. Third, data will be displayed. The data will systematically arranged for easy understanding. This data will be displayed in chart form. Finally, the researcher make conclusions which is done by looking at the results of data reduction and maintain referring to the analysis objectives that want to be achieved. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Research Findings There are two kinds of findings. They were the findings from the questionnaire and findings from the interview. The first finding was data from questionnaires. It contains 2 main topics; it was finding connected speech and finding concerning songs as a medium of learning connected speech. Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 17 1. Basic Knowledge of Connected Speech In this basic knowledge, there are 3 statements consisting of basic knowledge of connected speech, its types, and how the process of each type. The researcher found in statement 1 (S1) that all subjects know about the connected speech from pronunciation subjects or other places. Statement 2 (S2) showed that 77,5% of subjects or 15 students know the types of connected speech and 5 students or 22,5% do not know. A result of statement 3 (S3) indicated that 77,5% of subjects, about 15 students recognize the process of connected speech and 22,5% or 5 students did not know it as seen in figure 1. Figure 1. Students‟ Perspective towards Connected Speech This section also presented finding of 4 types in a connected speech that is assimilation, elision, linking words, and intrusion. a. Assimilation In this research, assimilation is indicated with 10 statements. S1 states “I know that assimilation is the sound change in the next word”. About 92,5% of subjects answer “Yes” in that statement totaling 18 students and 7,5% totaling 2 students answered “No”. S2 statement is “How to read „ten pin‟ is /tem pɪm/” 55% subject totaling 11 students answered yes and 45% subjects totaling 9 students answered “No”. S3 statement is “How to read in bed is /im bed/” 75% subject totaling 15 students answered “Yes” and 25% totaling 5 students answered “No”. S4 statement “good boy if read /gʊb bɔɪ/ is true” 80% answered “Yes” totaling 16 students and 10% subject totaling 4 students answered “No”. S5 statement is “How to pronounce "He couldn't go" is /hi 'kuŋŋ(k) 'ɡəʊ'/” 75% answered “Yes” totaling 15 students and 25% totaling 5 students answer “No” as seen in figure 2. Figure 2. Students‟ Perspective towards Assimilation 100 77,5 77,5 0 22,5 22,5 0 50 100 150 S1 S2 S3 Connected Speech Understanding YES NO 9 2 ,5 5 5 7 5 8 0 7 5 7 5 5 7 ,5 7 2 ,5 9 0 9 2 ,5 7 ,5 4 5 2 5 2 0 2 5 2 5 4 2 ,5 2 7 ,5 1 0 7 ,5 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 Assimilation YES NO Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 18 In addition, the S6 statement is “The letter /d/ will become /b/ if it meets /m/ like Good morning be /gum' mɔ:nɪŋ/” 77,5% subject totaling 15 students answered “Yes” and 22,5% totaling 5 students answered “No”. S7 statement is “have mine will be pronounced like /ham'maɪn/” 57,5% subject totaling 11 students answered “Yes” and 42,5% subjects answered “No” totaling 9 students. S8 statement is “If it spoken, seven pies will sound / sevem paɪz/” 72,5% totaling 14 students answered “Yes” and 27,5% totaling 6 students answered “No”. S9 statement is “Can buy' will be pronounced like sound /kəmbaɪ/” 90% subject totaling 18 students answered “Yes” and 10% totaling 2 students answered “No” S10 statement is “Words that sound like //kədʒju:// in written words Could you” 92,5% totaling 18 students answer “Yes” and 7,5% totaling 2 students answered “No”. b. Elision Figure 3 showed the percentage of how students‟ perspective regarding Elision. S1 statement is “The word aspect is read by removing the letter t”. 87,5% subject totaling 17 students answered “Yes” and 12,5% subject totaling 3 students answered “No”. S2 statement is “Pronouncing /Himəsbi/ on the word “He must be” is correct”, 85% subject totaling 17 students answered “Yes” and 15% subject totaling 3 students answered “No”. S3 statement is “The word "every" is read by removing the vowel "e" in the middle is correct” 92,5% subject totaling 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject totaling 2 students answered “No”. S4 statement is “The correct pronunciation for "Left me" is /lefmɪ/” 85% subject totaling 17 students answered “Yes” and 15% subject totaling 3 students answered “No”. S5 statement is “The word “Looked to” will be pronounced /lu:ktu/” 77,5% subject totaling 15 students answered “Yes” and 22,5% subject totaling 5 students answered “No”. Figure 3. Students‟ Perspective towards Elision In addition, S6 statement is “word “postman” would sound like /poʊsmn/” 92,5% subject totaling 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject totaling 2 students answered “No”. S7 statement is “Say “left foot” is read by omitting the letter t like /lefʊ:t/” 85% subject totaling 17 students answered “Yes” and 15% subject totaling 3 students answered “No”. S8 statement is “The letter d will be removed from the word "old man" 60% of subjects totaling 12 students answered “Yes” and 40% subject totaling 8 students answered “No”. S9 statement is“Words kindness will read /kaɪnes/ with throw away letter d” 97,5% subject totaling 19 students answered “Yes” and 2,5% subject totaling 1 student answered “No”. S10 statement is “left you” will 8 7 ,5 8 5 ,5 9 2 ,5 8 5 7 7 ,5 9 2 ,5 8 5 6 0 9 7 ,5 9 0 1 2 ,5 1 5 7 ,5 1 5 2 2 ,5 7 ,5 1 5 4 0 2 ,5 1 0 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S=Statement Elision YES NO Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 19 sound like /lefʧʊ/” 90% subject totaling 18 students answered “Yes” and 10% subject totaling 2 students answered “No” c. Linking words S1 statement is “I know if the end of a consonant word meets a vowel, the word will melt like „stuck in‟ will be pronounced /stʌk ɪn/ 92,5% subject consists of 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject consists of 2 students answered “No”. S2 statement is “I know the word "for all" is stamped like (forol)” and all the subjects answer yes. S3 statement is “The word "what is it" which pronounce like (wo ti zit) is correct” 77,5% subject consists of 15 students answered “Yes” and 22,5% subject consists of 5 students answered “No”. S4 statement is “This is an old egg" will sound connected like [ði zə.rəʊl.deɡz]” 50% subject answered “Yes” and 50% subject answered “No”. S5 statement is “word „an apple‟ will sound like /a napple'/” 90% subject consists of 18 students answered “Yes” and 10% subject consists of 2 students answered “No” as seen in figure 4. Figure 4. Students‟ Understanding towards Linking Words In addition, the S6 statement is “I agree if the word "law and order "be pronounced /lɔ : rn ɒdə/” 67,5% subject consist of 13 students answered “Yes” and 32,5% subject consists of 7 students answered “No”. S7 statement is “The words „never and again' when spoken will be /nevər əgen/” 87,5% subject consist of 17 students answered “Yes” and 12,5% subject consists of 3 students answered “No”. S8 statement is “Word „they are‟ being /ðeɪ ə/” 82,5% subject consist of 16 students answered “Yes” and 17,5% subjects consists of 4 students answered “No”. S9 statement is “The word „tip over‟ will be connected to be /tipover/” 80% subject consists of 16 students answered “Yes” and 20% subject consists of 4 students answered “No”. S10 statement is “The word „clean up‟ will be pronounced /klinap/” 92,5% subject consist of 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject consists of 2 students answered “No”. d. Intrusion S1 statement is “I know there is an extra word in the middle to make it easier to pronounce for some words in English, for example, go out will be pronounced /Gowaut/” 92,5% subject consist of 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject consist of 2 students answered “No”. S2 statement is “I will say the word “She answered” by /Sheyanswered/” 85% subject consist of 17 students answered “Yes” and 15% subject consist of 3 students answered “No”. S3 statement is “I will say the word "Do it" by /Dewit/” 60% subject consists of 12 students answered “Yes” and 40% subject consists of 6 students answered “No”. S4 statement is “How to pronounce 92,5 100 77,5 50 90 67,5 87,5 82,5 80 92,5 7,5 0 22,5 50 10 32,5 12,5 17,5 20 7,5 0 50 100 150 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S=Statement Linking Words YES NO Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 20 words "You are" is /ju:wɑ:/” 87,5% subject consists of 17 students answered “Yes” and 12,5% subject consists of 3 students answered “No”. S5 statement is “The word “Go off” when pronounced becomes /gəʊ w ɒf/” 97,5% subject consists of 19 students answered “Yes” and 2,5% subject consists of 1 student answered “No”. Figure 5. Students‟ Understanding towards Intrusion In addition, the S6 statement is “The correct pronunciation of the word "They are" is /ðeɪ j ɑ:/” 87,5% subject consists of 17 students answered “Yes” and 12,5% subject consists of 3 students answered “No”. S7 statement is “The word "my arm" if spoken naturally by native speakers will be heard /maɪ j ɑ:m/” 57,5% subject consists of 11 students answered “Yes” and 42,5% subject consists of 9 students answered “No”. S8 statement is “The word „go away‟ will sound like /goweway/” 90% subject totaling 18 students answered “Yes” and 10% subject totaling 2 students answered “No”. S9 statement is “The letter /j/ will be added to the sentence „I am” 57,5% subject consists of 11 students answered “Yes” and 42,5% subject consists of 9 students answered “No”. S10 statement is “In the word "go on" the letter /w/ will be added in the middle of the word” 92,5% subject consists of 18 students answered “Yes” and 7,5% subject consists of 2 students answered “No”. 2. Song Usage as a Medium to Learn Connected Speech Figure 6 below displays how students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. S1 states “I like and enjoy listening to English songs while pronouncing the lyrics” students choose “Yes” total of 95% consist of 19 students and 5% consist of 1 students choose “No”. S2 states “I often read the lyrics of English songs through YouTube, Musixmatch, and others” 95% of subjects choose “Yes” consisting of 19 students and 5% consist of 2 students choose “No”. S3 states “I know that English song lyrics contain connected speech” 77,5% of subjects choose “Yes” consist of 15 students and 22,5% of subjects consist of 5 students choose “No”. S4 states „I purposely listen to English songs to learn connected speech” 87,5% of subjects consist of 17 students choose “Yes” and 12,5% of subjects consist of 3 students choose “No”. S5 states “I often listen to how singers pronounce the song lyric” 85% subject consists of 17 students choose “Yes” and 15% subject consists of 3 students choose “No”. S6 states “I know that in English song lyrics, some words are sounds linking to the other words” 95% subject consists of 19 students choose “Yes” and 5% subject consist of 1 students choose “No”. S7 states “I know that singer delete letter in pronouncing the song lyrics” 87,5% subject consists of 17 students choose “Yes” and 12,5% subject consists of 3 students choose “No”. S8 states “I know that singer adds a letter in some words while pronouncing song lyrics” 82,5% subject 92,1 84,2 60,5 86,8 97,4 89,5 87,5 90 57,9 92,1 7,9 15,8 39,5 13,2 2,6 10,5 12,5 10 42,1 7,9 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S=statement Intrusion YES NO Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 21 consist of 16 students choose “Yes” and 17,5% subject consists of 4 students choose “No” as seen in figure 6. Figure 6. Students‟ Perspective towards Song as a Medium of Learning Connected Speech In addition, S9 states “I am glad and motivated to learn connected speech when listening to English song” 92,5% of the subject consist of 18 students who choose “Yes” 7,5% subject consists of 2 students choose “No”. S10 states “I am confident in pronouncing English songs that contain connected speech” 90% subject consists of 18 students choosing “Yes” and 10% subject consists of 2 students choosing “No”. S11 states “I am happy learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics” 90% of the subject consist of 18 students who choose “Yes” and 10% of the subject consist of 2 students who choose “No”. S12 states learning connected speech by pronouncing songs is the easy way, pleasant, and effective” 92,5% of subjects consist of 18 students choose “Yes” and 7,5% of subjects consist of 2 students choose “No”. S13 states “I am easy to remember the lyrics by pronouncing the lyrics” 92,5% subject consist of 18 students choose “Yes” and 7,5% subject consists of 2 students choose “No”. S14 states “Saying song lyrics with connected speech makes me felt close to a native speaker” 82,5% subject consists of 16 students choose “Yes” and 17,5% subject consists of 5 students choose “No”. S15 states “By saying the song lyrics, my English pronunciation is better” 92,5% subject consists of 18 students choose “Yes” and 7,5% subject consists of 2 students choose “No”. The next data was collected from interviews. It was held to make this study deeper and stronger regarding the students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. 10 students are chosen for this research and they were given 16 questions. All interviewee were English song lover which listened English songs every day. The first interviewee (ZHR) said that she listens to the songs for more than 2 hours every night and when she did her assignment. She was confident to pronounce the lyrics because when she did not know how to pronounce the vocabulary or sometimes she just found some unfamiliar vocabulary, the singer pronounces the vocabulary correctly. She also often felt unconscious learning pronunciation from English songs. She thought learning connected speech from song is helpful and did not face difficulties so far. Moreover, pronouncing the song exactly adjusts the lyrics on the tone that can practice the connected speech. It is added that she was conscious and unconscious learned connected speech from English song lyrics but she was convinced that there must contain connected speech in it. She claimed that she dislikes learning but she liked listening songs, so she knew connected speech a little bit from the songs. In her opinion, the easiest process in connected speech is linking words. She gave an example of another type that was 94,7 94,7 81,6 86,8 86,8 94,7 89,5 81,6 92,1 89,5 89,5 92,1 92,1 81,6 92,1 5,3 5,3 18,4 13,2 13,2 5,3 10,5 18,4 7,9 10,5 10,5 7,9 7,9 18,4 7,9 0 20 40 60 80 100 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 Q=Question Song as Medium to Learn Connected Speech YES NO Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 22 assimilation in Adele‟s song “don‟t you remember” pronounce /dəʊnʧə remember/. According to her, learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics is very pleasant, especially for students who do not like learning. ZHR also felt there is progress in her pronunciation and feel a little closed to natives. The second interviewee (EL) stated that she listened English songs every carry out a task till doing the house chores. Around 4 hours more she listened it on Spotify or song compilation on YouTube. She was confident to pronounce English songs because she understood the lyrics and its meaning. She was happy to pronounce English songs because listening is her hobby. She was also conscious to learn the pronunciation of English songs, so she played the song many times, pronounced the lyrics, and check the dictionary if she did not sure about the words. In her opinion, learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics is a good way. The advantage was to help and accustom the tongue to pronounce connected speech. The other word, the difficulty was in pronouncing the unclear words, so it seems hard to play without the song. She was aware that by pronouncing song lyrics she learned connected speech, pronouncing songs helped her to remember the words that used connected speech. She was so happy to learn connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics because she learned through her hobby and it made her far from boredom. One of the easiest processes of connected speech was linking words because it appeared in the lyrics often. An example is “what is it?” Meanwhile, the hardest process is elision because she has not used to delete the words. She told that there is differentiation in her pronunciation after learning connected speech by pronouncing songs because she remembered the words she has learned and her speaking looks more natural like a native. The third interviewee (FRH) told that she listened to songs for about 3-4 hours every day while she doing her assignment. She was confident to imitate singing and she played the song twice or more every day. Even so, she still pronounces the lyrics based on what she heard. Her basic knowledge about the connected speech was just a little bit, she only knew about assimilation and elision. She thought that learning connected speech by song can be done by reading the lyrics so she can see which part the lyrics is contained the process of connected speech. She found difficulty only when she heard the song for the first time. In her opinion, there were advantages to learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics like the tone made her remember the words which use connected speech and it helped her in pronunciation as well. She told that not only learn pronunciation, she aware if she pronouncing English song lyrics, she learned connected speech too. She noticed that lyrics in the song did not pronounce word by word. However, some lyrics were linked and some lyrics were deleted. Same as the second interviewee, the third interviewee told that she is very happy to learn connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics because the lyrics use daily conversation so she knew how to use language in real life. Then, the song usually repeats its lyrics made her remember the vocabulary and how to pronounce it vocab. The main thing was song did not make her get bored quickly. She thought that the easiest type in connected speech is linking words, the type she found the most frequently is intrusion like “do it” will be pronounced “dewit” and the hardest one is elision. She repeat that she was delighted to learn connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics because songs have a tone and rhythm that zeal and its lyrics use casual language which easy to remember. It different from learning from books that used formal language that rarely used in real life. Last, she felt there was significant differentiation after learning pronunciation from songs because previously many words she thought it was correct in fact it was disorder. So her pronunciation right now was better and felt more confident. Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 23 The fourth interviewee (NVT) said that hear the English songs all day long in the morning, afternoon, and night. She was confident to imitate the singer singing if she had remembered the lyrics. She thought that learning connected speech by pronouncing songs was a good way and easy to understand. Then she did not find any difficulty so far. In her opinion, she realized by pronouncing song lyrics she was learning pronunciation too, but she has to read the lyrics well to find if there is connected speech in the lyrics. She felt the easiest process in connected speech type was linking words. Something challenging when learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was too cool to enjoy the song until ignoring the lyrics. Lastly, she felt close to native when she pronounces the English songs. The fifth interviewee (ALA) was listened to English songs all day long. She was confident to pronounce the lyrics if she was alone because she felt little doubt about the pronunciation. She was conscious to learn pronunciation through songs but unconscious if she has been learning connected speech along with it. She added she usually repeats the lyrics that hard to read. All the type of connected speech she ever heard, but assimilation is the most difficult process in connected speech. She was song lover and English learner, so she enjoyed pronouncing song lyric which definitely contain connected speech. She perceived that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics made her speak up and made pronunciation is enhanced. The sixth interviewee (IDH) was listened to English songs every day for more than 5 hours. She was confident to pronounce the lyrics when nobody was around herbecuase her voice was not good enough. She assumed that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was a good way because it can practice her speaking skills and make it smoother. In her opinion, the easiest process in connected speech was intrusion nonetheless assimilation was the hardest one. Occasionally, she played the song many times, so she can remember the connected speech in the lyrics. She thought that she was happy to pronounce song lyrics in the song, she also believed the pronunciation was better and her speaking skills increased. The seventh interviewee (NNS) listened to it almost every day for around 10 songs. She was confident enough to pronounce the lyrics, but she sometimes was confused due to finding differentiation for every singer. She believed learning connected speech by pronouncing songs can improve her pronunciation. She realized that when pronouncing English songs there was connected speech because she always read the lyrics. NNS was happy to pronounce English songs because she was a songs lover so she can learn enjoyably. Pursuant to her, all of the types of connected speech was an easy process. She found all the types in the song lyrics. In the end, she told that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was very helpful and pretty enough. It made her seem close to a native speaker for sure. The eighth interviewee (MRS) said that she was very like to hear English songs because it upgraded her English. She listened to an English song for about 5-6 hours every day. She was happy and confident to pronounce English songs because she read the lyrics so she was sure she can do it. She learned the pronunciation from an English course in 2020 until now. She did know well about connected speech but she knew if the connected speech was used in English songs. In her opinion learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was a very helpful and good way because students especially her almost heard English songs every day and continuously. It also made her to speak fluently without a regional accent. In the other hand, she found little difficulty when she did not recognize the lyrics which used connected speech. It made her tongue twisted but she maintain enjoyment. She thought the easiest type of connected speech was linking words and the hardest one was assimilation. Lastly, she claimed that learning connected speech Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 24 by pronouncing song lyrics was an easy way and made her pronunciation better than before but has not seemed like a native speaker. The ninth interviewee (FZH) told she pretty much like to listening English songs. She always played the trending song before sleeping and on the way. She was pretty confident to pronounce the lyrics moreover she usually memorize the lyrics if she was interested. She had been learning pronunciation such as connected speech in the song consciously because she liked to imitate the rhythm of the singer. She thought that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics helped her to use to hearing the natives speaking. But, she felt hard to use connected speech when the song has the quickness and used unfamiliar vocabulary. The advantage of learning connected speech by pronouncing songs was getting used to hearing natives speaking naturally. By pronouncing song lyrics, she was aware that she learned connected speech. In her opinion, linking words was the easiest type of connected speech, it was also the type that she frequently heard. For example “cup of coffee” will be pronounced linked to each other. While the hardest one was elision. In summary, she said that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was fun because she can learn enjoyably not always learned in a formal way. In addition, she felt that her pronunciation has not seemed like a native speaker but she felt more confident in speaking. The tenth interviewee (QNT) said that she loved to listening English songs very much and listened to it every day. She was confident in pronouncing song lyrics because the student felt like being able for speaking and looked close to natives, even sometimes an Indonesian accent was a slip in it. The subject said that the student was very happy to pronounce English songs. From a student's perspective, when a student was not able to pronounce properly, the student prefers to imitate singing from a song because reading the text was different from its pronunciation. She knew connected speech from English course and phonology class at the university. She said that the most difficult type of connected speech was assimilation because she needed an effort to remember the letter which was similar to the other and the sound was changed. She thought the difficulty of singing English song lyrics that contain connected speech was misinterpreted if she heard songs without script, sometimes there are songs where the bit that was so fast which made some words were eliminated such as „I don‟t care‟ becomes /aiongker/. She suggested that learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics was better to use slow songs for a beginner. In her opinion, learning connected speech from songs was fun and efficient because in a sophisticated era, starting from children to adults can easily access songs, especially now. Many music applications provided song lyrics feature, where they can listen to songs while reading and mimicking the singer. And of course, learning co nnected speech from a song made the learning process easier and more fun because learning connected speech through another way like English speech was too boring, then the vocabulary in a song was more up to date moreover native will speak according to the times. Discussion 1. Basic Knowledge of Connected Speech Entire students know about the connected speech from a phonology subject that they have taken in the third semester, moreover some students have known from other places like the English course. The higher students‟ proficiency level was, the better they could identify the connected speech patterns used in the natural speech flow (Suleiman & Qunayeer, 2020). Most of the subjects also identify connected speech types and their processes. Even they did not know well about it because the material that was delivered in the class is not wide and deep. The researcher also interpreted that the time is limited to Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 25 learn connected speech at length. The student‟s perspective regarding four types of connected speech will be discussed below. a. Assimilation Students' perspective regarding the definition of assimilation were quite good. However, there are still some students who did not familiar with the words process in assimilation. Looking at the findings, assimilation has the lowest number than the other process of connected speech like elision, linking words, and intrusion. In line with the answer of the interviews, students said that assimilation is the most difficult process in connected speech. Matched with the research by Badawi & Elabdeen (2015) that state assimilation of manner is much less noticeable, and is only found in the most rapid and casual speech; generally speaking. For that reason that is make assimilation quite hard in the process likewise include in the lyrics songs process. b. Elision In this type, the student's knowledge is better. Badawi & Elabdeen (2015) also convey that the nature of elision may be stated quite simply: under certain circumstances sounds disappear. They know better than the previous type which is assimilation. Students mostly answer “yes” in the questionnaire that contains the right statements. It means students often hear the elision process so that they can identify words that use the elision process and they can answer correctly. From that figure 3, we can see the number of students who understand about the elision was greater and the blue line that indicates good perspectives shows highest than the other types. c. Linking words The answers in this type are quite varied, we can see a significant difference in S2 and S4. The only blue color in S1 which appeared means that all students knew about the example of a process in linking words. On the other hand, S4 shows that students who have not known and known about that example of linking words are similar. The chart in figure 3 shows the students‟ answers overall. Bakri (2020) proposed that it is a tremendous difficulty finding word boundary situations without information on consonants to link vowels and syllables to repeat. At least two words linked together in connected speech may seem like one word. The findings of the researcher reject the related study before because students' result in the interview show linking words is the easiest process in connected speech. d. Intrusion In general, students' perspective of intrusion are pretty good. They know many example processes of intrusion. Although there are still parts that have not been known well. Lack of awareness of this phenomenon can cost some mental effort to search for items that sound as such in the personal lexicon; while the listener is still looking for ways to segment this phrase, the speaker may be pouring out other words which require deciphering and understanding (Nkongho & Tize, 2021). The answer is actually like the answer in the linking words process, which is variety. Some statements contain examples of intrusion processes are well recognized by the subjects but the other example is students are unfamiliar with them. Besides, students‟ perspective reveal that the most frequent process that appears in the song lyrics is intrusion. Jannah Learning Connected Speech by ……… Jo-ELT (Journal of English Language Teaching) Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris IKIP, June 2022. Vol.9 No.1 | Page 26 2. Song Usage as a Medium to Learn Connected Speech Figure 6 show the whole scheme that most of the students agreed with the statements in the questionnaires regarding learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. It can see from the blue line in the figure that always has a higher number than the orange one. The result of the findings shows that a high number of the students have positive responses toward students‟ perspective on learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics. The researcher‟s assumption in the introduction has been proven by analyzing the students‟ answers in questionnaires and interviews. From students‟ perspective, learning connected speech by pronouncing song lyrics can be an effective and fun way, especially for students who loved to listen to music or songs. Nicoleta Stanculea (2015) stated that songs can be an effective tool for decreasing students' anxiety and stress and also facilitating learning. Pronouncing songs along can help to increase students' confidence in their ability to pronounce words in English. In line with newest research from Alsadae & Sase (2022) that revealed Songs are favourable methods for learning pronunciation. That matter is clearly similar to students‟ answers in questionnaires and interviews. They are confident to pronounce the song lyrics while learning connected speech. The researcher has some hopes for future studies. First, future researchers can conduct the research in this field deeper seeing this kind of study is still a small number. Second, the result of this study can be a source and reference in the research, and the last the lecture perception is better involved in order to see the perspective from another glass. CONCLUSION From the entire description above, it can be concluded that students‟ knowledge about connected speech material is good enough, but some processes of connected speech have not been known well. Students who loved songs and listening to English songs for around 4-6 hours every day have a positive perspective regarding songs as a medium to learn connected speech. They read the lyrics while pronouncing the song, it helps them to learn connected speech in the song lyrics. All students agree if they are happy, enjoy, and confident by pronouncing English songs containing connected speech. By pronouncing the song lyric, the pronunciation of English is easier, better to listen to, and closer to native. In conclusion, it can be said that the problems stated in the introduction such as students' difficulty when listening to the native speaker speaking, bad pronunciation, shame, less fluency, and even no connected speech are tackled. Moreover, they can learn without boredom because they learn in the way they loved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Alhamdulillah, first of all very big thanks to Allah SWT who have been giving me mercies and blessings. 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