Rahmatika.... 119 Creation is distributed under the Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Published in: http://ejournal.stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id/index.php/smart Jurnal SMART : Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. THE EFFECT OF USING ANDROID APPLICATION IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION Rahmatika Kayyis1), Novita Eka Tristiana2), Hardono3) 1) 2) STKIP Muhammadiyah Pringsewu Lampung 1) email: kayyis@stkipmrpingsewu.ac.id 2) email: novita@stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id 3)email: hardonoaisyah2009@gmail.com Abstract The research aim was to know the effect of English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English™ toward the students’ pronunciation. This study is pre-experimental design. The sample was 35 students from English for Nurse 1 class of STIKes Aisyah Pringsewu. Instrument used to test the competencies is using 126 words from the minimal pairs poem entitled “English is Tough Stuff”. It had progress based on the data that the χ ̅ of correct words in pretest, 40.35, it is increasing in post-test, χ ̅ 116. It is suggested that the application should be developed into the type that brings various benefit. Keywords: Articulation, Application, Technology 1. INTRODUCTION One of the important roles in communication is Pronunciation. The fact that pronouncing words in English should distinct the features between what it is written and pronounced become such a burden for students in Indonesia as EFL learners. Demirezen (2010) states that fundamental problems are mispronunciation and bad intonation in the nonnative teachers of English in underdeveloped countries, due to lack of materials, inadequate model teachers, and soon. Why miss pronunciation and bad intonation are very important to be fixed? Because if the sound produced by EFL learners different from what it should be it can cause misunderstanding and misconception. As a lecturer in teaching pronunciation for over 5 years, this case always happens in my class for students somehow they are really confused to differentiate the word bad, bath, bat, Jurnal SMART , Volume 5, No 2 (2019), Page. 119- 127 ISSN Cetak : 2356-2048 ISSN Online : 2356-203X DOI: 10.26638/js.950.203X mailto:kayyis@stkipmrpingsewu.ac.id mailto:novita@stkipmpringsewu-lpg.ac.id The effect of using....... 120 so they are likely to pronounce in the same way. As in my previous study Kayyis (2018) entitled Diversity in Races and its Contribution to English Phonological Error which states that the influence of mother tongue has the power to influence the intonation of English language. Moreover, an appropriate technique should be discovered by lecturers otherwise students will find it difficult to fix the problems. It is also stated in Agusalim et al (2014) more exposure and intensity of pronunciation training are needed to deal with this problem. Hence, by essentially adding the explicit meeting for students pronunciation class or including additionally span in the class wont possible as the distributed time for the instructing and learning procedure has been given to the next topics set by the curriculum board. However, Otlowski (1998) states that the relationship between teaching pronunciation in the classroom and acquiring pronunciation abilities that pronunciation in the classroom had little impact on the pronunciation abilities of the learner and precise pronunciation as the second language is a matter largely beyond the control of the teacher. One of the ways that possibly can be a supportive technique to be implemented in the class is android application. As we know the millennial generation in Indonesia today always brings their gadget or android everywhere and every time. It could be an effective way to utilize their gadget as learning media. As mentioned in Suhartono, D. & et al. (2013), therefore it is reasonable that from mobile pronunciation application enable customers to know English pronunciation and enhance their capacity without having to take part in a particular English pronunciation class where they need to provide and spend unique time and location. Mobile apps such those operating on Android and iOs are popular with many consumers. Suchato, et al (2011), Sharma, P. (2012). In the previous research by Macedo Dekaney, E. (2003) studied the impact on the phonetic and pronunciation of English words of computerized versus classroom instruction. He urged the next scientist to create computerized pronunciation teaching lesson and drilling test because pronunciation teaching needs audio support. Therefore, using computerized training is the best way he suggested to improve pronunciation capacity of EFL or ESL students. Applying appropriate application on Android like English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English™ is believed helping lecturers to teach pronunciation and also help the students to fix their problems in pronunciation. Rahmatika.... 121 Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English™ toward the students’ pronunciation. 2. RESEARCH METHOD This study has been conducted categorized a single-group pre-test-post- test design as a pre-experimental design. Creswell (2014) states that the development of single group pretest-posttest design includes a pre-test measure accompanied by therapy and a single group post-test. The main objective of this study is to assess and measure the efficacy of android applications, namely English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English™ from NIDO, toward the students’ English pronunciation. The participants consisting of 35 students of nursing students program of STIKes AisyahPringsewu Lampung were included in the class of English for Nurse 1 class. The 35 students of a nursing program who taken English for Nurse 1 subject. At the first meeting, the researcher conducted an interview with students about the target needs of materials to be learned during one semester. The answer is 75% of students wanted to fix their pronunciation in English, 20% of students also wanted to fix both of intonation and pronunciation, and the third is they wanted to learn speaking English as fast as speaking the Indonesian language. About their needs, they have one perception that they want to learn the material using media or technology not only using the manual book because they wanted to listen to the sounds from a native speaker. They have never learned pronunciation specifically before. The data were gathered from them, the tool examines the pronunciation skills of the respondents on certain difficult words. Here the researcher used eighteen lines or 126 words of the minimal pairs poem entitled “English is Tough Stuff” apparently excerpted from The Chaos by Gerard NolstTrenité taken from https://xavierleroy.org Table 1. Commonly Mispronounced Words in Pre-Test 1. Creation Suzy Beard Retain Devoid Balmoral 2. Dearest Horse Compare Sword Ague Exiles Scene 3. Creature Worse Heart Sward Break Similes Melpomene 4. Verse Heat Dies Plague Measles Laurel 5. Corpse Tear Diet Plaque Aisles Gertrude https://xavierleroy.org/ The effect of using....... 122 The research instrument for this study was using eighteen lines or 126 words of the minimal pairs poem entitled “English is Tough Stuff” apparently excerpted from at the beginning of the term, Gerard NolstTrenite chaos was conducted to determine the problem in detail, pre-test, and post-test. This instrument was chosen based on the consideration that this poem is a minimal pair that is frequently misrepresented by non-native English-speaking students. The implementation of teaching pronunciation using android apps, namely English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English ™ (NIDO Ltd.) has been applied for nine weeks. During the research, the researcher shared the minimal pairs of the same poem with different lines. The students are required to work in pair and read each word and consult the correctness of pronunciation to the English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English ™ apps. Each student in pair checking the pronunciation to each other, sometimes it happens twice or more in order that they can verify the pronunciation. Each student subsequently conducted to read the lines before the others. The other students were anticipated to concrete on pronunciation when performing. At the end of the phase, the same toll used as a pre-test was also used as a post-test to verify the activity’s impact. Furthermore, during the studies, the investigator surveyed their views. Table 2.Design of the Research Participants Pretest Process Posttest Interview Students in English for Nurse 1 STIKesAis yahPringse wu Lampung (N) 35 Applicatio n of the test using the instrument s poem entitled “English is Tough Stuff” apparently excerpted from The Chaos by Gerard NolstTreni té The impleme ntation of teaching learning pronunci ation using aid of android apps namely English Pronunci ation™ Checking the effect of using the android apps toward their pronunci ation ability. In this case using the same instrume nts as it was used in pretest. Getting the feedback and response from the participan ts. http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vangogh/555/Spell/chaos.html http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vangogh/555/Spell/chaos.html http://victorian.fortunecity.com/vangogh/555/Spell/chaos.html Rahmatika.... 123 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION After eight weeks of the implementation using the English Pronunciation: Speak/ Pronounce English ™ by NIDO in the class, it should be stopped in the week of 10th. The researcher then conducted the posttest to the students. The result compared to the pretest in order to see the effect on their pronunciation. The result of comparing the result from pre-test and post-test shows that the students had progress it is based on the data that the χ ̅ of correct words of a posttest (40.35) and it is getting higher in the posttest, χ ̅ 116. Table 3. The Average of the pretest and posttest results PRETEST POSTTEST χ ̅ % χ ̅ % Correct 40.35 32 116 92 Incorrect 85.0 67.5 9.8 8 Total (N) 126 100 126 100 While there are several results of the interviewed that translated into the English Language. Those result of interviewed related to positive comments about the application. “Ma'am, I never thought that my gadget can be so useful for learning English.” (Student A) “At the first time, I thought I never can learn to speak English well, Ma’am. Because as you know my Javanese accent is so strong and it seems that I speak every language in spite of English so “medok”, But because ofthis application I can really know what the sound should be like.” (Student C) “When you are not really sure what is the correct sound of the words. Just type the words on that application and just simply listen to it and practice it.” (Student F) The effect of using....... 124 “You know, as long as I learn English this time I really feel that I can do this. Even, the teaching-learning process ended. I can still learn and practice in my boarding house. It is all because of everything that I need is on the gadget.” (Student G) “There are two functions of the app: Pronunciation guide and practice words to speak. You can choose practice words to speak to know the pronunciation of the words.” (Student H) Here also the result of the interview which states about the difficulties of using application. “ Only two functions ma’am, no exercise of pronunciation that we can use to improve our ability. But, knowing the right pronunciation is better ma’am.” (Student J) From those interviews, it can be indicated that by giving the students exposure to sufficient auditory in learning pronunciation can increase their interest and motivation in trying to be native speaker look alike pronunciation. Somehow, although the teacher or lecturer they had during learning English is mastering English, their pronunciation that they had sometimes containing error and mistake that can lead the students to do the same error and mistakes. In this case, Elliot (1995) states that educators tend to regard pronunciation as the most useless of basic language abilities and therefore usually sacrifice pronunciation to spend precious class time in other language areas. By listening to the native speaker pronunciation, they really find that it is comprehensive. As stated in Harmer (2007) listening as a comprehensible input instrument. The input given is understandable, foreign language students will gradually obtain more words and higher schematic understanding that will, in turn, solve many language problems they have began with. The provided input is important because by exposing the students to the target language, the students can get the comprehensible input as mentioned in Ellis (1990). Some obstacles also found during the research, realizing that students as the participants in this research were never learned pronunciation specifically and Rahmatika.... 125 did not have experience in learning phonetic before. It becomes an obstacle; it was difficult for them to distinguish right from wrong. In addition, they indicated mostly that they did not need to know pronunciation to pass a amount of standardized tests intended by state officials. By asking the students to perform their pronunciation individually in front of the class, the class sometime becomes so stressful for them. The atmosphere of the class becomes so tense just like in the examination class. English is basically different from the Indonesian language, so it makes students really hard to differentiate the minimal pair s sound in the poem line. Some of the students felt that the words “word” and “sword” are the same. However, it needs the researcher who slowing down the voice to pronounce it in order that the students can know the difference. “Ma’am, I already repeated the pronunciation on this apps several times. However still, I don’t know the difference! It’s hard the apps could not slow down the voice so I can hear it.” (Student L) Even, to wash away the ignite accent from the pronunciation is so hard task for them. “I knew the sound Ma’am, but the way to move my tongue and lips to produce its sound such a different thing.”(Student G) “My expectation that this app could share videos that show how to move the mouth to produce the sounds. Still, my accent still likes the Javanese language.”(Student K) In brief, the comments and opinion from the students described the positive comments and negative comments about the apps. Thus negative comments are not because the apps are not good, but should be improved in the next type. The effect of using....... 126 4. CONCLUSION The aim of this research is to assess student pronunciation before and after using the application of android to verify their pronunciation. It can be inferred that from the result of pretest and posttest also from the result of the interview of the students, the application can give the benefit to the students. However, still, the application should be developed into the type that brings various items for the users such as the slowing down sounds, the video of pronunciation, and the phonetic including its sound. Furthermore, the researcher also suggests that the use of technology in teaching and learning process should be more often used by teacher or lecturers especially for using the technology of Android or Apple in the class. It is because, from those platforms and application, the students can be exposed to the authentic voices of a native speaker. 5. REFERENCES Agusalim, I. D., Assidiqi MH, Kom A, Muhammad AF. (2014). Developing Mobile Application of Interactive English Pronunciation Training to Improve EFL Students Pronunciation Skill. Journal of Education and Practice.Vol 5 No. 33. Creswell John.W. (2014). Penelitian Kualitatif& Desain Riset. Yogyakarta: PustakaPelajar. Demirezen M. (2010). The principles and applications of the audio-lingual pronunciation rehabilitation model in foreign language teacher education. Journal of Language and Linguistics. Vol. 6 No. 2. Elliott AR. (1995). Foreign language phonology: Field independence, attitude, and success of formal instruction in Spanish pronunciation. The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 79 No. 4. Ellis R.(1990). Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Harmer J. (2007). How to Teach English. London. Pearson Longman. Kayyis, R. (2018). The Diversity and Its Contribution to Phonological Error. SMART Journal, Vol 3.No. 2. Macedo Dekaney, Elisa. (2003). 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