Linguistic, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal Volume 3 Nomor 1, Desember 2019 e-ISSN :2597-3819 p-ISSN:2597-9248 DOI : https://doi.org/10.31539/leea.v3i1.998 180 AN ANALYSIS STUDENTS’ VOWEL IN PRONUNCIATION Damitra Paolo Purba 1 Universitas Prima Indonesia Meilia Novianty Bangun 2 Universitas Prima Indonesia Enda Putri Pramana 3 Universitas Prima Indonesia Rudi Martono Jaya Sinaga 4 Universitas Prima Indonesia Sri Ninta Tarigan 5 Universitas Prima Indonesia Damitrapurba04@gmail.com 1 Submit, 30-11-2019 Accepted, 29-12-2019 Publish, 29-12-2019 ABSTRACT This research aimed to find out the pronunciation correctly and incorrectly made by the eighth grade at SMP Swasta Puteri Sion in terms of vowels sound. The method of the research is a case study in the form of qualitative research method. The total samples of this research are 22 students. There are 36 vowels sound which include in the dialogue that will be analyzed by the researcher. The research result showed that 19 words incorrectly pronounced by the students with percentage 53% and 17 words are correctly pronounced by students with percentage 47%. The students could not pronounce the phonetic symbols correctly, they will pronounce well only as long as the words are familiar for them. In this case, the students need to more learn and read about phonetic symbol at the school and outside the school. In relation to this, encourage the students need to more learn and read about phonetic symbol at the school and outside the school by listening English music, reading a English novel and watching English movie to improve their skill in pronunciation. Keyword: pronunciation, vowels INTRODUCTION One of the problems commonly faced by students in learning English is the pronunciation of English words. Sometimes, the students find that it is very difficult to pronounce some words in English. Then, as the writers’ observation in SMP Swasta Puteri Sion, there are 3 types of ethnics students in the school, mailto:Damitrapurba04@gmail.com1 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 181 namely the Bataknese, Karonese, and Javanese. Each of mother tongue here which was used by the students in this case was recognized as speech community. Which caused students’ difficult to pronounce English words. In general, all of students pronounced substituted the speech sounds /ʌ/ and /o/ and /u/ were which should be pronounced /bʌs/ were repeatedly pronounced /bos/ and /bus/. Based on the importance of pronunciation, there are some reason why it is important to be investigated. According Burns (2003), it is more important that speakers of English can achieve intelligibility (the speaker produces sound patterns that are recognizable as English), comprehensibility (the listener is able to understand the meaning of what is said), and interpretability (the listener is able to understand the purpose of what is said). Vowels consist into two kinds there are Simple Vowel dan Diphtong. Simple Vowel divided into two kinds, there are short vowels is a simple (non- complex) vocalic segment occurring within the nucleus of a syllable. and long vowels is vowels associated with two X-slots within the syllabic nucleus. Examples include /i:/ (/hi:d/, heed) and /ɔ:/ (/hɔ:l/, hall). Diphthong is a sound made by combining two There were two previous researchers who have done the research. First Alex Sudrajat (2016) He found which speech sounds that are correctly and not correctly pronounce by student speech community. As the findings, the speech sounds /ɪ/, /ʌ/, /ɑː/, /ə/, /uː/, /ɜː/, /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /n/, /z/, /r/, /ʤ/, and /f/ were not correctly pronounced by Mee subject. Then, speech sounds /eə/, /əʊ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /z/, /ʤ/, /d/, /b/, and /g/ were not correctly pronounced by Javanese subject. Next, there were 43 speech sounds correctly pronounced by Mee subject. In contrast, 43 speech sounds were correctly pronounced by Mee subject and 43 speech sounds from Javanese subject, excluding /ʊə/ which was not found in any Mee subject’s utterance and /ɔɪ/ in Javanese subject and the second Deliana & Hilman (2018) They found kinds of problem made by students in pronouncing English vowels and consonants and to find out the factors why these problem happen/occur. The total percentage of various problem in pronouncing English vowels and consonants is 28,33%. The total percentage of Excellent in pronouncing English short vowel is 85%, the total percentage of Excellent in pronouncing English Long vowel is 76%. The advantage of this research from all the previous studies first, Sudrajat (2016) and second Deliana & Hilman (2018) is the research more specific and detailed because the researcher only focuses on one case (vowel sounds). Because vowel sounds is more difficult to pronounce because vowel sounds consist of various types and consonant sounds easier to pronounce because consonant has not any types to pronounce and also sounds easy in our tongue to be pronounced. 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 182 Based on the background above the researcher is aim to find out the vowel sounds that are not produced correctly and correctly by student based on the dialogue. LITERATURE REVIEW Pronunciation is a way in which in a particular word is pronounce. A good dictionary provides appropriate information on the way how to pronounce every word entered. It helps learners strive to correct pronunciation because pronunciation symbols are shown to guide learners to self/study to pronounce the words to ensure to correct pronunciation, learners are strongly suggested to always consult with the dictionary. Longman dictionary of contemporary English, Cambridge Advanced learner’s dictionary, or Oxford Advanced pronunciation guidelines, pronunciation symbols, practice pronouncing word and practice writing pronunciations and writing words. When speaking, humans produce a series of phonemes that produce certain meanings. Phonemes are the basic unit of language phonology, which are combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. Different sounds produce differences in meaning. Therefore phonemes are groups or sound units that distinguish meaning significantly (Ramelan 1985). Phonemes can be described as "the smallest contrasting linguistic unit that is can result in a change of meaning ". The phoneme is divided into two parts namely Vocal phonemes and Consonant phonemes. In this research, the researcher only focused to discuss about vowel sound of students. In fact, as we have seen, a syllable can consist minimally of one vowel (V) only, as in the word eye (V) ; alternatively, the vowel in a given syllable can also be surrounded on either or both side by consonants (C), as in the words bray (CCV), ants (VCCC), pranks (CCVCCC). Another way of describing vowel is to define them as sounds in which there is continual vibration of the vocal cords and the airstream is allowed to escape from the mouth in an unobstructed manner, without any interruption. Vowels consist into two kinds there are Simple Vowels Simple Vowels divided into two kinds, there are short vowels and long vowels. 1. Short Vowel. Short vowels are vowel sounds pronounced in short form. Here is a picture of the oral cavity for short vowels known as 'trapezium vowels' 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 183 Short Vowel Trapezium 2. Long Vowel. Long vowels are that vocals usually pronounced longer than other vowels (usually around 1½ to twice the length)Here is the trapeziumic vowels for long vowels: Long Vowel Trapezium Diphtongs A diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it starts as one vowel sound and goes to another, examples would be /aʊ/ (house), /əʊ/ (hose) and /aɪ/ (hide) 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 184 Table 1 The words of Vowels and Diphthongs Pronunciation RESEARCH METHOD This research was to find out the students' performance in English pronunciation based on the dialogue. In conducting this research, the design of the research is a case study in the form of qualitative research design. It is aimed at describing the speech sounds which are particularly not correctly pronounced, and the most difficult to be pronounced by students in pronouncing English based on the dialogue. The researcher used some techniques to collect the data by using mobile phone, and observation. Firstly, the researcher gave the dialogue to students. The researcher will use mobile phone to record the voice of students when they are read the dialogue. From the record, the researcher analyzed the students’ problem in pronouncing English vowel by converting the recording into phonetic transcription. The last, the researcher used camera to do observation the condition of the classroom during the research was held. The technique that researcher used to analyze the data are: 1. First, the researcher did observation the school to choose which class will be researched. 2. Second, after the researcher get the class the researcher made some introduction and inform the aim of this research. 3. Third, the researcher gave the dialogue to each of student. Short Vowel Long Vowel Diphthong ə away, ago i: Meet, eat, see eɪ Bait, fade, bay e Pen, ten, cell ɔː Saw, also, call aɪ Buy, hide, bite i Beat ɑː Car, father ɔɪ Boy, void ʌ Cup, come, us u: Food, too aʊ Loud, bout ɒ Not, gone, got ɜ: Bird, sir, shirt oʊ Boat, dough ɪ Hit, bit, lick a: Hard, part, bar ɪə Beard, beer ᴂ Plan, bad, cat ʊɔ Lure, toured ʊ Good, look, put əʊ Go, Note 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 185 4. Fourth, the researcher gave the students’ time to practice the dialogue by themselves. 5. Fifth, after the students finish reading the dialogue, the researcher call the students to practice the dialogue in front of class. 6. Sixth, while the student practicing the dialogue the researcher record their voices by mobile phone. 7. Seventh, after the researcher get the data the researcher analyzed the data with separate into kind of vowels. FINDING Based on the dialogue, the researcher get the students incorrectly and correctly vowels sound and diphthong in pronunciation. The researcher used two instrument to collect the data, the instruments that researcher used were recorder and the dialogue. Table 2 The Data Analysis of The Dialogue Word True False Hi /haɪ/ /hɪ/ Where /weə(r)/ /wɪr/ Are /ə(r)/ /er/ You /ju:/ On /ɒn/ The /ðǝ/ Bus /bʌs/ /bɔs/ /bʊs/ /baɪs/ Going /gəʊɪŋ/ To /tə/ And /ənd/ With /wɪð/ /wet/ /waɪt/ Telling /telɪŋ/ /tɪlɪŋ/ Me /mi:/ About /ə’baʊt/ /ʌbot/ /ɔbot/ɔboʊt/ Her /hɜ:(r)/ /hɪr/ /her/ Favorite /’feɪvərɪt/ /fɔrit/ /pʌvorit/ In /ɪn/ Sitting /’sɪtɪŋ/ /stɪŋ/ Us /ʌs/ /ʊs/ He /hi:/ She /ʃi:/ 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 186 Busy /’bɪzi/ /bʌsi/ /bʊsi/ /baɪs/ /pʊsi/ His /hɪz/ Notebook /nəʊtbʊk/ Writing /’raɪtɪŋ/ /wretɪŋ/ /writɪŋ/ /wertɪŋ/ /waɪɪŋ/ Report /rɪ’pɔːt/ /repot/ repɑr/ Do /du:/ Need /ni:d/ /net/ Something /’sʌmθɪŋ/ /smetɪŋ/ /sɑmitɪŋ/ /smɪtɪŋ/ /sɔmɔtɪŋ/ No /nəʊ/ Thanks /θæŋks/ Have / hǝv;/ Fun /fʌn/ /fʊn/ /faɪn/ /font/ Waiting /weɪtɪŋ/ /wɪtiɪŋ/ /waɪtiɪŋ/ For /fǝ(r)/ See /si:/ /si/ Bye /baɪ/ After analysis the data, the researcher found what are not correctly and correctly vowels sound from the dialogue. There are 36 vowels sound which include in the dialogue that will be analyzed by the researcher. There are 19 words incorrectly pronounced by the students with percentage 53% and 17 words are correctly pronounced by students with percentage 47%. The students pronunciation correctly and incorrectly in vowels sound appropriate to their lack of understanding in phonetic symbols. Furthermore when students able to pronounce the words correctly were because the words familiar enough with them. DISCUSSION Some participants who pronounce /spɔːns/ could refer to /ɔː/ as in floor /flɔː/ due to the similar combination letter of oo. The vowel /ɔː/ in the word floor is exactly formed of 3 combination letter oor (Nur, 2016). According O’Connor (1980) in Better English there must be differences between the vowels and vowels consist into two kinds, there are simple vowels and diphthong. The difficulty that might make us confused is that you will pronounce /i:/ with /ɪ/, so be sure that /ɪ/ is nearer in quality to /e/ and that it is always shorter than /i:/. And when we want to know the differences between those words, we have to understand about phonemes because phonemes are the basic unit of language phonology, which are combined with other phonemes to form 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 187 meaningful units such as words or morphemes. Different sounds produce differences in meaning. Therefore phonemes are groups or sound units that distinguish meaning significantly (Ramelan 1985). The incorrectly short vowels that the students made in word “bus” in phonetic /bʌs/ the students pronounced the phonetic /bɔs/ /bʊs/ /baɪs/ was because they do not understand about phonetic symbols and never get the subject about phonetic of their school. The incorrectly long vowels that the students made in word “see” in phonetic /si:/ the students pronounced the phonetic /si/ was because they do not understand the function of phonetic symbols. The correctly short vowels that students made in vowel /ɒn/ sound of the word “on” was because The word is familiar for the students. The correctly long vowels that students made in vowel /hi:/ sound of the word “he”. The next sound system is diphthongs. There is no incorrectly pronounced of diphthong sound because the diphthong sound on the dialogue are familiar for the students such us; /gəʊɪŋ/ sound of the word “going”, /nəʊtbʊk/ sound of the word “notebook”, /θæŋks/ sound of the word “thanks”. In fact, the students could not pronounce the phonetic symbols correctly, they will pronounce well only as long as the words are familiar for them. In this case, the students need to more learn and read about phonetic symbol at the school and outside the school. CONCLUSION Based on the data the researcher find that the students still lack in pronounce vowel correctly because the students had never learn about phonetic symbols, the students lack of practice English and the students had no interested to learn English. The last, the sounds vowel was correctly pronounced by the students were not because they understand but the words are familiar to pronounce for the students. REFERENCES Burns (2003), Clearly speaking: pronunciation in action for teachers, in Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquaire University. Hilman, P. & Deliana, S. (2018)., Error Analysis Of Students ’ Pronunciation in Pronouncing English Vowels And Consonants, J. Linguist. Lit., 4(3), 1–38 Nur, K., L (2017), An analysis of english pronunciation based on Student speech community at English Education study program, State Islamic Institut of Surakarta 2019. Linguistics, English Education and Art (LEEA) Journal 3 (1):180-188 188 O’Connor (1980), Better English O’Connor, 2 ed. Cambridge. Oxford University Press, Oxford Dictionary, 4ed. 2008 Ramelan (1985)., English Phonetics. Semarang: IKIP Semarang Press Sudrajat. A. (2016), An analysis of english pronunciation based on Student speech community at English Education study program, University Of Lampung. .