CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A.

Background of the Study Most people in the world are bilingual it mean that they use two languages as a tool of communication. Indonesian, for example, use Indonesian language to communicate among clans meanwhile their regional language such as Batakness, Lampungness, Padangness, are used in their family or clan. In globalization era, English plays a very important role. It is understandable because almost all countries in the world use English as their communicative language of one country to other countries. Moreover, most books of science and technology are written in English. It seem that English has become a science and technology language. Consequently, to absorb science and technology thei must first master English well. It is supported by Mackey Mountford who mention that the role of English is associated with particular uses of English to extract information, to interpret areas of specialist knowledge.1 Hance, English becomes an urgent need to be taught in every country. In Indonesia where English in regarded as the first foreign language, it becomes a compulsory subject for Junior High School up to university level students. Therefore, English is not used for daily communication and social interaction. Wilkins state that a foreign language is one in which the target language is not the other tongue of any groups within the country where is being learned and has any internal communication
Mackey, Teaching the Information-Gathering Language ,Rowley Mass, New York, 1979, p. 5
1

Skills

in

Reading

in

Second

either.2 It means that the english students little the use their English in real-life situation. Today, in globalization era English is very important. because all of the people in the world use English for communication to the people in countries. Although, based on 2004 curriculum English was learned by students at the elementary school as a local subject. There are two reasons why Indonesian goverment allows elementary school to teach English to their student. The reasons are follow: 1. Many parents send their children to attend English course, especially

english for children. 2. It is assumed that teaching English in elementary school will create a

positive attitude toward English that can change the negative image of English as a difficult subject and able to develop student basic language skill so that the graduate student of senior high school will have a better English competency. It means that English is very important to teach to the students early. because they will have more vocabulary and good pronounciation. As we know that the vocabulary is a center language to support their skill. Based on guide line in 2004 curriculum of SMK, in English learning the students are expected to be able to apply their knowledge in writing and spoken form of English.3 But in the real classroom their skill are still low, especially in speaking. Talking about speaking, it is important to deal with pronunciation. Table 1
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Wilkins,National Syllabuses, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976, p. 153 Document Curriculum of SMK, 2004

The Students Error in Pronunciation in Speaking No Students Code Frequency of Error 1 A 9 2 B 6 3 C 8 4 D 6 5 E 6 6 F 11 7 G 7 8 H 5 9 I 3 10 J 10 11 K 8 12 L 11 13 M 4 14 N 6 15 O 7 16 P 23 17 Q 7 18 R 6 19 S 5 20 T 7 Source: Pra survey, February 9 2009 % of error 20,45 % 13,33 % 18,18 % 13,63 % 13,64 % 25 % 25 % 11,36 % 6,82 % 22,72 % 28,57 % 24,44 % 11,76 % 28,07 % 20,58 % 52,27% 25 % 13,33 % 17,85 % 15,55 %

Further, a consideration of learners pronunciation errors and how these can inhibit succes for communication is useful basic on which to asses why it is important to deal with pronunciation. When learners say,for example, soap in a situation such as a restaurant where they should have said soup, the inacurrate production of phoneme can lead to misunderstanding. A learners who consistenly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremly difficult for a speaker from another language community to understand. In generally, good pronunciation does not just mean saying individual words or even individual sound correctly. The sounds of words change when they come into

contact with each other. It is supported by Kelly who states that innacurate use of suprasegmental elements, such as stress or intonation, can also cause problems. 4 but Jones states that a dialect are, it is suggested neither good or bad intrinsically, they are adequate for communication with other speaking the same dialect, unless he mumbles his words. It means that making mistakes is acceptable. Brown states that human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes. 5 On the other human lives in imperfect world and consequently errors will occur in spite of their best efforts. English and Indonesia language are different and it may cause the student to make error. These include differences in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and so on. English teacher are expected to be aware of the differences so that they can use proper methods in teaching English. Error take place when the linguistic system has not been mastered, that is failure to utilize a system correctly. Tarigan states that errors are caused by

competency. It means that students have not comprehended the linguistic system used.6 Chomsky in Brown states that errors result from lack of knowledge of rules of the language.7 So, when people produce a speech or written form incorrectly and they do not know the correct one, it can be said that they made an error. Although, making error is fundamental process in learning, teacher should pay attention to this in order to
Kelly, Gerald, How To Teach Pronunciation, Longman, Malaysia, 2003, p. 14 Brown D.H, Principle of Language Learning And Teaching, Prentice Hall Inc, New Jersey, 1987, p.67 6 Tarigan, Guntur Henry., Berbicara Sebagai Suatu Ketrampilan Berbahasa, Angkasa, Bandung, 1988, p. 7 Brown D.H, Principle of Language Learning And Teaching, Prentice Hall Inc, New Jersey, 1987, p.
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gives corrections and explanations of the errors to the students. It means that we can get some advantages of error analysis as follow: 1. 2. Errors tell the teacher how well the learners know the language. Errors provide evidences of how a person acquires or learns a

language. 3. Errors can be used by the learners to learn.

Students errors can be useful as a feedback for the teaching learning process. It can be used as a source of information for the teachers to analyze the students error, so that the teacher can guide the student to minimize errors. Because of the importance of error analysis in improving language teaching and learning, the write decides to choose the title of the research as follow: A Study of the Students Pronunciation Errors in Speaking at the Second Semester at the Tenth Grade (AP)of SMK Muhammadiyah I Metro in the Academic Year 2009/2010. B. Problem Identification Based on the preliminary research and explanation of the background of the problem and also the title, the writer identifies the problem, as follows: 1. The students still get difficulties, to pronounce English word in their

speaking correctly. 2. The students still make errors in using correct pronunciation in their

speaking when they are speaking English. 3. The students mother tongue influence them in acquiring foreign

language, especially in speaking.

C. Problem Limitation To avoid misunderstanding in this research the writer would like to focus this research as follows: 1. Characteristic : Quantitative in the form descriptive research 2. School 3. Subject 4. Object 5. Time : SMK Muhammadiyah I Metro : The students in the second semester of the tenth grade (AP) : A study of the students pronunciation errors in speaking : Odd semester in the academic year of 2009/2010

D. Problem Formulation By considering the identification of the problem and limitation of the problem above, the writer formulates the problem as follows: 1. What kinds of pronunciation errors do the students make in their

speaking? 2. What are the sources of the students errors in pronuncing English words

in their speaking?

E. Objective and Benefit of the Study 1. a. speaking. Objectives of the Study To find out the students errors pronunciation in pronunciation

b. speaking.

To know the sources of the students pronunciation errors in

2. Benefits of the Study a. For the teacher

The teacher is expected to be able to minimize the students pronunciation errors in speaking in the class. b. For the students

The result of this research can be used to know the improvement of the students for using the correct pronunciation in their speaking. c. For SMK Muhammadiyah I Metro

The writer hopes the result of this research can be used as information to improve English learning in the future.