1
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter provides the introduction of the research. It consists of six parts. The first part is research background. It deals with the explanation of the
underlying reasons of choosing verb stress as the topic of the research. The second part is research problem. In this part, it can be seen the research questions of this
research. The third part is problem limitation. It limits the scope of the research related to the research questions which have been formulated. The fourth part
presents the research objectives. This part answers the research questions of this research. The fifth part is research benefits, which explains the benefits and the
contributions of the research for people or parties which have relationship with the topic. The last part of this chapter is definition of terms. In this part, there are
definitions and explanations given for some terms which are important to understand this research.
A. Research Background
Students of the English Language Education Study Program ELESP are expected to have four skills of English proficiencies; they are Listening, Speaking,
Reading, and Writing. These four skills are very important for communicating with other people, especially for conducting a teaching learning process with their
future students. The teacher candidates have to be able to not only recognize English language, but also produce a good English language because they have to
be good models of English speakers for the students.
2 One of the productive skills that should be mastered well by ELESP
students is speaking skill. According to Brown 2004, speaking and listening are skills that have close relationship. Speaking is a productive skill in which the
product of someone’s language can be seen and heard clearly by other people. People’s mastery on language can be seen directly from their speech. In writing,
the errors are more on grammar and the choice of words, while in speaking there are more aspects to focus, such as the expression, body language, and intonation.
In acquiring speaking skill, ELESP students have obtained many theories and they have been given chances to practice their speaking skills. Based on the
2006 curriculum, speaking courses are given at the first five semesters of studying at English Language Education Study Program. An important aspect of acquiring
speaking skill is the mastery of pronouncing English words correctly. Pronunciation courses are given to ELESP students in the first two semesters in
the beginning of the study. According to Prasetyo, Herawati, Prihatin, Budiraharjo and Adji 2007, there are many aspects of English pronunciation which are
taught during the course, such as stress, rhythm, and intonation of words p.73. Although the students have obtained what they need to be a good English
speaker, the errors in their speeches are still visible. The most common error they do is in stressing words. Non-native speakers have a tendency not to pay attention
to the word stress as long as they choose the right words to express their intention. However, errors in stressing English words can give a different meaning. For
example, the stress of the word desert as a noun should be given on the penultimate syllable DESSert
dez t. When the speaker gives the stress on
3 the ultimate syllable, it changes the meaning into dessert dessERT
dɪ zɜ:t,
which is also a noun. Their meanings are very different. Desert means an arid land with little or no vegetation, while dessert means a dish served as the last course of
the meal. Besides, putting the stress on the ultimate syllable causes the change of the part of speech into verb. Desert desERT
dɪ zɜ:t is a verb which means
run away or leave behind. There is also deserts which means getting what you deserve and functions as plural noun. This word obtains stress on the ultimate
syllable and is pronounced as dɪ zɜ
:
ts. Another common error is pronouncing some words which have two parts of speech. Present as a noun has a stress in the
penultimate syllable, so it becomes prez nt. While present as a verb has the
stress in the ultimate syllable and is pronounced as prɪ zent.
As teacher candidates, English Language Education Study Program students should know how to pronounce a word correctly, including to place
where the stress is. Some mispronounced words will be very dangerous, especially when they are teaching their future students since teacher is the role
model for the students. Instead of placing the stress on the penultimate syllable of the word dɪ
vel p, many students still pronounce it as dev lɒp. Later on, when they are teaching, that kind of error could lead their students astray.
A good mastery of word stress will also be helpful for English as Foreign Language EFL students to listen to what a native speaker is saying. It helps them
to understand English words in spoken form easier. When students have to listen to a native speaker who is speaking fast, they still can catch the words said by the
speaker by listening to the stress given to the words. For example, during his
4 speech, the speaker says the word photograph, but the students are confused
whether they hear the word photograph or photographer. By listening to where the stress is given to those words, students can know what word the speaker said.
The stress of the word photograph is given in the antepenultimate syllable f ʊt ..., while the stress of the word photographer is given in the penultimate
syllable f tɒ....
Not all English words should have a stress. Stress is given only for content words. Content words are verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. This research
focuses on observing students’ problem in placing stress for English verbs. Verb is chosen because the existence of the verb in a sentence is very important. A
good sentence must have a subject and a verb, so the use of verb is easily found in a speech.
The participants of this research are Sociolinguistic class students. In this class, the students have to make presentations about certain topics. Since they are
in the sixth semester of the ELESP, it is assumed that they have been fluent in English because they have learned all the theories and even they have practiced
how to pronounce English words well, how to put the stress of the words, or how to put the words correctly into a sentence. They must have a good speaking ability
because they have to be a good model for their future students. However, there are some errors which are done by those teacher candidates in their presentations,
especially in placing the stress of the words. That problem encourages the researcher to conduct a research to know problems which are still encountered by
5 the sixth semester students of the English Language Education Study Program and
what the causes of the problems are.
B. Research Problem
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