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The second category was the students‟ difficulties in learning pronunciation. The teacher mentioned that the common problem faced by
students in learning pronunciation was caused by the influence of students‟ mother tongue that made them difficult in imitating the pronunciation of
English properly. By this condition, the teacher has tried some techniques to improve the students‟ pronunciation in teaching learning activity. The usual
technique was by reading aloud. Teacher often asks some students to read aloud the text or reading passage. This activity aims to make the students‟
tongue being smoothly in pronounce the English word. But, some students still pronounce the word incorrectly. They still pronounce the English word in
their native language dialect. Based on this condition, the writer advised the teacher to use the minimal pair drill in
improving students‟ pronunciation. At began; the teacher asked the writer how to use this technique. Yet, at last, the
teacher agreed to use it in teaching learning activity after she had completely explanation from the writer.
2. The Finding of Pre Observation
Pre observation was conducted to observe the process of teaching learning in pronunciation activity before implementing the action. It was
held on at VII 3 of SMPN 66 Jakarta academic year 20092010. The observation was conducted on February the 8th and 24
th
2010. It was started at 07.10 A.M and finished at 08.40 A.M. In general, teacher‟s role was as a
guide. Here are some steps that the teacher did. First, she stimulated the
students‟ brainstorming by some related question with the topic that would be discussed contextually. Second, she read the passage loudly while the
students listened to her. This activity was for teaching the students how to read the words in the passage correctly. Next, she asked the students reading
aloud the passage together and then per line-seat, after that one by one max.3 students. Reading aloud drill was dominantly acted. After it was
done, she asked students about the meaning of the difficult words that the
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students found. After that, she asked students to pronounce those words. Furthermore, she asked the students to answer the questions based on the
passage in written and oral. Then, when the students wrote down their answers in their workbook, some of them were asked to write down their
answe r on the whiteboard. Next, the students corrected their friends‟ answer
on the whiteboard while they checked their answers whether it corrected or not. During teaching learning activity, teacher didn‟t explain the materials in
detail. Reading drill was enhanced. In the last session, the teacher concluded the material and did reflection. Moreover, she gave the students tasks or
homework.
3. The Finding of Pre-Test
As the writer discussed previously, she used the terminology “pre-
test ” to name the test that is done before the CAR. Pre-test was conducted
on Tuesday, June 1
st
, 2010. There were 10 pairs of words that should be pronounced correctly by the students.
Based on the result of pre-test which was done at VII 3 SMPN 66, the sample was 39 students; the data showed that the mean of pre-test was
68.21. The highest score was 90, held by only two students, and the lowest achievement gained score was 45, it is also held by two students.
B. The Implementation of CAR 1. Action Research Cycle One
a. Plan
In this case, the writer and the teacher planed the activity that helps to solve the students‟ problem in pronunciation. The writer and the
teacher selected the proper material based on the syllabus and arranged it into lesson plan. In the lesson plan, the writer and the teacher discussed
the activities related to the pronunciation involvement. On the other hand, the writer prepared the observation sheet to record the activities during
teaching learning process. Then, the writer also prepared the post test 1 as
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an instrument to measure the students‟ achievement and it was also as a
data collecting.
b. Action and Observation
The action and observation was conducted at class VII.3 SMPN 66 Jakarta on June 2
th
and 4
th
2010. Here, the writer observed the teacher that was implementing minimal pair drills to improve the
students‟ pronunciation. Then
, the writer also noticed the students‟ activities during teaching learning process.
1. Action
In her action to apply the minimal pair technique in regarding the impro
vement of students‟ pronunciation, the teacher does some steps. Firstly, she distributed the handouts to the students; those
included the materials, the practice, and the exercises. I n the students‟
handout, there was a cloze dialogue and the students filled the blank of the dialogue with the words or phrases in the box appropriately.
While the students worked it, the teacher gave her attention to the students; she walked around the class and
checked the students‟ behavior in doing their work. The students who
didn‟t understand about the exercises, they asked the teacher.
After the students finished their work, the teacher asked the students to write down their answers on the whiteboard while the
other students corrected their classmate ‟s answer and matched their
answers with the correct one. Furthermore, the students read aloud the dialog together by teachers‟ guidance. Then, the students read the
dialog in pair. After they finished it, the teacher introduced them the phonemic chart at a glance. This activity was involved to introduce the
students about the English sounds and to differentiate the contrastive sound between English and their native language.
