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there would be memorizing of information or skill and behavior changes within the learner.
B. Teaching English Pronunciation
Using language to communicate should be a central in all class room
language instruction . According to Rita Wong “Teaching English pronunciation is
not exclusively a linguistic matter”, Wong, 1986: 17. The teacher needs to take into consideration such factors as our
learner’s age, exposure, type of pronoun instruction, toward the target language and their motivation to achieve intelligible
speech pattern in the second language. In other way, in Longman Active Study Dictionary, there are two
definitions of pronunciation: “the way that a language or world is pronounced; the way someone pronounces a word or words. Longman, 1998: 685
John C. Almack and E. H. Staffelbach state that children learn English pronunciation in three ways:
1. Through the imitation of a correct model.
2. Through to use the dictionary.
3. Through the application of a general rule or phonetics. Almack and
Staffelbach, 1993: 273
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Meanwhile, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary has applied a meaning for pronunciation as “the way in which a word is spoken; the way in word which
is pronounced; the way a person speaks the words of a language” Oxford, 1995: 928
The most important way to teach pronunciation to the children is by using the imitation of correct model. In this way, the students are more able to
pronounce the English words and the teacher can know how far the ability of the students in pronouncing the English words.
Mastering pronunciation is very important in foreign language learning. It is not to say that students should sound exactly like Native Speaker. However, it is
obvious that students should pronounce the English words correctly to smooth the communication.
C. Teaching English for Young Learner
Young learners are students of kindergarten at the age of five or six years old to eleven or twelve years old. In these ages, their physical and mental
developments grow fast. They are interested in knowing more about everything new in their surrounding.
Young learners are “Children from the first year of formal schooling five or six years old to eleven or twelve years of age” Philips, 1996: 5. English
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young learners are the children who learn English from five or six to eleven or twelve. The children are learning in the elementary school.
Teaching English as a second language is entirely different from teaching the same material to adult.
“Children do not always understand what children are talking about. Adults do not always understand what chi
ldren are talking about” Wendy A. and Ytreberg, 1998: 3.
From the statements above, it means that the teacher should understand and pay attention to the students
in order to know how the students’ condition are, to
find out how to increase the students’ motivation in learning English, and to know how to make them interested in learning English.
According to Scott, there are some characteristics of young learners that must be learnt by the teacher:
1. They understand situations more quickly than they understand the
language level. 2.
Their own understanding comes through their hands, eyes and ears. 3.
They have a relatively short attention and concentration span. 4.
They are often happy playing and working alone. 5.
They are enthusiastic and positive about learning. Scott, 1998: 2
Young learners are very interested in knowing about something new in their surrounding. They like learning something new that they consider strange
and make them enjoyable.
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10
CHAPTER III DISCUSSION
A. SD Islam Sunan Kalijaga Surakarta
1. Description of SD Islam Sunan Kalijaga Surakarta
SD Islam Sunan Kalijaga is one of the elementary schools in Surakarta. The school is located in Baluwarti, Pasar Kliwon, Surakarta. It was built in 1971
on the area of around 459 meters square. This school has eleven classes. It is divided in to two, first up to the sixth
grade and each class has two classes, class A and class B, except the sixth grade, it only consists of one class. This school has 281 students consisting of 158 boys
and 123 girls. This school also has a headmaster room, teacher’s room. There are
some others rooms such as the mushola, the library, the computer laboratory, the bathrooms, the canteen, and the school clinic UKS. The extracurricular were
Boys and Girls Scout, Karate, Calligraphy, and read Qur’an. SD Islam Sunan Kalijaga leads by a headmaster who has responsibilities to
guide and controlling the teaching and learning process, controlling the material. This school also had vice headmaster. The vice headmaster is a person who
helped the headmaster in controlling and handling every activity which related with school.
