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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the researcher would like to present the research background, research problem, problem limitation, research objective, research
benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
Teaching English as a foreign language needs more effort for teachers who teach English in a country where English is not used as communication language
in daily life. The teachers have to prepare themselves in designing the materials for teaching and also in handling their students. Teaching a foreign language
requires appropriate methods and materials to gain students‟ interest. Students‟ interest in learning becomes the important thing for the teaching and learning
activities, so that the learning activities can work well. The condition when the students do not have motivation in learning the materials can make the teacher
work harder in transferring the knowledge to the students. Maxom 2009, p. 22 states good EFL teachers are “often the ones who can put the students at ease and
who have a sense of humor .”
Teaching English in a country where English is treated as a foreign language, the teacher should be creative enough to design the materials and the
teaching media which are suitable and interesting for the students. Creative teaching media that support the materials can make the transfer of knowledge to
the students easier rather than just use the old method, like teacher centered in which the communication only comes from the teacher to the students. Giving the
easiest way of teaching is important, so that the students are motivated to learn English.
In teaching English as a foreign language, it cannot be avoided if the students face some problems related to the language that they learn, such as the
element of the language, the use of the language, or even in translating the source language into the target language or vice versa. In teaching vocational school
students, in which their main concern is not in language, teaching foreign language seems more difficult. The students tend to show their lack of interest
when they learn English. They think that English subject is not really important compared with their vocational theories.
The common reason why they learn English is to pass the final exam. Broughton et al. 2003 categorize that phenomenon in which the students learn
English instrumentally which means that the learners learn English in order to be able to use English for supporting their works or studies, to be able to pass the
examination, to be able to communicate with foreigners. This condition gives effect on their use of English. The students do not have big interest to learn more
about English. Even some of them make a judgment that English is difficult to learn. This perception makes the students feel bored when they follow the lesson
in the classroom. Because of the perception that English is difficult for the students to learn,
it affects on their proficiency. It can be seen in their response in the classroom
when the teacher explains the materials. They tend to speak to their friends using their mother language or do another task. As a result, they get bad mark on
English and they cannot use English properly, both oral language and written language.
This thesis focuses on the problems that the students in SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta face in learning English. To be more specific, the researcher
observed that the students had problem in speaking. They felt hesitant when they had to speak or to read in English. They became passive learners in the classroom.
They tend to do something or to say nothing when the teacher gave activities that required them to participate it orally. On the other hand, their characteristic was in
the opposite. They were very talkative. They liked to have discussions with their friends in the classroom. Moreover they also had good understanding of English.
It was seen from their tests and practices in the written forms. Having known that condition, the researcher tried to find out the causes
why the students of class XI EL of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta became passive in following the activities in the classroom. The researcher observed the
situations and the responses from the students in the teaching and learning activities. To know deeper about their problem, the researcher did informal
conversation with the students. The researcher found that the students got difficulty in speaking. One factor that influenced it was that the students could not
pronounce the English words correctly. They were not confident to speak in English because they did not know the correct pronunciation. They were afraid if
they made mistakes in pronouncing the words when they read or spoke. The
condition became worst when their friends recognize the incorrect pronunciation which produced odd sounds and they would laugh at the students.
The researcher found that the students of class XI EL of SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta had a problem with intelligibility in pronunciation.
Kenworthy 1997, p. 13 defines that “intelligibility is being understood by a listener at a given time in a given situation
.” The students often pronounce the English words incorrectly, especially for the new vocabulary they never knew.
The pronunciation problem they faced could be a serious problem when the listeners did not understand what they speak. The meaning of the words could be
different, so that the message of their speaking could not be stated clearly and correctly. It could also bring ambiguity in communication. Kenworthy 1997,
p.13 states that “if the foreign speaker substitutes one sound or feature of pronunciation for another, and the result is that the listener hears a different word
or phrase from the one the speaker was aiming to say, we say that the foreigner‟s speech is unintelligible.
” Sometimes when the students spoke, they did not recognize that they
pronounced the words incorrectly. For example, the word „football‟ [fƱtbͻ:l] they
pronounced [f Ʊtbᴧl], „enough‟ [
I‟
n ᴧf] became [
I‟
n ɒg], „easy‟ [„i:zi] became [„ezi]
and so on. Therefore, the listeners might be confused with what they said. As a result, some words became difficult to recognize. The students of class XI EL of
SMK Marsudi Luhur II Yogyakarta often changed the sound, especially vowels, with their mother language style.
Norrish 1983, p. 17 gives example “many learners of English have trouble distinguishing between the vowel sound
s in ‟hit‟
and „heat‟ because although the difference is significant in English it isn‟t in many other languages
.” In Indonesia, there are only five vowels, while in English there are twelve vowels. The students used to apply their mother language style in
pronouncing English words and as a result their pronunciation became unintelligibility.
The students learnt how to pronounce English words correctly only at the school. They only imitated th
e teacher‟s pronunciation. It was seen when a student pronounced certain words incorrectly and the teacher did not make correction of
it, the student did not recognize if heshe made incorrect pronunciation. Moreover, when the teacher taught the students in pronouncing words, the students tend to
memorize but it cannot stay longer in their memory. The researcher noticed that the method that the teacher used in correcting wrong pronunciation did not give a
high motivation to the students to learn it. The students needed a different way in learning pronunciation. The
researcher offered to use interesting media in the classroom with the aim that the students could be motivated and they could understand the lesson well. Giving
interesting media and materials should be appropriate with the students‟ needs and students‟ ability. In helping the students of class XI EL of SMK Marsudi Luhur II
Yogyakarta, the researcher tried to find the appropriate solution for improving their pronunciation ability through interesting media, which is, using movies in
the classroom. The researcher chose movies because there are native speakers in the
movies that the students could learn how to pronounce English words correctly.
Kenworthy 1997, p.4 states, “the native language is an important factor in
learning to pronounce English .” Besides, from the informal conversation with the
students, the researcher got information that the students liked watching movies. The characteristic of the students and the benefits from movies became the
consideration for the researcher to use movies from this research.
B. Research Problem
