8
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, the researcher divides the review of related literature into three parts. They are: theoretical description, review of related studies, and
theoretical framework.
A. Theoretical Description
In theoretical description, the researcher is going to discuss the theories related to this research. The researcher employs theories of pronunciation,
learning pronunciation, problems and factors, Classroom Action Research CAR, and podcasts.
1. Nature of Pronunciation
a. Definition of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is one of the three elements that have to be mastered by the students in learning English. According to Yuzawa 2007, p. -
, “pronunciation is a basic and essential skill required for those who want to use English
communicatively”. In other words, pronunciation is the first language element which is important in communicating with others in English. Pronunciation
becomes a crucial thing which is noticed by the people when they use English to PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9 speak. Pronunciation itself has two features: segmental and suprasegmental. The
features of English pronunciation are as follows:
Figure 1.1: An Overview of Pronunciation Burns and Claire, 2003, p. 6
In this research, the researcher focuses on suprasegmental feature on word stress. According to Burns and Claire 2003, p.
7, “word stress relates to the prominence given to certain words in an utterance”. It can be concluded that word stress is
about emphasizing some words in our pronunciation. Indeed, pronunciation should be mastered by the students in order to speak English well.
According to Adult Migrant Program Research Centre 2002, p. 1, “pronunciation refers to the production of sounds that we use to make meaning”.
It means that pronunciation is one of the elements which are really important to be mastered by people who want to use English as their foreign language to
communicate with other people. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10 b.
The Process of Pronunciation According to Isono 2000, p.
2, “the acquisition process of L2 pronunciation is the selection process that decides which L1 features are
transferred and which are not, and also which L2 features are taken into the systems of interl
anguage phonology”. To sum up, the process of L2 pronunciation is the replacement of L1 features into L2 features in the interlanguage phonology.
Interlanguage phonology is the phonological systems which are between a learner first language L1 and learner second language L2 Isono, 2000. Therefore, it
is necessary to know what are involved in the process. The model of the acquisition process of L2 pronunciation as follows:
A underlying representations hypothesized by child
AB LEARNED RULES
B phonetic representations perceived by child
BC INVENTED RULES
C child’s pronunciation Figure 2.1: The Acquisition Process of L2 Pronunciation
Kiparsky and Menn, 1987, p. 36 as cited in Isono 2000, p. 3
2. Learning Pronunciation
This theory helps the researcher to give appropriate treatment for the students to learn pronunciation. The theories are: the principles of learning
pronunciation and learning technique. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11 a.
The Principles of Learning Pronunciation Burns and Claire 2003, p. 4 suggest some principles of learning
pronunciation. The first principle is teaching features of pronunciation from the very beginning stages of learning. It means that the students have to be taught
English pronunciation features such as phonemes, consonant sounds, vowel sounds, intonation, and word stress from very beginning. The second principle is
assessing learners’ pronunciation needs in combination with their overall spoken language needs. It mea
ns that the students’ pronunciation needs and their spoken language have to be known by the teacher in order to know what they needed. The
third principle is selecting contexts, content and topics for pronunciation teaching that are practice familiar, interesting and motivating. It means that the materials
have to interactive and easy to be understood by the students. The fourth principle is embedding a focus on practicing various pronunciation features within a larger
topic or task. It means that the teachers have to prepare a lot of topics or tasks in order to make the students focus on practicing pronunciation features. The fifth
principle is raising students ’ awareness about how pronunciation contributes to
making certain kinds of meaning. It means that the use of stress should be emphasized by the students because in English, a word can has two meanings as
noun and verb. Then, stress is used to differentiate which one is noun or verb. The sixth principle is encouraging learners to monitor their needs and to develop
personal strategies for improving different aspects of their pronunciation. It means that the students have to be motivated for identifying their pronunciation whether
they pronounce correctly or incorrectly. The last principle is introducing learners PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12 to a metalanguage and notation system that will assist them to learn more about
pronunciation independently, both side and outside the classroom. It means that the students have to study independently because there are many things of
pronunciation which can be learnt.
b. Learning Technique
Ravin n.d, p. 1 says that the goal of teaching pronunciation skill will be achieved better if the students master the language’s pronunciation patterns to
create the flowing communication. There are five techniques that should be taught by the teacher to help the students master the pronunciation patterns. The first step
is learning the correct articulation of English vowel and consonants. The second step is making sure to pronounce the last sound of each word. The examples are
the sentence “I play the violin present tense” and “I played the violin past tense
”. The third step is slowing down the rate of speech. The fourth step is using correct syllable stress. The last step is practicing five minutes a day to rapidly
improve the pronunciation Ravin, n.d. It means that by practicing regularly, it makes the students’ pronunciation skills better.
ɑccording to Thornbury 2005, p. 2 as cited in Gianjar 2013, “drilling is a strategy to improve pronunciation by imitating and repeating words, phrases,
and even whole utterances”. All in all, by imitating and repeating animals’ names as often as possible it makes the students pay attention to the animals’ names’
13 pronunciation and emphasize stress on students’ mind from short term memory to
long term memory. 3.
Problems and Factors During Pronunciation Activities in the classroom During the learning process, the teachers should be aware of the problems
that may occur in the classroom. There are three factors of problems which may occur: from the student himself, their friends, and the teacher. There are also
several problems that occur during pronunciation activities that influence the students’ pronunciation accuracy. There are seven problems of pronunciation’
features that can cause confusion. The first problem is using the wrong sound. The example is the word “copy” when “coffee” was intended in a question Do you
want a copy? The listener supposed that the speaker was asking whether or not she or he wanted a photocopy rather than a cup of coffee Jenkins, 2000 as cited in
Poedjosoedarmo, 2003. The second problem is leaving sounds out. The example is when a Taiwanese is deleting a word final consonant sound. When a Taiwanese
speaker pronouncing “children’s programme” as ʃʊɹeˀ
p gwæ ˀ in which the
initial [t] of the affricate is dropped, [ldr] in the middle of “children” is simplified to [
ɹ], and the final [nz] of “children’s” is simply dropped Jenkins, 2000 as cited in Poedjosoedarmo, 2003. The third problem is adding sounds. The example is
when a Japanese speaker is adding schwa to break up the consonants in a difficult cluster. The examples are st
əɹ ɪŋgz for “strings” and ɹeɪndəɹ p for “raindrop” Jenkins, 2000 as cited in Poedjosoedarmo, 2003. The fourth problem is putting
stress on the wrong syllable. The example is when putting stress on the wrong syllable in a word. The word “themselves” with stress on the first rather than
14 second syllable can be heard as “damsels” Poedjosoedarmo, 2003. The fifth
problem is putting stress on the wrong word in a sentence. This problem often happens even the fluent speakers of English may continue to have problems with
stress placement within the sentence. For example is a Singaporean radio and TV announcers often speak flawless English with pronunciation of segmental
phonemes. She or he gives stress syllables in bold.
Every 20.00 of synergy fuel gives you a chance to win a two-year supply of syn
ergy fuel. We’re giving away so much synergy fuel,
y
ou won’t be able to finish it all.
The example above is wrong because the phrase synergy fuel occurs three times and it is stress every time. When the phrase of synergy fuel is mentioned for the
first time, it can be new information, but when it is mentioned three times, it is not new information again. It is because the last word all refers to all the synergy fuel.
This is the example which would make much more sense:
Every 20.00 of synergy fuel gives you a chance to win a two-year supply
[of synergy fuel]
. We’re giving away so much synergy fuel, you won’t be able to finish it all Poedjosoedarmo, 2003.
The sixth problem is using the wrong intonation pattern. Intonation can be used to show the attitude of the speaker to what he or she is saying, especially in
conjunction with the placement of sentence stress. A falling tone will indicate certainty, whereas a fall-rise usually indicates uncertainty nevertheless both
pattern can have other meaning, depending on the context Poedjosoedarmo, 2003. The last problem is combinations of these problems. The result of a
combination of such errors is miscommunication. This frequently consists of a combination of a segmental problem, such as the wrong vowel or a simplified
15 cluster, combined with misplaced stress. The example is an Indonesian student
once heard the first line of the song “How much is that doggy in the window?” as “ɑmatsutejo in the window,” where “ɑmatsutejo” is an Indonesian man’s name.
[“how much is” was heard as “atmasu” and “ that doggy...” was heard as “tejo”]. Both segmental and suprasegmental e.g stress placement involved in this
misunderstanding Poedjosoedarmo, 2003.
4. Classroom Action Research
This part presents a discussion of Classroom Action Research. It consists of three parts of the definition, aims, steps and characteristics.
a. Definition of Classroom Action Research
According to Mettetal 2001, p. 7, “Classroom ɑction Research is a
method of finding out what works best in your own classroom so that you can improve student learning
.” It can be concluded that Classroom Action Research is finding an appropriate method to solve problems in learning process in the
classroom by doing a research that is conducted by the teachers. The teachers also have to know what is happening in the classroom.
Through Classroom Action Research for development, the teachers can become more autonomous, responsible, and creative through classroom action
research. Therefore, the teachers can find out the best method based on the problems overcame.
16 b.
Aims of Classroom Action Research According to Mettetal 2001, p.
7, “the goal of CAR is to improve your own teaching in your own classroom
or your department or school”. Hole and McEntee 1999 as cited in Mettetal 2001, p. 7 add that the aim of CAR is that
the teachers have to focus on what his or her own classroom to look back at what is going well and what is not going well in the classroom.
c. The Steps and Characteristics of Classroom Action Research
Classroom Action Research is solving the students’ problems in the
classroom which will be done by teachers in their classroom Hendricks 2009 as cited in Ary, Jacobs, and Sorensen 2010, p. 512. There are seven steps of
Classroom Action Research Mettetal, 2001. The first step is identifying a question or problem. It means that the question which will be examined in
Classroom Action Research must be clear and it relates to the student s’ learning in
the classroom. As the example is would the use of flashcards in teaching vocabulary help students to understand easier? According to Mettetal 2001, p. 8,
“the question or problem should look at something under teacher control, such as teaching strategies, student assignme
nts, and classroom activities”. The second step is reviewing literature. It means that before doing a research, it is necessary to
know the background literature of a topic being researched to give the knowledge to the researcher Mettetal, 2001. The third step is planning a research strategy. It
means that it is necessary to make a plan of research strategy. It helps the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17 researcher to do structured research. According to Mettetal 2001, p.
9, “the research design of a CAR study may take many forms, ranging from a pretest-
posttest design to a comparison of similar classes to a descriptive case study of a single class o
r student”. All in all, by planning strategy the researcher can choose which form is used to do the research. The fourth step is gathering data. Mettetal
2001, p. 9 says that “CɑR tends to rely heavily on existing data such as test
scores, teacher evalua tions, and final course grades”. It means that as the
researchers, we can also use other instruments which help to collect the data. The fifth step is making sense of the data. It means that every researcher should make
sense of data they get from the research. The way of making sense of data is by analyzing the data and looking for findings with clear explanation. The example
of analyzing data is simple statistical analyses of quantitative data, such as simple t-tests and correlations, are usually sufficient. Another example is the use of tables
or graphs are often really helpful in qualitative data. The sixth step is taking action. It means that after analyzing the data, the researcher should use the result
of data to make decisions about the teaching strategies in the classroom. Therefore, the strategies which are used in the classroom can help to solve the
students’ problems Mettetal, 2001. The last step is sharing your findings. According to Mettetal 2001, p.
9, “you can share your findings with peers in many ways”. It means that sharing the findings with other people is needed in
order to get feedback to know which is good and not good. Therefore, the findings can be revised by the researcher.
18 5.
Podcasts There are two things which are discussed in this part. They are the nature
of podcasts and the advantages of podcasts. a.
The Nature of Podcasts Podcasts are digital media such as audio or visual and sometimes videos
which are used to make the students’ performance better in pronunciation skills.
Podcasts may be very simple because it is designed to show the correct pronunciation to the students or people who watch it. Podcasts media are fun and
useful for students when pronouncing English words. Podcasts help the students to give example of the correct pronunciation. Therefore, podcasts give the chance
for the students to memorize the correct pronunciation. Deal 2007, p. 2 defines podcasting is a mean of publishing audio and
video content on the web as a series of episodes with a common theme. Therefore, the students are able to download the podcasts whenever and wherever as they
want. Moreover, the use of podcasts makes the students more flexible in learning pronunciation.
b. The Advantages of Podcasts
The use of podcasts in learning pronunciation can be good media because it has many advantages. According to Chan and Lee 2005 as cited in Evans
2007, p. 492, “the effects of podcasting in helping to reduce student anxieties”.
19 When the students are asked to pronounce some of English words in the
classroom, many of them will pronounce them unclearly. It is because they are afraid to be laughed by their friends if they pronounce incorrect. The use of
podcasts really helps them to reduce their anxieties because they can learn by themselves.
Ractham and Zhang 2006 as cited in Evans 2007, p. 492 suggest that producing podcasts are relatively easy for educators. It is because the educators or
teachers could download from YouTube if they do not have time to make it by themselves. They have just to copy the podcasts and save it in the laptop. Then,
the laptop is connected with LCD and the learning process can be begun. Other advantages of using podcasts are that the learners can download the
audio recordings on the web as long as they have personal computer or gadgets. The second one is that podcasts can accommodate a huge variety of learning
strategies for the learners Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King, 2010. According to Boulos, Maramba and Wheeler 2006 as cited in Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and
King 2010, p. 181 they say that the students learn more effectively by taking notes during a lecture and by reviewing these in their own study time, the others
learn more effectively by active listening, without taking notes. According to Kennedy, Judd, Churchward, Gray and Krause 2008 as
cited in Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer and King 2010, p. 181, they say that “the
technology is cheap, easy to use and portable. Students can download podcasts onto MP3 players and listen to it in a variety of settings, or can listen to podcasts
20 played directly from home or school computers
”. Therefore, there is no reason for students to purchase new equipment or learn sophisticated technology in order to
access podcasts. In any event, most of the students now have MP3 players or gadget available to them.
By implementing podcasts which provides the easy way to use, cheap, and enjoyable the researcher could solve the problems occurred during the learning
process in the classroom. Moreover, the use of podcasts gave not only a lot of chances for the students to pronounce animals
’ name correctly and increase their pronunciation skills level but also the teacher could be more creative and
autonomous in finding out the best method to solve classroom’s problems.
6. VIII B of SMP PGRI 10 Wedi, Klaten
VIII B is one of the classes of SMP PGRI 10 Wedi, Klaten. It consists of 7 female students and 8 male students. Based on the previous observation, students
of VIII B have difficulty in learning pronunciation. They think that learning pronunciation is really difficult. They need many times to pronounce words
correctly. The results of their pronunciation actually are not satisfying enough. Hence, the use of podcasts is an appropriate media to help them to pronounce
English words. SMP PGRI 10 is a private school which is under the institute. In SMP
PGRI 10 Wedi, Klaten, the curriculum which is used for teaching activities is Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan KTSP. Kurikulumm Tingkat Satuan
21 Pendidikan is a curriculum in which school is given a privacy to develop their
curriculum The National Education Department, 2008. In this school, one academic year consists of two semester namely odd and even semester. Each
semester lasts for six months. From the analysis of the primarily studies, the implementation of podcasts
media gives good results on the progress of the students’ pronunciation
performance. In this case, the students are excited to join the learning process and they are focus when listening and watching the podcasts.
B. Reviews of Related Studies
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