A STUDY ON ARTICULATION PROBLEMS OF THE SEVENTH GRADE OF HEARING-SPEECH DEFECTIVE STUDENTS OF SLB NEGERI 3 YOGYAKARTA A THESIS Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
A STUDY ON ARTICULATION PROBLEMS OF THE SEVENTH GRADE
OF HEARING-SPEECH DEFECTIVE STUDENTS OF SLB NEGERI 3
YOGYAKARTA
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By:
By Uri Respati
Student Number: 031214139
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
A STUDY ON ARTICULATION PROBLEMS OF THE SEVENTH GRADE
OF HEARING-SPEECH DEFECTIVE STUDENTS OF SLB NEGERI 3
YOGYAKARTA
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By:
By Uri Respati
Student Number: 031214139
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
Listen to the child well, to what he is saying, almost saying, and not saying at all. He has something he wants to tell you, something that has meaning for him,that is important to him. Respect him as a speaker. Listen to him enough to hear him out. It is wonderful for him as a growing person to feel that he is being heard, that others care about what he is saying. Assume he is doing the best he can and that it is more important for him to want to talk to you than to sound correct.
- Wendell Johnson-
Suara Hati
Dengan keterbatasan diri yang ada, tidak akan menjadi penghalang untuk kita
tetap mampu mendulang keberhasilan. Itulah salah satu motivasi terbesar di saat
aku mulai menapakkan mimpi dan angan dalam kehidupan baru. Sebuah kehidupan
yang telah lama terbayang dalam setiap waktu. Di saat aku mencoba untuk
menemukan jati diri, di sinilah tempat yang telah lama kunanti dan kuimpikan.
Dan disinilah tempat dimana aku harus memulai meronce butiran harap dan mimpi
itu. Karena kuyakin bahwa disinilah tempat dimana ku mampu mengenakan
liontin keberhasilan.- a poem by Bima, 17 year- old student with special needs-
This thesis is dedicated to: ¾ My beloved parents
Sukanti Rahardjo. B. & Hesti Susiati ¾ My dearest sister & brother
Mayang Rineksi & Kalis Darubeksi
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honesty declare this the thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 29 July 2011 The writer, Uri Respati 031214139
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Uri Respati Nomor Mahasiswa : 031214139 Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul: A STUDY ON ARTICULATION PROBLEMS OF THE SEVENTH GRADE OF HEARING-SPEECH DEFECTIVE STUDENTS OF SLB NEGERI 3
YOGYAKARTA
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 29 Juli 2011 Yang menyatakan Uri Respati
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This page is dedicated to the people in my life for their never-ending support, love, and pray during the time I finished my thesis. I would like to address my first and greatest gratitude to Allah S.W.T who has guided me all the time and has given me strength to finish this work. I address my deepest gratefulness to Veronica Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum.,
M.A., as my major sponsor for her assistance in guiding me through many confusing processes of this work. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for her patience to be the listener and advisor on my complaints and problems. I deeply thank her for the willingness to spare time in giving me precious criticism, advices, and many corrections on my work even during her busy days.
I would also like to extend my deepest thankfulness to all of PBI’s lectures for all shared knowledge and intellectual experiences and secretary staff for their support during my study.
I address my indisputable thanks to my father Sukanti Rahardjo Bintoro S.Pd., my mother Hesti Susiati, my sister Mayang Rineksi, my brother Kalis Darubeksi. I will never stop thanking God for my very best family.
My best gratitude goes to all teachers in SLBN 3 Yogyakarta, especially Mr. Setyo, Mrs. Puji, Mrs. Ratna, Mrs. Rahmi, Mrs. Merry for their support and opportunity to conduct the research in their school.
I also would like to offer my thankfulness to all friends in PBI, and many other names that cannot be mentioned one by one for giving a sincere love, patience, and support to finish my thesis.
Uri Respati
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………….…….i
APPROVAL PAGES…………………………………………………………….....ii
DEDICATION PAGE……………………………………………………….…….iv
STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY……………………………….…..v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PUBLIKASI…………………………………………..vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………...viii
LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………….......xi
LIST OF APPENDICES……………………………………………………..…...xii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….…...xiii
ABSTRAK……………………………………………………………………….....xv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1
A. Research Background.................................................................................. 1
B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................. 3
C. Problem Limitation ..................................................................................... 3
D. Research Objectives .................................................................................... 4
E. Research Benefits ........................................................................................ 5
F. Definition of Terms ..................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 8
1. Pronunciation Acquisition ....................................................................... 8
f. Speech Reading as Method for communication...…………………...23 5. Misarticulation .......................................................................................... 24
Data Gathering Technique ........................................................................ 37
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 31
A. Research Method ....................................................................................... 31 B. Research Participants ................................................................................ 32 C. Research Instruments ................................................................................ 35 D.
Theoretical Framework ............................................................................. 29
b. Types of Misarticulation .................................................................. 28 B.
a. Causes of Misarticulation ................................................................ 24
Examples of Possible Hearing-Speech Difficulties ......................... 22
2. Mother Tongue Interference in the Foreign Language………………….9
d. The Effects of Hearing-Speech Defect on Understanding Language and Speech ........................................................................ 20 e.
c. The Level of Hearing-Speech Defective .......................................... 18
b. Causes of Hearing Defect……………………………………………17
The Nature of Sound ......................................................................... 15
4. A Brief Overview of Hearing-Speech Defect ............................................ 15 a.
3. Description and Classification of English Speech Sounds ........ ……,,.11
E. Data Analysis Technique .......................................................................... 38
CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION……………..40
1. English Articulation Problems Faced by the Seventh Grade Hearing-Speech Defective Students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta.…………………………...….42
2. The possible causes of the English articulation problems faced by seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta …………….....55
3. Possible Solutions to Overcome Articulation Problems……………….....59
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION………………………70
A. Conclusions……..………………………………………………………...70 B. Suggestions……………………………………………………..………...72 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………….73 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………..76LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1. English consonantal articulation……………………………………....12Table 2.2 English vowel sounds…………………..……………………………..14Table 2.3. English diphthong sounds….………………………….......................15Table 3.1. Record students’ pronunciation............................................................39Table 3.2. Comparison of students’ pronunciation and expected pronunciation..39Table 4.1. Misarticulation that were categorized as substitution………………..43Table 4.2. Misarticulation that were categorized as distortion………………….46Table 4.3. Misarticulation that were categorized as omission………………….48Table 4.4. Misarticulation that were categorized as sound addition…………....49Table 4.5. Misarticulation that were categorized as substitution……………….50Table 4.6. Misarticulation that were categorized as distortion…………………52LIST OF APPENDICES
Documented Students’ Pronunciation………………………………………76 Students’ Profile…………………………………………………………….79 Letter of Permission
85 ……………………..………………………...
ABSTRACT
Respati, Uri. 2011. A Study on Articulation Problems of the Seventh Grade of
Hearing-Speech Defective Students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: English
Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.Learning pronunciation of a foreign language brings different problems from learning pronunciation of the first language. The difficulties are due to interference of the first language to the target language. Students tend to hear all speech sounds in the target language in terms of their own language system. Due to their low hearing ability, hearing-speech defective students are not fully exposed to speech sounds both of the mother tongue and a foreign language. As a result, the students are confronted with the problems of recognizing and discriminating the sounds as well as the problems of producing the sounds.
This research aimed to investigate the articulation problems faced by the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta.. There were three research questions: (1) What are the English articulation problems faced by the seventh grade of hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta? (2) What are the possible causes of the English articulation problems faced by the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta? (3) What are the possible solutions to overcome those articulation problems?
To answer the first problem, the researcher used the theory of misarticulation by Johnson(1967) and Cerney (2007). The students’ pronunciation was recorded using an audio-visual recorder and transcribed into the phonetic transcription. After recording, the researcher compared the phonetic transcription of the students’ pronunciation with the phonetic transcription based on the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003). The researcher observed misarticulation phenomena. As for the second problem, Johnson’s (1967) and Casey’s (1981) theories were employed to find the causes of the misarticulation. Finally, the possible solutions to overcome the articulation problems were given by referring to the theories of Rusyani, Sahulata (1988) and Edja & Dardjo (1995).
The method employed in this research was a case study. The research participants were three students of the seventh grade students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. The researcher used observation and interview as the instruments in this research.
The collected data showed that each of the students experienced different articulation problems. The common problem faced by the seventh grade hearing- speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta was misarticulation in pronouncing English phonemes. The researcher found four types of misarticulation, namely omission, sound addition, substitution and distortion. The difficulties could be seen when the students pronounced and differentiated voiced and voiceless sounds and pronounced several vowels and diphthongs.
ABSTRAK
Respati, Uri. 2011. A Study on Articulation Problems of the Seventh Grade of
Hearing-Speech Defective Students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta: Program
Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Pembelajaran pengucapan bahasa asing membawa masalah yang berbeda dari pembelajaran pengucapan bahasa ibu. Kesulitan tersebut disebabkan oleh adanya pengaruh dari bahasa ibu ke bahasa asing yang akan dipelajari. Siswa cenderung untuk mendengar semua bahasa cakap pada bahasa asing tersebut dalam tatanan sistem bahasa ibu mereka. Sehubungan dengan rendahnya daya dengar siswa, siswa tunarungu tidak sepenuhnya terpapar pada bahasa cakap dari bahasa ibu maupun bahasa asing. Sebagai akibatnya, siswa dihadapkan pada masalah pengenalan dan pembedaan suara, demikian juga dengan produksi suara.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi permasalahan artikulasi yang dihadapi anak-anak tunarungu kelas tujuh SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. Ada tiga pertanyaan dalam penelitian ini: (1) Permasalahan artikulasi apakah yang dihadapi anak-anak tunarungu kelas tujuh SLBN 3 Yogyakarta? (2) Apakah kemungkinan penyebab permasalahan artikulasi yang dihadapi anak-anak tunarungu kelas tujuh SLBN 3 Yogyakarta? (3) Solusi apakah yang dapat dilakukan untuk mengatasi permasalahan artikulasi tersebut?
Untuk menjawab permasalahn pertama, peneliti menggunakan teori kesalahan artikulasi oleh Johnson (1967) dan Cerney (2007). Pengucapan anak direkam dengan menggunakan audio-video recorder dan selanjutnya ditulis dengan menggunakan transkrip fonetik. Setelah merekam, peneliti membandingkan transkrip fonetik dari hasil pengucapan para siswa dengan menggunakan transkrip fonetik berdasarkan kamus Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2003). Untuk permasalahan kedua, teori Johnson (1967) dan Casey (1981) diterapkan untuk menemukan kemungkinan penyebab kesalahan-kesalahan artikulasi. Yang terakhir, solusi yang memungkinkan untuk mengatasi kesalahan artikulasi mengacu pada teori dari Rusyani, Sahulata (1988), and Edja&Dardjo (1995).
Metode yang digunakan pada penelitian in adalah studi kasus. Para partisipan dalam penelitian ini adalah tiga siswa tuna rungu kelas tujuh SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. Peneliti menggunakan observasi dan wawancara sebagai instrumen dalam penelitian ini.
Data yang terkumpul menunjukkan bahwa masing-masing anak mengalami permasalahan artikulasi yang berbeda. Permasalahan umum yang dihadapi para siswa tunarungu SLBN 3 Yogyakarta adalah kesalahan artikulasi dalam mengucapkan fonem dalam bahasa Inggris. Peneliti menemukan empat tipe fenomena kesalahan artikulasi yang terjadi pada para siswa. Kesalahan-kesalan tersebut adalah pengurangan bunyi, penambahan bunyi, substitusi, dan distorsi. Contoh kesulitan dapat dilihat ketika para siswa mengucapkan dan membedakan bunyi dengan vibrasi
(voiced) dan bunyi tanpa vibrasi (voiceless), mengucapkan beberapa bunyi hidup
(vowel) dan diftong.CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter deals with the introduction of the research and basic-
terminologies. There are six major concerns addressed in this chapter. It covers research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits and the definitions of terms used in the research.
A. Research Background
The world organization in the field of education under the United Nations, namely the UNESCO (United Nation Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), carries out programs to support international education. One of the principles is Education for All. As a member country of the United Nations, Indonesia is also obliged to develop its national education.
As mentioned in its constitution, Indonesia has several visions in education, one of which is to educate the National Living. Article 31 verse 1 of the 1945 Constitution states that every citizen has the right to education. It means that there are no limitations for anyone to obtain an education. The same right is also given to children with disabilities, such as the hearing-speech defective students. Law number
4 Year 1997, verse 5 mentions that every person with disability/ies has the same rights and opportunities in life as other citizens.”
One of the national visions in the field of education is that the Indonesian students are able to compete in the globalization era by developing their competency in the English language as an international language. Syafei (1988:1) says that the general aim of teaching the English language to students is to enable them to master all skills of the language, which include listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In terms of pronunciation as part of the speaking skill, learning the English language as a foreign language is quite difficult for most students in Indonesia. Learning pronunciation of a foreign language brings different problems from learning pronunciation of the first language. The difficulties are due to interference of the first language to the target language. Students tend to hear all speech sounds in the target language in terms of their own language system.
Due to their low hearing ability, hearing-speech defective students are not fully exposed to speech sounds both of the mother tongue and a foreign language. As a result, the students are confronted with the problems of recognizing and discriminating the sounds as well as the problems of producing the sounds. As stated by Bowd (1990: 91), children with hearing impairments or defects face difficulties in both production and comprehension of the spoken language.
The research focuses on the problems that hearing-speech defective students, who are weak in receiving information through their auditory sense, encounter when they learn the English pronunciation. This phenomenon also happens among the students of Sekolah Luar Biasa Negeri (SLBN) 3 Yogyakarta, specifically the seventh grade students. The students’ pronunciation is considered necessary to be identified, because their ability to produce English sounds influences students’ pronunciation.
B. Problem Formulation
Considering the fact that there are many elements of pronunciation in the English language, the discussion is limited on the articulation in which it covers whether the students pronounce English words correctly or not. The problems are formulated as follows:
1. What are the English articulation problems faced by seventh grade hearing- speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta?
2. What are the possible causes of the English articulation problems faced by the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta?
3. What are the possible solutions to overcome those articulation problems? C.
Problem Limitation
Hearing-speech defective students in SLBN 3 Yogyakarta are students with special needs because they have difficulties in receiving information which is given in the form of sounds. In learning pronunciation they also have difficulties in pronouncing English words.
This research is limited on identifying misarticulation in the pronunciation made by the seventh grade students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. After the identification of misarticulation as well as the possible solutions to overcome the problems. Since there are many pronunciation elements in English language, the discussion is limited only on the articulation. It will not include the process of the pronunciation, which consists of phonation, nasal resonance, and prosody. According to Sattler (1992: 546) pronunciation as part of the speech system is divided into four major areas on the basis of a processing classification system: phonation, which contains duration, loudness, pitch and quality of the sound; nasal resonance, which contains vibration; articulation which is related to the production of consonant and vowel sounds in various sequences to form words; and prosody, which contains melody, rhythm and the rate of the speech flow.
This research is focused only on one group of students, namely the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta. This research takes the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta based on the consideration about the students’ background that they have never received specific lessons that assist their pronunciation.
D. Research Objectives
The objectives of this research are first, to find out English articulation problems faced by the seventh grade hearing-speech defective students of SLBN 3
Yogyakarta ; second, to find out the possible causes of the problems; and third, to find
out possible solutions to overcome pronunciation problems stated before. Based on will be presented at the end of this thesis.
E. Research Benefits
It is expected that this research will be able to provide contribution to English teachers in SLBN 3 Yogyakarta in overcoming their students’ problems in pronouncing English words. For the seventh grade students of SLBN 3 Yogyakarta as the research participants, this research will hopefully assist in the improvement of their pronunciation. The researcher wishes she could give them valuable information how to minimize the difficulties in pronouncing English words. For other researchers especially students of English language education programs who are interested to conduct research on hearing-speech defective students, hopefully the results of this research could inspire them and encourage them to conduct deeper studies on hearing-speech defective students. Finally, this research is expected to change public opinions and beliefs that hearing-speech defective students are unable to learn to pronounce English words to an understandable level.
F. Definitions of Terms
This section presents the definitions of terms, which aim to avoid confusion. They are language, sound, hearing-speech defect, and SLB/B N 3 Yogyakarta.
1. Language
Sattler (1992:546) says that language is a system of symbol which is mentions that language is a group phenomena that is generated and maintained in community living; a code or a tool or an instrument of communication. According to Pei (1966:141), language is a system of communication by sounds, operating through the organs of speech and hearing among members of a given community, and using vocal symbols possessing arbitrary conventional meanings. In this research, language is defined as a means of which persons with hearing-speech defect interact. They do not rely on using oral language as their primary language, but also using sign language and total communication (which is combination of both sign language and verbal communication).
2. Articulation
Articulation is the production of speech sounds in the mouth and throat (Richards, Platt, Weber; 1985: 17). In this research, Articulation refers to the production of speech sounds made by the hearing-speech defective students of SLBN
3 Yogyakarta when they are asked to pronounce English words.
3. Sound
According to Crystal (1987: 152), sound refers to the production (or articulation) in the vocal tract, acoustic transmission, or auditory reception. In this study, sound refers to what hearing-speech the defective students produce when they are pronouncing English words.
4. Hearing-Speech Defect
Hearing defect is a condition where an individual is not able to hear and it is the other hand, is impairment in the production and the use of oral language. It includes disabilities in making speech sounds, producing speech with a normal flow, and producing voice (Hallahan, Kauffman, & Pullen, 2009: 304). In this research, hearing-speech defect is the condition where an individual has impairments in both hearing as well as speech, which leads to problems in his language development.
5. SLB/B N 3 Yogyakarta
SLB/B which is the abbreviation of Sekolah Luar Biasa bagian B (a special school for children with disabilities, part B). It is a special school for students who lose their hearing ability. As a comparison for a clearer description, SLB/A is the special school for children with visual impairments, SLB/C is for children with mental retardation, SLB/D is for children with physical disabilities and SLB/E is for children with difficulties in social adjustment. At SLB/B N 3 Yogyakarta there are 81 students who have different level of hearing. They begin to attend the school at the age of four or five years. The levels of education they attend are the kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school.
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW In this chapter, the researcher examines some theories that support this
research. There will be two major sections of this chapter: the theoretical
description and theoretical framework. The theoretical description provides a
detailed discussion related to the research. The theoretical framework discusses a
framework based on the theoretical description.A. Theoretical Description
The theoretical description involves the discussion about pronunciation
acquisition, mother tongue interference in the foreign language, description and
classification of English speech sounds, a brief overview of hearing-speech defect,
and misarticulation.1. Pronunciation Acquisition In language learning, the role of pronunciation is significant.
Communication cannot be made if there is no intelligibility between the speaker
and the listener. To be intelligible, someone has to be able to pronounce well.
(Kenworthy, 1997: 13) mentions that intelligibility means the state of being
understood by the listener at a given time in a given situation. The speaker needs
to be intelligible so that he can communicate.Kenworthy points out that if teachers set intelligibility as the goal rather
than native-like pronunciation, it means learners are aiming for pronunciation
which is “close enough”. Hence, intelligibility is equal to understandability. The
more words a listener is able to identify, the more intelligible the speaker is.Communication involves more than simply sending a set of well-produced
sounds into the air at the listener. Teachers should include pronunciation practice
in their class in order to develop student’s competence. Teaching pronunciation is
very important because if a non native speaker has a very bad pronunciation, he or
she will not able to communicate orally no matter how good his or her control of
the grammar and vocabulary of the target language might be.2. Mother Tongue Interference in the Foreign Language
Brown (1987:38) states “we have all observed children acquiring their first
language easy and well, yet the learning of a foreign language often meets with
great difficulty and sometimes failure”. From this statement it can be seen that it is
more difficult to learn a new language than to acquire the first language. It
happens because when someone learns a new language, his or her first language
will interfere with new language and this will hinder the success of the new
language learning process.However, it can also be seen that not all errors in the foreign language
come from the interference of the first language. It is true that the first language
can affect the process of foreign language acquisition. It can happen that the
learner does not transfer all the elements of the first language into the foreign
language. He may only avoid using the rules that are absent in his first language
when he speaks the foreign language.How the mother tongue influences the target language can be seen in Lado’s theory: (1957: 11):
a. Location and description of segmental problems. Does the native language
have a phonetically similar phoneme? Experience shows that when the foreign language uses a phoneme which does not exist in the learner’s native language, he will substitute it with some other phoneme from his native stock and the consequences are that the learner will have the problem in hearing as well as producing the new phoneme.
b. Difficulty in pronouncing a phoneme versus difficulty in pronouncing a
sequence. A sequence having one of the phonemes of the foreign language that cannot be found in the native language could be listed as a problem sequence.
c. Difficulty in pronouncing a word versus difficulty in pronouncing a phoneme
or a phoneme sequence. Sometimes a student mispronounces a word although he has mastered the phonemes and sequences involved. This happens because he does not know how to pronounce that word.
d. Problems of spelling pronunciation. Student may mispronounce words because of the influences from the writing system. When both the foreign language and the native language use the same alphabets, the problem could be laid in the same symbol that might represent two different sounds in the two languages. In such case the student tends to transfer the native language symbolization to the foreign language. The other possibility is when the symbol in one word that represents one sound turns out to represent a different sound in another word.
e. Pronunciation problems with words that show similarity in two languages.
Since words having similarity in the form in two languages show patterns of correspondences between the foreign language and the native one, the student’s mispronunciations will often be predictable in terms of those patterns.
f. Unpredictable alternation between two potential substitutions. The Indonesian
language lacks the phoneme [ θ] that might approximate English [θ] as in think. The result is that Indonesian learners may substitute it with [s] or [t].The reason for this is that the individual tends to transfer the sound system of his mother tongue.
3. Description and Classification of English Speech Sounds
According to Indriani (2005:8), the English speech sounds can be classified into consonants, vowels, and diphthongs.
a. Consonants
A consonant is a type of sounds used before or after a vowel or diphthong to
form a syllable. According to O’grady (2001:7), there is constriction or complete
closure in the vocal tract, which might be at the lips, at the back of the mouth and
on the teeth, that interferes the flow air out the mouth when producing the consonant sounds. According to Indriani (2005:8), there are 24 consonants in English, namely:
Table 2.1. English consonantal articulation Consonant WordP Pig b Book T Tea d Day K Key G Go F Fine
V Very S Sea Z Zoo ʃ
She ʒ Azure Consonant word
ʧ chair ʤ jail θ thin ð this m man n now ŋ sing h how l like r right w wait j you
In relation to the position of the vocal cords, the consonants can be divided into:
1. Voiceless : p, t, k, f, s, ʃ, ʧ
, θ, h.
2. Voiced : the rest of the consonants. In terms of the place/point of articulation, the consonants can be divided into: 1. Bilabial : the two lips are the primary articulators, e.g: b, p, m, w.
2. Labio-dental : the lower lip articulates with the upper teeth, e.g.: f, v.
3. Dental : the tongue tip and rims articulate with the upper teeth, e.g.: θ, ð.
4. Alveolar : the blade, or tip and blade, of the tongue articulate with the alveolar ridge, e.g.: t, d, l, n, s, z.
5. Post-alveolar : the tip (and rims) of the tongue articulate with the rear part of the alveolar ridge, e.g.: r.
6. Palato-alveolar : the blade or the tip and blade of the tongue articulate with
the alveolar ridge and there is at the same time a raising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate, e.g.:ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ.
7. Palatal : the front of the tongue articulates with the hard palate, e.g.:j.
8. Velar : the back of the tongue articulates with the soft palate, e.g.: k, g, ŋ
9. Glottal : an obstruction, or a narrowing causing friction but not vibration,
between the vocal cords, e.g.: h.In terms of the manner of articulation, the consonants can be divided into:
1. Complete Closure: Plosive: a complete closure at some point in the vocal tract, behind which the air pressure builds up and is released explosively, e.g.: p, b, t, d, k, g.
2. Affricate: a complete closure at some point in the mouth, behind which the air pressure builds up; the separation of the organs is slow compared with that of a
plosive, so that friction is a characteristic second element of the sound, e.g.:
ʧ, ʤ.
3. Nasal : a complete closure at some point in the mouth but the soft palate being
lowered the air escapes through the nose, e.g.: m, n, ŋ.4. Intermittent Closure: Roll : a series of rapid intermittent closures or taps made by a flexible organ on a firmer surface, e.g.: r
5. Partial Closure: Lateral: a partial closure is made at some point in the mouth, the air stream being
6. Narrowing: Fricative: two organs approximate to such an extent that the air stream passes through them with friction, e.g.: f, v, ʃ, ʒ, s, z, θ, ð, h.
7. Glides: Semi-vowel: they are usually included in the consonantal category on functional grounds, but from the point of view of phonetic description they are more properly treated as vowel glides, e.g.: w, j.
b. Vowels
According to Fromkin (2000:478), a vowel is a sound in which there is little
construction is made in the vocal tract and the sound is louder and longer than the
consonant. Vowel sounds are produced by different positions of the tongue within
the mouth cavity and by the rounding and the surrounding of the lips.According to Indriani (2005: 12), there are 12 cardinal vowels in English, namely:
Table 2.2 English Vowel Sounds Vowel wordi: tea sit Ι E pen Æ sad ɜ: bird ə ago art ɑ: up ʌ u: food foot υ war ɔ:
ɒ not
c. Gliding Vowels or Diphthongs
Diphthongs can be defined as some vowels that are represented as sequences of vowel symbols because the tongue and/or lips move from one position to another (Fromkin, 2000:509).
According to Indriani (2005:13), there are 9 diphthongs, namely:
Table 2.3. English diphthong sounds aɪ e ɪ
ɔɪ ɪə ʊə e
ə ɔə a
ʊ ə ʊ 4.
A Brief Overview of Hearing-Speech Defect a. The Nature of Sound Hearing is one important means for human beings to receive information.
Although people are still able to learn through the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, etc., the sense of hearing facilitates and enhances the learning process.
Most children learn through their hearing from a very early age. Heward (1980: 177) states:
“A newborn infant typically responds to sounds by startling or blinking. At a few weeks of age, the infant listens to quiet sounds, recognizes his mother’s voice, and begins to enjoy hearing his own vocalizations. During the first year of live, the normal infant learns to recognize sounds. He can discriminate meaningful sounds from background noise, perceive loud and quiet sounds, and localize and imitate sounds.” Heward (1980: 177) adds that as the hearing child grows, he develops language by constantly hearing language used around him and by associating these sounds with innumerable activities and events. He learns that people convey information, and exchange their thoughts and feelings, by speaking and hearing. The process of language acquisition appears to occur naturally and spontaneously in the hearing child.
The hearing defective child, however, is not able to participate in this process without special help. He misses many early and critical opportunities for developing language and awareness of the world around him. Hallahan and Kaufman (1978:243) explain that the child who is deaf from birth or is deafened before he has learned to speak is severely defected when it comes to the task of learning oral language. Because he cannot hear, he will have great difficulty in all areas of speech and language. He will have a voice with strange pitch, quality, and intensity. He will speak with an abnormal rhythm, and he will make misarticulation. Johnson (1967: 120) argues that a child whose hearing sensivity is definitely defected may be expected to exhibit misarticulations as one of the consequences of his auditory defect.
b. Causes of Hearing Defect
As mentioned by Soemantri (1996:75), hearing defects can result from a number of factors, among others: 1) Prenatal factors
a) One or both parents of the children have a hearing defect or genetic abnormality.
b) The mother suffers from a disease during pregnancy, such as rubella and morbili, specifically during the first trimester, that is during the formation of the baby’s middle and inner hearing organs.
c) Poisoning of medicines that the mother suffers from during pregnancy.
This happens if she takes too many or improper medicines, for example in the case of unwanted pregnancy and she tries to have it aborted. Poisoning can also happen if the mother is addicted to alcohol.
2) Perinatal factors