AN ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS’ ABILITY OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY IN PRONOUNCING CENTRAL VOWEL SOUNDS

Abstrak

Abstract

This research is aimed at describing the ability of the second year students at the English Department of Bung Hatta University in pronouncing English central vowel sounds /ɑ:/, /ǝ/, /ɜ:/ and /ʌ/. The design of this research was descriptive. The number of population of this research was 110 students. They were divided into three classes: A, B and C. The researcher used cluster random sampling technique to choose the sample and the number of the sample was 30 students. The instrument used to collect data in this research was oral pronunciation test. Total of items specification were 80 items. The time given was 60 minutes. To find the reliability, this research used inter rater method. It means that there were two scorers and it was found that the reliability index of this test was 0,88. The result of data analysis showed that the students’ ability was moderate. It was proved by the fact that 21 students (70%) had moderate ability in pronouncing /ɑ:/, 15 students (50%) had moderate ability in pronouncing /ǝ/, 21 students (70%) had moderate ability in pronouncing /ɜ:/ and 18 students (60%) had moderate ability in pronouncing /ʌ/.

Key words: Pronunciation, Pronunciation ability, Vowels, Central vowel sounds,