AN ANALYSIS OF THE SECOND YEAR STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH CONSONANTS AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to describe the students’ problem in pronouncing English consonants at English Department of Bung Hatta University. The researcher used descriptive design in this research. The population of this research was the second year students at English Department of Bung Hatta University. The total number of population was 59. They were distributed into two classes; Class A and B. In selecting the sample, the researcher used cluster random sampling technique. The number of sample was 28 students. The instrument used to collect the data was an oral test in pronouncing English consonants. The researcher found the reliability of the test by using Pearson Product Moment formula. It was found that the reliability index of this test was .76 so that the test can be considered reliable.The result of the data analysis showed that most of the second year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University had problem in pronouncing English consonants. It was proved by the fact that 71%  students had problem and only 29% students had no problem in pronouncing them. Specifically, they had problem in pronouncing English voiceless fricative alveopalatal, voiced fricative alveopalatal, voiceless fricative interdental, and voiced fricative labiodental. Based on those findings, it could be concluded that the second year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University  had problems in pronouncing English consonants. In line with the conclusion of this research, the students are suggested to learn how to produce consonants and to do more practices for producing them, to improve their ability in pronunciation by doing more exercises. Besides, the lecturers who teach English should explain to the students the ways of produce fricative sounds, especially the unfamiliar one such as /š/, /ž/, /ө/,/ð/ sounds. In additions, they should give more exercises and practices for them to improve their ability to pronounce English fricative consonant sounds.

Key words: Pronunciation, English Consonants.