CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents background of the research, statement of research
problems, objectives of the research, significance of the research, scope and
limitation of the research and definition of key terms.
A. Background of the Research
One of the characteristics of human being is ability to communicate with
other people using language. Language is one of the greatest subjects, not in
moment and not in a long textbook and certainly in short one in human life and
the study intersects with every aspects of the study of human being thought,
feeling, behavior, and development. (Slobin, 1979: preface)
Communication is an essential need for human being. Language as the tool
of communication has important role to reveal an intention to someone else.
People will be able to express their thought and feeling by using language.
Language, communication and life can be separated. In a fact, language can
applied in many aspects in our life, such as: education, society, culture and
politics. Language also makes us easy to look for many information.
There are many languages in the world. Each country has its own language
which differs distinctively from others. The varieties of language caused difficulty
in communication among nation, hence people need an international language.
English language becomes the most essential language in the world because
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English is international language. Almost people from many different countries
use it to communicate. So, we can say that English is an unifier language.
Since English decided as international language, most of country in the
world takes English as a subject in education curriculum. Like in Indonesia, the
government of Indonesia decided English as obligatory subject in every level of
education. Now, from kindergarten until university must learn English. The
government takes this decision because they know that English has important
function in our life. With this decision the government hopes that all of
Indonesian citizen are able to master English in order to improve their knowledge.
English subject in Indonesia is not only learn how to speak, but they also
learn
how to use language in every aspect of skill. There are two types of
communication, spoken and written language. Spoken language is verbal
communication skill needed to understand (listen) and to use or speak. We can
know that, when we want to converse with other people we always use spoken
language because there are two activities in there that is speak and listen.
Then, written language is communication by means of written symbols
(either printed or handwritten). In written language there are two skill, reading and
writing. Reading and writing can’t be separated because without product of
writing we can’t do reading activity. When people communicate in written
language, they are alone and they are not direct contact with other people to whom
they write.
Among to four skills in English, speaking is considered to the difficult to
master for two reasons. First, unlike reading or writing, speaking happens in real
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time: usually the person you are talking to is waiting for you to speak right then.
Second, when you speak, you cannot edit or revise what you wish to say, as you
can if you are writing. (Nunan, 2003:48)
This phenomenon also happens for Indonesian students. Learning to speak
fluently is not easy for them. Especially in pronunciation, English pronunciation is
different from Indonesian pronunciation. So, if we want to speak fluently we must
often practice our pronunciation and we must also study hard if we want to speak
English well.
Furthermore, in ESL classroom context, students face difficulty in speaking
class. The common problem is that students sometimes think they have nothing to
say on particular topic. In addition, they may bored or feel that the topic is
unrelated to anything they know. ESL students often lack confidence in their
speaking ability and feel they have insufficient language skill to express exactly
what they want to say. (Piccolo, 2010)
As a teacher we should know what are the problems in teaching and
learning process, we also must know how to overcome it. If we know the
student’s problems we can look for solution and give motivation for our students.
It can also improve our method in teaching. For example, when we teach speaking
and we find student can’t pronounce well, we must know what strategy to make
our students can pronounce English well. So, the students will talk actively with
correct pronunciation in our class and the teaching learning process will run
effectively.
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Moreover, based on writer experience so far, difficulty is acquiring good
mastery of pronunciation in speaking also happened in STAIN. As a student of
English department they should have good ability in speaking, but in reality many
students of English department cannot speak English fluently. Based on the reason
above the writer carries out the study entitled “The
students’ pronunciation
problems and lecture strategy in public speaking class of Fourth Semester
Students of English Education Program at State College for Islamic Studies
(STAIN) Tulungagung.
B. Statement of Research Problems
Based on the background that has been discussed,the writer formulated the
problems as follow:
1. What is the students’ problem in pronunciation?
2. What are lectures’ strategy use to overcome the students’ problem in
pronunciation?
C. Objectives of the Research
This study intended to get solution and description of the problem through
analysis and study that have been previously mentioned in the statement of the
reseach problems, they are:
1. To describe the students’ problems in pronunciation.
2. To describe the lectures’ strategy used to overcome students’ problems in
pronunciation.
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D. Significance of the Research
a. The Lecturer
From the research the lecture will know what are students’ problems
in pronunciation.They can also help students to reduce their problem.So,the
teacher can improve the method in teaching.
b. The students
The students will get a benefit from the research, after the lecture find
solution to their problems they can improve their ability in speaking.
c. The future researcher
This study also gives benefit to future researcher, they can use this
study as reference and they also can do research with same theme but in
different aspect.
d. The Writer
The writer will get benefit from the research. The writer will know
kind of student’s problems in pronunciation and also know teachers’
strategy in teaching speaking. However, when the writer have students and
teach speaking they will know what will they do to overcome students’
problem and can apply good strategies in their class.
E. Scope and Limitation of Research
There are many kind problems in speaking that are: clustering, redundancy,
reduced form, performance, colloquial language, rate of delivery, pronunciation
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and interaction. However, since the writer has limited time in this study, she
wanted limit the study on the students’ problems in pronunciation.
F. Definition of Key Terms
Definition of key terms are necessary to be given in order to avoid
misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the title, they are:
1.
Public Speaking
Public speaking is an activity that involves mental and physical
presentation skills that are different from social conversational skill. Public
speaking is high last level subject in learning speaking at English Education
Program in STAIN.
2.
Problem
In this study problem means that cause of students’ difficulty in
pronunciation.
3.
Strategy
In this study strategy means everything that used by teacher to
overcome students’ problem.
4.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation is the way for students to produce clearer language
when they speak. Its deals with the phonological process that refers to the
component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that
determine how sounds vary and pattern in language.