CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Definition of English Pronunciation Ability
English is a language in which the sounds and spelling are different (Harmer, 2001). It
requires a special technique to contrast sounds of word. Harmer (1995) believes that
contrasting sounds help students to concentrate on detail when they are listening to the
sounds of the word.
Pronunciation is the way in which a language or a particular word or sound is spoken
(Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, 2003:343). The student usually do the mistake in
pronunciation, it called mispronunciation or misunderstanding. It is usually happened to
Indonesian students who study the English as foreign language. Dardjowidjojo (2009)
claims that stress in sounds system as a part of pronunciation has been debated for
sometime. Many Indonesian linguists believe that stress in Indonesian sounds system is
not too important (2009:56). Meaning of word will not change, even though Indonesian
learners put word stress anywhere. Meanwhile, a word stress has very important role in
English. A wrong position word stress in English word can change the meaning. This
matter can describe by an example, word ‘import’ as noun has stress position in the first
syllable, and if we put stress in the second syllable, it can be a verb (Darjowidjojo,
2009:56).
The pronunciation is focusing on the aspect of speech, it is an activity that is carried
on by people who use English for communicating (Kreidler, 2004:4). Speech is a
complicated process, and to study it requires a scientific theory-the scientific of
phonetics (Roach, 2001:5). Further, Kreidler (2004:4) suggest that English pronunciation
uses information and concepts from two disciplines, phonteics and phonology.
According to Dardjowodjojo (2009:12), phonetics is a science that deals with the
sounds of human language. Different from phonetics, phonology refers to a study of the
sounds system in a language (Davenport and Hannahs, 2005:2). It deals with how the
sounds are realized and arranged in actual speech (Dardjowidjojo, 2009:14).
B. Teaching English Pronunciaton in EFL Classroom
Teaching English pronunciation correctly is unavoidably a crucial thing in EFL
teaching. Correct pronunciation is needed for someone to communicate. The incorrect
pronunnciation will affect listeners’ understanding to what speaker says. English is
needed since English is treated as a foreign language so that the general goal of the
system of education regarding English teaching is limited to ‘reading’ and ‘translation’
of the English materials containing scientific information (Hayati, 2010). Relating to the
importance of the teaching English pronunciation in EFL classroom, teachers should be
able to pronounce the word or sentence correctly in their teaching. It is suggested by
Tominaga (2009) who states that teachers should pay more attention to their own English
pronunciation skills, which will lead some of us to reconsider our own professional role
as an English teaher. He also believes that teachers in Indonesia are not required to
pronounce like native speaker of English, but at least they are required to teach clear
pronunciation to students.
C. Difficulties of Pronounciation
In pronounce a word, the students often find the difficulties in articulating the
vocabulary. There are some of the difficulties factor that happened at the students:
1. Native language
This factor happened within learners that affect pronunciation in teaching
pronunciation is native language. Native language is the most influental factor that
affects a learners’ pronunciation. It is important thing because the teachers should
know the sounds system of learners’ native language in order to make the teacher
identifies the learners’ difficulties easily (Brown, 2001).
2. Age
The second factor within learners that affect pronunciation is age. Because the age
of the student influence the difficulties of pronunciation. The teacher should
consider lerarners’ age in teaching pronunciation. According to Saville and Troike
(2006), they believe that young learners are more successful in language learning
than adult learners. Based on the statement above, actually the learners’ native
language must be learned English pronunciation when they still young.
D. Definition of CTL method
The research uses CTL (Contextual Teaching and Learing) method. CTL is an
innovative teaching and learning approach that helps students reflect on difficult subject
matter (APEX Teacher’s Resource, Online, 2005). CTL was developed by the
Washington State Consortium for Contextual Teaching and Learning which involved 11
universities, 20 schools, and institution work in educatinal world in the United States.
CTL helps the students to fully engage in the classroom (Wilson, 2000). The
implementation of CTL makes the students learn by experiencing and relating the
knowledge and its applications to their lives. CTL also helps the teachers relate subject
matter content to the real world situation and motivates students to make a connection
between knowledge and application to their lives as family members and citizens (Berns,
2001).
E. Previous Study
There are some previous study about teaching pronunciation through the use of the
medium as a tool of the instructional learning. This research is inspired by Mardliyatun’s
paper (2007) entitled “Improving Students’ English Pronunciation Ability by using
English Song”.