ABSTRACT

Eleonora Padmasta Ekaristi Wijana. K2212025. An Error Analysis on the Pronunciation of the Fourth Semester Students of English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University in the Academic Year of 2015/2016. A Thesis, English Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University. Surakarta. January 2017.

The objectives of this study are to (1) investigate the pronunciation errors performed by the students in terms of segmental features and (2) investigate the causes of the errors in segmental features of pronunciation performed by the students in English speaking.
This  study uses  descriptive  qualitative  method,  conducted  at  English Education Department of Sebelas Maret University in April and May 2016. The population of this research is the fourth semester students in the academic year of
2015/2016. It covers 55 students divided into four classes, with 14 students of class B1 serving as sample. The data collection was obtained from observation, which involved video recording, and interview. From the data collected, the pronunciation errors are described and classified according to segmental feature violation – long vowels, short vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs, voiced consonants, and voiceless consonants – and types of error in terms of surface strategy taxonomy – omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Based on
the data analysis, pronunciation errors performed by students are caused by interlingual and intralingual transfer. In terms of interlingual transfer, the mother tongue  influence  includes  the  absence  of  some  English  sounds  in  Bahasa Indonesia, that vocabulary in Bahasa Indonesia does not end with more than one consonant apart from words derived from English, that the pronunciation of alphabets in Bahasa Indonesia does not change although they compose different words, that all alphabets composing a word in Bahasa Indonesia are pronounced, and that suffixes are not added at the end of words in Bahasa Indonesia to show the tense applied to a verb, the subject doing the action or whether the noun is plural. Meanwhile, by intralingual transfer, students’ errors are specifically caused by overgeneralization.
Considering that pronunciation is important for students’ speaking skill,
teachers should explain the differences between pronunciation rules in Bahasa Indonesia and English, stimulate students to learn English pronunciation outside the class, and encourage them more to speak in English. Students should also pay more attention to teacher’s explanation regarding pronunciation, learn English pronunciation themselves outside the class, and crosscheck the English pronunciation they hear using English dictionary which provides pronunciation with International Phonetic Alphabet or asking their teacher.

Keywords:  error  analysis,  pronunciation,  segmental  features,  speaking  skill, surface strategy taxonomy