ABSTRACT

Tomy Kartika Putra. K2213070. Improving Students’ Pronunciation Ability in Fricative Sounds through Minimal Pair Drill (A Classroom Action Research at the VIII A Grade Students’ of SMPN 1 Jenangan in the Academic Year 2016/2017). A Thesis. Advisor 1: Dra Dewi Rochsantiningsih, M.Ed., Ph.D., Advisor 2: Dwi Elyono, S.S., M.TransStud., Ph.D. Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Sebelas Maret University. Surakarta. 2017.

The objectives of this research were to: (1) discover whether the use of minimal pair drill can improve the students’ pronunciation ability in fricative sounds, and (2) identify whether the use of minimal pair drill can improve the students’ motivation in the English learning process. This Classroom Action Research consisted of two cycles. There were four stages in the research including: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. In collecting the data, I conducted class observation, interviewed the teacher and the students, wrote a research diary, distributed questionnaires in each cycle, and conducted pronunciation tests to the students. Besides, I also used photographs, field notes and lesson plans as the documents. The data were analyzed by Burns’ theory of qualitative data and comparing the students’ mean scores of the tests. 

The results showed that the implementation of Minimal Pair Drill could improve the students’ pronunciation ability in fricative sounds which consisted of sounds /v/, /?/, /ð/, and /?/. It can be seen from the tests result. In pre-test, the students’ mean score was 45.42. Then, it improved to 68.33 in cycle 1 test. At last, after cycle 2 was done, the students’ score could reach 76.25. Besides, the results showed the improvement of their motivation in English learning, in terms of: a) actively responded to my questions and did the exercises enthusiastically; b) eagerly tried to get opportunities for extra scores; c) happier during the implementation of Minimal Pair Drill; d) willingly asked questions to clarify the lesson. 

The condition is obvious that Minimal Pair Drill benefits for the students’ pronunciation ability in fricative sounds and their motivation in learning English. However, the use of this technique requires a model that has acceptable English pronunciation in order to avoid mistakes or error during the drilling process.

Keywords: pronunciation, fricative sounds, motivation, minimal pair drill