THE IMPACT OF PRONUNCATION PRACTICE TO STRENGTHEN

STUDENTS LISTENING SKILL

THESIS PROPOSAL

BY:

FATHIR NUGRAHA ALINRA

NIM: 18.101.079

UNIVERSITY OF EDICATION

FACULTY OF CULTURE, MANAGEMENT, AND BUSINESS

LANGUAGE

2022

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 ACKNOWLEDGE

First of all, the researcher would like to thank Allah SWT who has given

me the grace and opportunity to complate this thesis proposal.

Sholawat and salam we extend to the last massenger our Prophet Muhammad

SAW and his family, who has guide us from the darkness to the lightness.

Secondly, the researcher would like to express her gratitude to Dr. Lalu

Ari Irawan, S.E., S.Pd., M.Pd.. as the first consultant and Mr. M. Asrul Hasby,

SS., M.Pd, as the second consultant, their advice, support, and patient in

guiding the researcher to complete this thesis proposal.

Finally, none or nothing is perfect and neither is this thesis proposal. Any

correction, comment, and critics for this improvement of this thesis proposal

are always open-heartedly welcomed.

Mataram,.................... January 2022

The Researcher

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 Table of Content

ACKNOWLEDGE.................................................................................................iii
Table of Content.....................................................................................................iv
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1
A. Background of Study......................................................................................1
B. Statement of the problem................................................................................3
C. Purpose of the study.......................................................................................3
D. Significance of the Research...........................................................................4
E. Scope of the study..........................................................................................6
F. Definision of the keyterm...............................................................................6
CHAPTER II..........................................................................................................8
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE...............................................................8
A. Literature Review...........................................................................................8
1. Pronunciation.............................................................................................9
2. Definition of Listening..............................................................................12
B. Previous Study.............................................................................................18
CHAPTER III.......................................................................................................20
RESEARCH METHOD........................................................................................20
A. Research design...........................................................................................20
B. Research Subjects........................................................................................21
C. Technique of Data collection.........................................................................22
D. Technique Data Analysis..............................................................................23

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of Study

In the current era of globalization, English language skills play an

important role to be introduced to students. English is the first foreign

language in Indonesia. Many schools or courses have provided English as

one of the lessons. English has four skills: speaking, reading, listening, and

writing and vocabulary as a component tool to improve all English skills.

Listening, speaking, reading and writing are parts of English and there

are language components such as vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar.

In this case. Some students have great difficulty hearing the pronunciation

features that they want to reproduce. Often, speakers of different first

languages have problems with different sounds. There are two ways to

handle this. First, the teacher can show students how sounds are made

through demonstrations, diagrams, and explanations. Teachers can also grab

their attention whenever the voice appears on a recording or in a

conversation. In this way, the teacher gradually trains the student's ear.

When students can hear properly, students are on their way to being able to

speak properly. All babies are born with the ability to make a whole range of

sounds available to humans. But as students grow and focus on one or two

languages, students lose the habit of making some of those sounds. Learning

a foreign language often creates problems with physical intimacy (i.e. it is

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physically difficult to make sounds using certain parts of the mouth, uvula,

or nasal cavity). To solve this problem, teachers need to be able to pinpoint

and explain exactly where sounds are produced (e.g. where is the tongue in

relation to the teeth? What is the shape of the lips when making certain

vowels. For many teachers, the most problematic area of pronunciation is

intonation. Some people ( and many students) find it very difficult to hear

the 'tone' or to identify the different patterns of raising and lowering the

pitch. In such a situation, it would be foolish to try to teach the students. This

study tries to identify problems related to students' pronunciation, so it

relates to with how students produce sound.

In this case one of the main problems faced by students in mastering

and learning English is the lack of knowledge about pronunciation, causing a

lack of understanding of listening skills. To master skills in English including

speaking, listening, reading, and understand m they must master the correct

pronunciation technique. Pronunciation is an important component of

language in communication. It helps the listener to understand the words

spoken by the speaker. If the speaker cannot pronounce English words

correctly, then communication cannot run well. This is supported by Harmer

(2000: 183) who says "For all of these people, becoming aware of

pronunciation problems will be very beneficial not only for their own

production but also for their own understanding of spoken English." Wong

(1987:24) points out “Even when a foreign speaker's vocabulary and grammar

are very good, if their pronunciation is below a certain threshold level, they

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 cannot communicate effectively.” Therefore, when we communicate with

other people, we must not only have good vocabulary but also have good

pronunciation. Therefore, it is important to teach pronunciation. Listening is

our understanding of listening to English. either directly or through media

such as music or films. Listening is an important material in English because

we must be able to know what people are saying to us. that listening is the

ability to identify and understand what others are saying. For learners,

listening is how spoken language becomes input (that is, it is the first stage of

learning a new language). Researchers often find this phenomenon, where

students often practice pronunciation which can build listening skills.

Therefore, researchers are interested in knowing about pronunciation practices

that can strengthen students' listening skills.

B. Statement of the problem

1. How could pronunciation practice improve students' listening skills at

SMA Negeri 2 Taliwang?

2. What is the teacher's view on pronunciation practice techniques in learning

listening skills?

3. What is the students' view on pronunciation practice techniques in learning

listening skills?

C. Purpose of the study

As Non Native Speakers (NNS) it is very important to understand the

knowledge and mastery of these skills. It is true that the way people

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 pronounce it will give a different meaning to their speech. As Celce-

Murcia and Goodwin (1991) say that pronunciation is very important to

avoid misunderstanding when people communicate. Moreover, in English

there are several pronunciation elements that are not the same as other

languages, for example stress-unstressed, number of vowels, consonants,

intonation, linking and also diphthongs. These problems must be

understood by English learners.

1. This study tries to investigate the impact of pronunciation practice to

strengthen the listening skills of students at SMA 2 Taliwang in learning

listening.

2. This study tries to investigate the teacher's perception of the impact of

pronunciation practice to strengthen the listening skills of students at

SMA 2 Taliwang in learning listening.

3. This study tries to investigate students' perceptions of the impact of

pronunciation practice to strengthen the listening skills of students at

SMA 2 Taliwang in learning listening.

D. Significance of the Research

The researcher hopes that this research can contribute to teaching and

learning English. It has two main meanings, namely: practical meaning and

theoretical significance:

1. Theoretical Significance

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 This research provides a solution to find the right listening learning

method through pronunciation practice

2. Practically Significant

Practically, this study will show us at a glance how to effectively

strengthen listening skills through pronunciation practice. In addition, this

information can be applied to increase educators' awareness of

pronunciation practice. Pedagogically, this research can be a reference for

teachers and students as well as in developing listening skill learning

techniques as a medium to teach listening easily. That way, the listening

teaching and learning process can be more fun, so it is more interesting

and actual.

a. For teachers

The results of this study can help teachers to more easily present

material about listening.

b. Other researchers

To provide additional information for other researchers who wish to

conduct further research in related fields.

c. For language learner

The result of this study can be used by the students to cope with

obstacles in listening learning process and it can be reference for

English students in order to cope difficulties to practice listening

learning process.

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E. Scope of the study

Creating fun learning is a must for teachers. Utilization of learning

media is one way that can be done by teachers to create learning that is not

only fun but also can facilitate the process of student understanding of the

teaching materials delivered.

This study will focus on the effectiveness of pronunciation practice

which can affect the listening skills of class XI students of SMAN 2

Taliwang. In addition, the scope of this research is about the teacher's

perception of the effectiveness of pronunciation practice to strengthen

students' listening skills at SMA 2 Taliwang. This research will also focus on

the audio used to improve their listening skills. The use of audio can be an

alternative in an effective learning process, especially in mastering listening

in English. Listening learning in learning English is one of the main

foundations that students must have. Due to the large number of vocabularies

in English that students must pronounce correctly according to their

pronunciation, the right way is needed so that students can master it

effectively

F. Definision of the keyterm

1. Pronunciation practice

According to Yate (2002: 1), pronunciation is the process of producing

sounds that have meaning in terms of segmental and suprasegmental. That

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 is, if we want to convey a message orally, then the message can be

accepted and understood by others.

2. Listening skill

listening is an activity of paying attention and trying to get the

meaning of something heard. Listening is a complex problem-solving skill

and is “more than just the perception of sound. Listening includes

understanding the meaning that contains words, phrases, clauses,

sentences and interrelated discourse and for this study, the researcher used

the definition of Vidya Mandani.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter explains how insights from theory can be translated into

practice. These approaches and techniques, backed by research that uncovers

those values, are presented as a set of tips for teachers: understand all is not as it

seems; generate dialogue; setting category boundaries through critical listening;

meaningfully integrate pronunciation into further practice activities; and provide

appropriate corrective feedback (CF). CF is the most common way in which

teachers engage with pronunciation.

A. Literature Review
To learn these skills, many strategies are used to improve their skills, one

of which is by using English songs. This study aims to determine the strategy

of using English songs used by EFL students to improve their pronunciation

and hearing. The results of this study indicate that many students agree that

utilizing English songs can improve their listening and pronunciation skills.

Everyone has many learning strategies to learn English, one of which is to use

English songs to learn English. Besides we have to learn English vocabulary

and grammar, pronunciation is also one of the important things to learn

English because pronunciation can be used to facilitate our understanding of

spoken English. However, there are many ways to learn pronunciation and an

easy way to learn them is to learn with English songs. Therefore, making use

of music to learn pronunciation is very beneficial. Listening skill is one of the

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important skills that must be understood in learning English. One way to teach

and learn to listen is to use English songs. Previous research on the use of

English songs to learn pronunciation and listening skills. In addition, this

study also uses a questionnaire as a data collection technique to explore EFL

students' perceptions of using English songs as their learning strategy to

improve pronunciation and listening skills. Based on the phenomenon of using

English songs to improve pronunciation and listening skills above, in this

study, the writer wanted to know the perception of EFL students towards their

learning strategy of using English songs to learn pronunciation and listening

skills. This research questionnaire was posed on the subject My perception of

the use of English songs to improve pronunciation and listening skills

1. Pronunciation
a. Elements of pronunciation

There are two elements of pronunciation, namely segmental and

suprasegmental features. Voice can be significantly affected by speech

features. In this case, when we study English well, we will find two

kinds of speech characteristics (Ramelan, 1985:22), namely:

a. Segmental features

A segmental feature system is a sound that includes vowels,

consonants, clusters, and diphthongs. The classification is based on

differences in the function of speech and the way it is produced.

Segmental refers to sound units arranged in a sequential order. The

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unit of speech sound is represented by a phonetic symbol (Wahyukti,

2008:35). Segmental features include vowels and consonants.

- Vowels are made with the sound of air passing through various

mouth shapes; The difference in the shape of the mouth is

caused by the difference in the position of the tongue and lips

(O'Connor, 1980:79). There are two types of vowels, namely

pure vowels and diphthongs (Wahyukti, 2008:56). Pure vowels

are represented by one character, consisting of long vowels and

short vowels (Wahyukti, 2008:56). Long vowels are marked

with a long sign consisting of two dots or colons (Wahyukti,

2008:45). There are five long vowels in English, namely:

1) /i:/ = feel

2) /a:/ = garden

3) /u:/ =true

4) /ᴐ :/ = all

5) /ᴈ :/ = dirty

There five short vowels in English, namely

1) /I/ = kill

2) /fight = _/

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 3) /o/ = stop

4) /ᴧ / = enough

5) /u/ = push

O‟Connor (1980: 24) states that there are two reasons why

consonants are important in words. First, consonants contribute more

to making English understandable. Second, consonants are generally

made by certain disturbances of the vocal organs with airflow, so

they are easier to explain and understand.

b. Supra segmental

features Supra segmental features such as the style used in words or

sentences. Supra-segmental characteristics refer to characteristics

such as stress, tone, intonation, and other characteristics that always

accompany speech production (Wahyukti, 2008:35). There are three

kinds of supra-segmental characteristics, namely stress, intonation,

and syllables.

1. Emphasizing

Stress is an important feature of word identity in English

(Kenworthy in Gilakjani, 2012:126). Ramelan (1985:24) says

that stress is the level of strength or loudness that a syllable

pronounces so that it makes it stand out. Stress can be classified

into three kinds of stress, namely; strong stress or primary stress,

moderate stress or secondary stress, and weak stress or no stress

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 (Wahyukti, 2008:30). Stress has an important role in English

because different stresses will have different meanings and

intentions.

2. Intonation

Intonation can be formed with a sequence of contrasting tone

levels in a sentence (Wahyukti, 2008:31). Intonation is used to

express a large number of different meanings, including

emotions and attitudes. The word Ya‟, for example, can be

pronounced in a lowered voice, a rising voice can make Ya‟

mean I agree‟ or Maybe true or You can't be serious or Wow,

you are. true‟ or any number of other things.

3. Syllables

in English syllables may have close points, i.e. they are very

closely connected without a break; but in other cases, they are

connected so loosely (having open junction points) that there

seems to be a pause in pronunciation. Words can be divided into

syllables. For example:

Start : one syllable

Be-gin : two syllable

Government : three syllable E-du-ca-tion : four syllable

2. Definition of Listening
Listening is the first basic skill and ability in learning a new language that

beginners must learn. It is a receptive skill which means that beginners

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learning a language receive new words from what they hear or hear. The

ability to receive will affect the ability to produce. If they are good at

listening; as a result, they will understand and even have good competence in

productive skills namely speaking and writing. There are several definitions

given by linguists and they are as follows:

1. According to Brown, listening is a verbal or written response from

students that shows the correct (or incorrect) auditory process. To become

better listeners, learners must think actively when they listen. Listening is

involved in many language learning activities, both inside and outside the

language classroom. Improved listening skills will provide the basis for

the development of other language skills.

2. Nation and Jonathan “Listening is the natural beginning of speaking; the

early stages of language development in one's first language (and in

naturalistic acquisition of other languages) depend on listening." Rown

defines listening as a complex activity, and we can help students

understand what they hear by activating their prior knowledge. The next

section will consider another way that teachers can help ease listening

difficulties: training students in different types of listening.

3. According to Lorena Manaj, listening is another need in language. The

more efficiently you become a listener, the more successful and satisfied

you will be. Listening is not just hearing: it is a state of acceptance that

allows understanding of what is being heard and gives the listener a full

partnership in the communication process.

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a. Types of Listening

1) According to Brown, there are several types of listening as

follows:

a) Intensive, Listening for the perception of components

(phonemes, words, intonation, discourse markers, etc.) of a

larger span of language.

b) Responsive, Listening to relatively short language (greetings,

questions, commands, comprehension checks, etc.) to create

equally concise responses.

c) Selective

Listening to develop a top-down global understanding of

spoken language. Extensive performances range from listening

to lengthy lectures to listening to conversations and obtaining a

comprehensive message or goal. Listening to the point, to the

main idea, and drawing conclusions are all part of listening

extensively. According to Vishwanath Bite there are several

types of listening as follows: Based on the purpose and the way

the Listener picks up and responds to the Listening process, the

different types of Listening are:

1. Active Listening Listening in a way that shows interest

and encourages continuing to talk.

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 2. Appreciative listening Look for ways to accept and

appreciate others through what they have to say. Look for

opportunities to praise. Or listen to something for

pleasure, like music.

3. Listening attentively Listening clearly and carefully,

showing attention.

4. Listening through a personal bias filter i.e. people only

hear what they want to hear.

5. Relaxed listening Listens without showing obvious

concern. Actual attention can vary greatly.

6. Understanding listening Listening to understand. Looking

for meaning (but a little more).

7. Critical Listening Listening to evaluate, criticize, or judge

what others are saying.

8. Listening deeply, Seeking to understand the person, their

personality and their real and unspoken meanings and

motivators.

9. Discriminatory listening Listens to something specific but

nothing else (eg baby crying).

b. Ways to improve Listening skills

Listening are two different actors. Listening is passive while

Listening is active. Listening is a psychological process. Therefore, it

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 can be improved with regular practice. Listening is a very helpful

skill.

Active listening is truly an extension of the Golden Rule. Here are some tips that
can help the person improve their Listening skills:
1. Face the speaker. Sit up straight or lean forward slightly to show

your attention through body language.

2. Maintain eye contact, as far as you are all comfortable.

3. Minimize external distractions. Turn off the tv. Put down your

book or magazine, and ask other speakers and listeners to do the

same.

4. Respond appropriately to show that you understand. Mumbled

(“uh-huh” and “um-hmm”) and nodded. Raise your eyebrows.

Say words like “Really”, “Interesting”, as well as more direct

questions: “So what did you do?” and "What did he say?"

5. Focus only on what the speaker is saying. Try not to think about

what you are going to say next. Conversation will follow a logical

flow after the speaker conveys his point.

6. Minimize internal distractions. If your thoughts continue to flare

up, just let them go and continue to refocus your attention on the

speaker, as you would during meditation.

7. Keep an open mind. Wait for the speaker to finish before deciding

that you disagree. Try not to make assumptions about what the

speaker is thinking.

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 8. Avoid telling the speaker how you would handle a similar

situation. Unless they specifically ask for advice, assume they just

need to talk about it.

9. Even if the speaker makes a complaint against you, wait for them

to finish defending themselves. The speaker will feel as if their

point has been made. They won't feel the need to repeat it, and

you'll know the whole argument before you respond. Research

shows that, on average, we can hear four times faster than we can

speak, so we have the ability to sort through incoming ideas and

be ready for more.

10. Get yourself involved. Ask questions for clarification, but, again,

wait for the speaker to finish. That way, you won't interfere with

their way of thinking. After you ask questions, paraphrase their

points to make sure you don't misunderstand. Start with: “So you

mean…”.

c. Benefits of Effective Listening Skills

1) Learning effective listening skills benefits personal growth

and development in the following ways:

a) Effective Communication – Clear and concise

transmission of information is an essential component of

effective human interaction. While responsibility is often

placed on presenting clear and concise written or spoken

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 directions, listeners also bear the responsibility for hearing

and understanding the message.

b) Fewer Misunderstandings – Regardless of the clarity of

written or spoken messages, effective listeners can prevent

misunderstandings and salvage what might have gone

wrong in communication by practicing active listening

skills.

c) Relationship Improvement – Relationships are marred by

misunderstandings which can lead to unsatisfactory

business transactions as well as feelings of hurt in

personal relationships. Good listening practice lets others

know that it's important, special, and what they have to

say is appreciated. It is very interesting and contributes to

a strong relationship.

d) Personal Growth – One learns and grows by listening to

and understanding other points of view, different ideas,

and exploring conflicting viewpoints. Learning the skills

of active and effective listening not only adds tools to a

personal development portfolio, it also equips you to keep

evolving with the tools to explore new ideas.

B. Previous Study

1. Another previous study from Bangladesh conducted by Shaheen Ara in

2009 with the title “Use of Songs, Poems and Games in Teaching English

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 The next previous research entitled “Improving Students' Vocabulary

Mastery Using Song Lyrics (Class VII Action Research). ' MTs

Muhammadiyah 2 Karanganyar Academic Year 2016/2017)” by Muh

Fadrulrohman Al Ihsani. He uses English songs to improve students'

vocabulary mastery. There was some improvement that the students

achieved, not only in their academic scores, but also in their behavior

towards learning. The difference is that this study wants to improve

students' vocabulary using English songs while in this study I want to

improve listening skills using English songs.

2. This research was action research. It aimed to find and implement some

actions to improve the listening skills of grade VIII, class A students of

SMP Bopkri Yogyakarta. The research procedure was adapted from a

model proposed by Kemmis and Mc Taggart in Burns (1999:32) that

action research occurs through a dynamic and complementary process,

which consists of four essential steps: planning, action, observation, and

reflection. The researcher and the other research team members

collaboratively found obstacles and weaknesses of the listening learning

process, identified some problems, and planned and implemented the

proposed actions. After that, the researcher and other research team

members made evaluation, reflection and discussion related to the actions

implemented.

From previous studies, this study differs in two cases. First, this study

did not correlate the use of songs with listening achievement. Second,

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learning does not use songs only to motivate students to follow lessons and

pay attention in class. Furthermore, this study uses songs to improve

students' listening skills.

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 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

Research Methods is an introduction to the importance of scientific research in

everyday life and uses familiar examples to keep students engaged. This text

analyzes controversies in psychology to stimulate student interest while

explaining important methodological concepts. It presents the ethical issues

related to research, as well as the social and cultural factors that may influence it,

and provides a comprehensive introduction to various methodologies.

A. Research design
In participating in a study, a research design is required. Research design

refers to strategies for integrating the various components of a research project

in a cohesive and coherent manner. Several experts differ on what is meant by

research design. According to Creswell (2009) research design is a research

plan and procedure with detailed data collection and analysis methods. This

research is in the form of case study research. This research focuses

intensively on one particular object which is studied as a case. The function of

the research design is to ensure that the evidence obtained allows us to answer

the original question as clearly as possible. In this study, the researcher uses a

qualitative approach because this research focuses on the analysis or

interpretation of written material in its context. This research is focused on the

listening ability activities of SMAN 2 Taliwang students. Ary et al. (2010)

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stated that qualitative researchers deal with data in the form of words or

pictures rather than numbers and statistics.

Data in the form of document quotes, field notes, and interviews will be

used to present the research results. In this study, the researcher used a case

study design. Stake (2013) states that the case study as a research method has

an important purpose in researching and revealing the uniqueness and

peculiarities of the characteristics contained in the case under study, where

the case is the reason why the research was conducted. Therefore, in case

study research, it is necessary to explore in-depth information about all

matters relating to the case, whether its nature, activities, history,

environmental and physical conditions, functions, and so on. Qualitative case

study is a research methodology that helps in exploring a phenomenon in

certain contexts through various data sources, and conducting exploration

through various lenses to reveal several aspects of the phenomenon (Baxter

& Jack, 2008). This is done so that researchers can collect and gain an in-

depth understanding of the individual being studied. Thus, this method is a

suitable method to determine the relationship between student activities on

social media and vocabulary mastery skills. Researchers will use a

questionnaire as a tool to obtain data. The data is in the form of qualitative

data.

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B. Research Subjects
The subjects of this study were students of class XI SMAN 2 Taliwang

science class. The number of students in class XI IPA SMAN 2 Taliwang is 6

(six students) consist of three male and three female.

C. Technique of Data collection

The data collected is in the form of qualitative data. Qualitative data is

obtained from analyzing the results of the listening test in the form of audio

that was given to students. In addition, qualitative data can be obtained from

the results of interviews with teachers, while making observations during the

teaching and learning process and implementing actions in the field. Data in

the form of field notes and interview transcripts.

1. Library Study

The library study technique will be carried out by reading, studying

and recording from various existing reading materials according to the

subject matter, such as lesson plans, then filtered and put into a

theoretical framework.

2. Observation

Observation is a way of collecting data by observing directly and

systematically recording the object under study. Observations were

carried out by researchers by observing and recording the

implementation of classroom learning.

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 3. Interview

Interviews will be conducted together with the teacher, besides that

students will also be interviewed as those who carry out learning.

Interviews in this study were conducted to determine the responses of

teachers and students to the implementation of learning that has been

carried out.

D. Technique Data Analysis

Miles & Huberman (2014: 18) researchers must act selectively, namely

determining which dimensions are more important, which relationships may

be more meaningful, and as a consequence, what information can be collected

and analyzed.

The data analyzed are data collected at the time of the study. Data

collection was carried out to obtain the information needed to achieve the

research objectives. Data analysis is carried out to describe all data so that

it can be understood and draw conclusions. The results obtained through

data analysis in this study can be useful for the development of theories

that are built from the data obtained.

Data analysis in this study was carried out using an interactive model

from Huberman and Saldana (2014), which applies four (4) steps in

analyzing data as shown in the image below:

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 Gambar 7. Bagan Analisis Data
Interaktif Menurut Miles,
Hubberman & Saldana 2014

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