TEACHING STUDENTS’ FRICATIVE

PRONUNCIATION THROUGH TONGUE

TWISTER TECHNIQUE
( A Pre-experimental Research to the year-8 Students of SMP
Kartika XVII-01 Sungai Raya in Academic Year 2018/2019)

A Thesis
By:
AWISTA
 Research Background
 Pronunciation matters in effective communication.
 Pronunciation deals with complex articulation (place and manner of articulations)
by which allows EFL students to produce errors.
 Students tend to mispronounce fricative [ʃ] in words such as /she/, /cushion/ and
/fish/ as their tongue has got used to pronounce them their own rather easier way.
 Tongue twister consists of similar consonantal sounds allowing students to produce
errors.
 Tongue twister drill (drilling activity) allows students to articulate [ʃ] in a different
atmosphere and rather eases the teacher to access individuals’ [ʃ] articulation.
Research Question
• Does tongue twister technique affect significantly in teaching fricative pronunciation?
• If it does, how big is the effect size?

Research Purpose
• to find out whether tongue twister technique affects significantly in teaching fricative
pronunciation
• To find out the size of the effect size of tongue twister technique in teaching fricative
pronunciation.

Research Hypotheses
• Tongue twister does not affect students’ fricative pronunciation. (Null)
• Tongue twister affects students’ fricative pronunciation. (Alternative)
Scope of Research
• Tongue twister technique (independent)
• Fricative pronunciation (dependent)

Terminology
• Pronunciation
• Fricative
• Tongue twister technique
• SMP Kartika XVII-01 Sungai Raya
• Year-8 Students
Creating sound [ʃ]

(Newman, 2013, p. 9)
• First, create sound [s] (Demonstrate the [s] sound).
• Second, prolong the sound [s] and slowly reverse the
tongue so that it travels gradually to the rear of the
mouth.
• Third, Note that the tongue should be touching the
upper back teeth.
• Fourth, pucker the lips slightly.
Position of Sound [ʃ]

Position Words Phonetic Symbols

She [ʃiː]
Initial Share [ʃeər] or [ʃer]
Shell [ʃel]
Cushion [ˈkʊʃ. ə n]
Medial Machine [məˈʃiːn]
Lotion [ˈləʊ.ʃ ə n]
Brush [brʌʃ]
Final Wash [wɒʃ] or [wɑːʃ]
Push [pʊʃ]
Example of Tongue Twister
• Sentence
the sun shines in the shop signs
she sells seashells by the seashore.
She sew six sheets for her sister.
• Repetitive words
Sheena leads, Sheila needs
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit
crash quiche course
• Story
When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write. You can write good and
copyright but copyright doesn’t mean copy good – it might not be right good copy, right?
Research Methodology
Pre-experimental research
One group pre-test and post-test design.
01 X 02
Legends:
01 : Pre-test
X : Treatment
02 : Post-test
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
Population

Class Number of Students

IX A 18
IX B 17
Total of Students/Population 35

Sample
The sample consists of 20 students which are chosen by using
random sampling.
Technique of Data Collecting
Performance assessment

Tool of Data Collecting

• Monologue Text (personal experience/holiday/travelling)
• Sound recorder (cell phone)
• Phonetic transcription table (appendix
Technique of Data Analysis
Scoring Individuals’ Pronunciation
Category Consonants Pronunciation
5 Pronounces consonants correctly all the time.
4 Pronounces consonants correctly most of the time.
3 Makes inconsistent consonant errors.
2 Pronounces some consonants incorrectly consistently.
1 Consonant errors are frequent.
(Rui Ma, 2015)

σ 𝑷(𝟏𝟎𝟎)
𝑺=
𝑵
Legends:
S : Individual Score
σ𝑷 : The sum of Individual Points
N : Number of Test Items
t-Test Formula
t-test is used to answer the first question. t-test (t) was calculated through this
following formula:
ഥ− 𝒀
𝑿 ഥ
t=
𝑺𝟐 𝟐
𝟏 + 𝑺𝟐 −𝟐𝒓 𝑺𝟏 𝑺𝟐
𝒏𝟏 𝒏𝟐 𝒏𝟏 𝟐

Effect Size Formula

The effect size formula is used to answer the second questions.

𝟏
ES = t
𝑵
RESEARCH FINDINGS
The Computation of t-Test

ഥ− 𝒀
𝑿 ഥ
t = the value of t-critical depends on the
𝑺𝟐
𝟐
𝒙 + 𝑺𝒚 −𝟐𝒓 𝑺𝑿 𝑺𝒀 significance level (α) and degree of
𝒏𝟏 𝒏𝟐 𝒏𝟏 𝒏𝟐 freedom (df). The (α) is set to α/2 =
=
𝟓𝟎− 𝟓𝟖 0.05/2 = 0.025 while df = n-1, df =
𝟓𝟐.𝟗𝟒 𝟏𝟓𝟔.𝟑𝟐
+ −𝟐(𝟎.𝟓𝟎𝟎)
𝟕.𝟐𝟕 𝟏𝟐.𝟓𝟎 20 – 1 = 19. Then the tcritical value is
𝟐𝟎 𝟐𝟎
−𝟖
𝟐𝟎 𝟐𝟎
t(α,df) = t(0.025,19) = 2.093
=
𝟕.𝟐𝟕 𝟏𝟐.𝟓𝟎
𝟐.𝟔𝟒 + 𝟕.𝟖𝟏 − (𝟏) 𝟒.𝟒𝟕
𝟒.𝟒𝟕 The obtained t-value of this research is
−𝟖 −𝟖 bigger that the critical value of r from
= =
(𝟏𝟎.𝟒𝟓)−(𝟏) 𝟒.𝟓𝟏 (𝟔.𝟕𝟕)−(𝟒.𝟓𝟏) the t-table (5.33 > 2.093)
−𝟖
=
(𝟐.𝟐𝟔)
−𝟖
=
𝟏.𝟓𝟎

= -5.33
The Computation of Effect Size

𝟏
ES =t
𝑵

According to Cohen, Manion and Marrison

𝟏 (2007) effect size criteria, the result is bigger
= -5.33
𝟐𝟎
than 1.00 and is categorized as strong
= -5.33 x 𝟎. 𝟎𝟓 effect.
= -5.33 x 0.22
= 1.17
 Hypothesis Testing
• At the degree of freedom df = 19 and significance value 0.05/2 = 0.025, the
obtained t-value of this research is 5.33, bigger than the critical value of r from the
t-table (2.093).
• It indicates tongue twister technique affects students’ fricative pronunciation of
year-8 students of SMP Kartika XVII-01 Sungai Raya.
• The alternative hypothesis (Tongue twister affects students’ fricative pronunciation)
is accepted, and the null hypothesis (tongue twister does not affect students’
fricative pronunciation) is rejected.
 Conclusion
• The students’ score of pretest and posttest are 50 and 58. The score
increases about 8 points (interval). The improvement of the quality can be
categorized as average to good (Heaton, 1988, p. 96).
• The result of t-test is 5.33 with the value of α/2 = 0.05/2 = 0.025, the
degree of freedom(df) = 20 – 1 = 19, and tcritical is = 2.093. Tratio is higher
than tcritical (5.33 > 2.093) which indicates that there is a significant difference
between students’ mean score of pretest and posttest.
• The result of effect size based on the criteria of effect size (Cohen, Manion
& Morrison, 2007), 1.17 is concluded as strong effect. This result implies that
teaching sound [ʃ] through tongue twister technique is significant.
 Suggestion
• Since tongue twister technique focuses on sound articulation, with combination of
consonantal sounds in short phrases or sentences can help students accustom their
mouth to pronouncing sound [ʃ] in particular.
• It is suggested to future researchers to use and combine sounds that are consonantally
similar to sound [ʃ], because the distraction that allows errors will get students’ tongue
accustomed to articulating different sounds.
• English teachers should make tongue twister technique an important part of their
pronunciation teaching activity and can be more creative in implementing it in their
classroom.
THANK YOU