Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 222

2nd Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education Conference (SoSHEC 2018)

Exploiting Phonetic Exercise to Improve Students’

Pronunciation Ability

Ana Ahsana El Sulukiyyah Mardiningsih

STKIP PGRI PASURUAN STKIP PGRI PASURUAN
Pasuruan, Indonesia Pasuruan, Indonesia
aahsana3@gmail.com niningatria20@gmail.com

Abstract—Pronunciation, sometimes become a forgotten skill /α:ʃItԑkt/ but actually this word pronounce to /α:kItԑkt/. The
in teaching and learning English. Teachers are reluctantly drilling teacher had done various ways to teach pronunciation, like using
their students’ pronunciation. It is because the English pronunciation software, drilling method, reading aloud and
pronunciation is not regular, so both students and teachers need recording method. But those ways could not improve their
long time to study about it. The problem about pronunciation was pronunciation yet, because they only practice it in the class, then
also happened in the fourth semester students of English forget it out of class.
Education Study Program in STKIP PGRI Pasuruan. Phonetic
transcription exercise was the way used to improve the students’ For the first time the teacher meet the students in
pronunciation ability. This is a Classroom Action Research where Pronunciation class in the first semester, the students has got
students were given two kind of tests, reading aloud test and many exercises in pronouncing some words or sentences. Then
phonetic transcription test. Questionnaires were also given to the the teacher meet again with them in this fourth semester in
students to know their response about phonetic transcription Phonology class, and their pronunciation ability is awful, only
exercises. The results showed that for the first cycles some students some students can pronounce the words or sentences correctly.
still make mistakes in pronouncing some words given although Because in Phonology class description, teacher can remedy the
they have known the phonetic visualization, but in the second students’ pronunciation ability, it is the good time for teacher to
cycle, there was a significance improvement of pronunciation remedy and improve their ability. The technique teacher uses in
ability, this is due to students have got accustomed to the phonetic this semester is Phonetic Transcription Exercise.
symbols and could apply it to their pronunciation. It can be
concluded that phonetic transcription exercises could improve Mompean and Lintunen [3] stated that it is advantageous to
students’ pronunciation ability because it could show the precise use phonetic symbols in teaching and learning English as
visual written record of the sound itself. Foreign language, this is due to students not only hear the sounds
and its pronunciation but also know the symbols of the sounds
Keywords—phonetic transcription exercise, pronunciation visually. Not only hearing the sounds or audio example, students
ability can imitate when the audio was played, but also visualizing the
I. INTRODUCTION sounds, students know precisely how those sounds are
pronounced [3].
In teaching and learning English, four major skills are taught.
They are reading and listening which are called as receptive skill Furthermore, introducing phonetic symbols to students have
and speaking and writing which are called as the productive three steps [3], they are as the following: (a) select only English
skill. Pronunciation involves in teaching and learning speaking, phonetics symbols, (b) get students’ familiarity about the
because it is one of important parts in communicating [1]. English symbols, (c) make phonetics symbols visually
Unfortunately, sometimes the teachers reluctantly drill their attractive, (d) make students perceive on the utility of phonetic
students’ pronunciation ability. It is because the English sounds transcription and (e) avoid their anxiety in learning the symbols.
are not regular, we can say sound “o” in some other ways, can Atkielski [2] added that phonetic transcription can show the
be /α/ or /ϲ:/. Besides, to teach and learn pronunciation takes long significant differences of the words’ pronunciation, students can
time, teachers have to give example, the students imitate, then distinguish the sounds /ӕ/ with sounds /ԑ/, sounds /ʧ/ with /θ/
teachers drill the students, it needs more time and more practice precisely. They have listened to the example of words’
[2]. That is why the students’ pronunciation especially EFL pronunciation and added by the precise phonetic transcription
students are still low. that is why by using phonetic transcription exercises students
can visually correct their pronunciation.
The problems of students’ pronunciation ability are also
happened in the fourth semester students of English Education From the problems faced above, then the advantages found
Study Program of STKIP PGRI Pasuruan. Although they can in exploiting phonetic transcription exercises to improve
speak English fluently but they made mistakes in pronouncing students’ ability in pronouncing words or sentences, the
some words, for word eight/8, they often pronounce it to /ԑg/, of researcher decided to gain the research question on how can
course it is sounded like egg, one of food kind. Another example phonetic transcription exercises be used to improve students’
is pronouncing word architect, they pronounce it to /α:ʧi:tԑkt/ or pronunciation ability?

Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). 336
 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 222

A. Phonetic Transcription 3) Visual reinforcement, it is a real time visual displays are to

Phonetic transcription is a written record of sounds of spoken show learners the relationship between the patterns they produce
language. The relationship between phonetic transcription and and those they are required to repeat. One of the possible
spoken language is very similar to that between a printed conventions for making the word stress visible is writing the
musical score and a musical performance. Transcription stressed syllable in capital letters:
separates pronunciation from actual audio recording, in reality it FAshion, SEssion, beHAVE
has many advantages for teaching spoken language and
pronunciation [2]. Phonetic transcription does have a few Another common way of visualising word stress is the use
drawbacks, the most significant of which is that it requires that of dots. The large dots mark a stressed syllable in a word:
both teachers and students be familiar with the IPA (or whatever catwalk - • •.
system of transcription is used). 4) Tactile reinforcement, it is the use of the sense of touch is
The activity of transcribing is very simple, the students must another frequently employed technique, though it is not
write the symbols of the sounds they have heard from the spoken discussed very often. In fact, some teachers might be taking
language or from normal English orthography. Sometimes the advantage of it without even realising this.
transcriber cannot realize the letter they want to write, because In Kenworthy [7] explained that teaching pronunciation is
English has irregular sounds. The International Phonetic integrated with other skills of English. For example, in teaching
Alphabet has hundreds of symbols, fifty from them are English listening, teachers cannot avoid the pronunciation activity. It is
sounds which are needed to the English phonetic transcription happened in teaching vocabulary too, teachers must give
[4]. students example on how the words must be pronounced. The
There are two styles of transcription that you may find useful followings are the techniques teachers can use in pronunciation
in ESL/EFL classes. The first is called narrow transcription: it’s classes based on Kenworthy [7]: (i) Exploiting transcriptions of
transcription that attempts to record every single phonological recorded materials, here teachers can give students recorded
feature (sound) of an utterance, whether it is important to materials and show the phonetic transcription to make students
meaning or not. Narrow transcription is useful mainly when you aware how the words or phrases or sentences are pronounced.
are trying to show students their own foreign accents, or when (ii) Actions replay technique, it is recording technique while
you are contrasting accents of English or comparing students or learners are practicing speaking performance. Their
pronunciation of English with pronunciation of other languages activity are recorded, then it is replayed, and analyzed what are
[5]. the errors of pronunciation they made during the action or
performance. (iii) Oral homework, here students are asked to
Furthermore, Hesselwood [5] stated that the second form of record their voices while pronouncing some
transcription is referred to as broad transcription. It documents words/phrases/sentences. The recordings will be brought to a
only the sounds that are important to meaning. This type of class small discussion needed to analyze the pronunciation
transcription is also called phonemic transcription. Broad errors.
transcription is used to show students how something should be
pronounced. It emphasizes only the sound differences that serve Teachers in foreign learning situation of course have done
to distinguish meaning; tiny pronunciation features that merely some similar techniques and methods stated above. EFL
betray a foreign or regional accent are not transcribed. Broad students have also been accustomed by the pronunciation
transcription is the type you would use in pronunciation keys, activity. It is effected their English speaking performance and
and indeed dictionaries use broad transcription to show the their performance in comprehending the content in listening
pronunciation of words. activity.
In this research, researcher uses the kind of narrow II. METHOD
transcription which only directly transcribes the phonological This research is a Classroom Action Research. As stated in
features without its meaning. Latief [8], Classroom Action Research is for English learning
B. Teaching Pronunciation aims at discovering learning teaching strategies that match
learner’s style and strategies in learning English. It is also the
Winiewska [6] stated in her article about methods and
effective media to improve the English teacher’s performance
techniques to teach pronunciation that phonetic transcription is
quality. The research was conducted in English Education Study
one of the technique teachers’ can use in the class of
Program of STKIP PGRI Pasuruan. There are two classes for
pronunciation. It is because phonetic transcription shows code
2016 generation for English Phonology class. The researcher
and symbols of the sounds. Here are some methods and
chose class 2016 B consists of 25 students, because from the data
techniques teachers can use in pronunciation classes:
got this class has problems in pronouncing English words, but
1) Phonetic transcription, it is represent the true sounds from they are interested in learning and remedying their pronunciation
different letters of alphabet. Many linguists believe that it is a ability.
good and valuable tool to learn foreign language sounds system.
The data gained from a questionnaire given in preliminary
2) Auditory reinforcement, the technique is useful for making study. It was formulated that the most factor of pronunciation
learners aware of troublesome sounds through listening and problem is lack of practicing and reluctant to find and search for
discrimination practice. the correct pronunciation, in other word, the students got
fossilize with their own way pronunciation. Badly, they did not

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 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 222

realize that they pronounce incorrect English sounds. Based on TABLE II. WORDS PRONOUNCED
this problem, the researcher chose phonetic transcription life toothpaste electric razor atmosphere
exercises to improve students’ pronunciation ability. The
picture shampoo toothbrush rug
Criteria of Success of this research is 100% students got 80 in
pronouncing 30 words after being given phonetic transcription comfortable razor radiator lamp
exercises. perfume brush cushion sofa
The instruments of this research are: test and documentation, Figure I. Phonetic Symbol of Words Pronounced
they were used to gain the data of the students’ pronunciation
ability. In advance of the research, the cycle period could not be
predicted. This research took two cycles then, because the first
cycle was failed. The researcher revised some steps to gain better
data.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Results
In the first cycle, the researcher gave some example of
phonetic transcriptions before giving the students exercise. The
students must be accustomed to the IPA symbols and how to
transcribe. For the first meeting, the students were given
exercises to transcribe one syllable word as the following:

TABLE I. ONE SYLLABLE WORD TO BE PRONOUNCED

The students were more enthusiastic in doing these tasks
book bed bit back beat because they realized that the words were the same after doing
deck duck dog door dumb both of them. They could directly remedy their pronunciation.
Then the researcher test them individually to pronounce the
good goose give got gum
words and this is the result:
hook hack hole have him
CHART II STUDENTS’ SCORE IN CYCLE II
jug joke jerk jump jew

Then, the students were given the answers to practice their Students' Pronunciation Score
pronunciation in the second meeting. The reading aloud test was
conducted individually. It took lot of time, and here are the
findings: 100-90
90-80
CHART 1 STUDENTS’ SCORE IN CYCLE 1
80-70
Students'score
It was shown that, more than half of students got 80-90, and
100-90 the rest got 90-100. The second cycle was succeeded because it
80-70 could reach the criteria of success of 100% students got 80 in
pronouncing the words after being given the phonetic
70-60 transcription exercise.
60-50 B. Discussion
50-40 This research was succeeded in the second cycle. The
researcher will explain and analyze the reasons and the result. In
cycle two, students had accustomed to the phonetics
We could see from the biggest part of the chart, it was shown transcription exercises, they were able to correct their errors by
that almost half of students got 60-70 score in pronouncing those themselves by seeing the transcription exercises. It is in line with
words. Whereas, criteria of success is all the students got 80 as Hesselwood [5] where students and teachers do not need much
the minimum score to be called pass in the test of pronouncing time to teach pronunciation, without too many “repeat after me”
the words after being given of phonetic exercises. Thus, the direction, students were able to remedy their pronunciation. That
second cycle was conducted. is one of advantages teachers and students can get in using
transcription exercises.
In the second cycle, the researcher directly gave the students
two exercise, first the exercise from normal English Besides, Winiewska [6] stated that phonetic transcription
orthography, then to the phonetic exercise, here were the exercise is one of tool can be used by teachers in pronunciation
exercises: classes. It is valuable for students in knowing the precise
symbols of sounds in the foreign language sound system. It was

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happened in the research, students were amazed by the sounds thebsecond cycle was implemented, it worked better and gave
they have not known before. They knew the differences of some significance improvement of the pronunciation ability of fourth
similar sounds by looking at the symbols of the phonetic semester students in English Education Study Program of
transcription exercises. They directly corrected their errors STKIP PGRI Pasuruan.
spontaneously because they remembered the symbols they have
done in phonetic transcription exercise.
In other words they aware to the pronunciation of the words REFERENCES
because they have known the transcription. It is in line with [1] F. L. Schmidt, “The problem of group differences in ability scores in
Kenworthy [7] in which exploiting transcription exercises can employment selection,” Journal of Vocational Behavior, vol. 33, pp. 272-
292, 1992.
make students aware how the words must be pronounced.
[2] A. Atkielski, “Using phonetic transcription in class,” October 2012.
Students awareness were improved, it was also increase their
[3] A. J. Mompen and P. Litunen, “Phonetic notation in foreign teaching and
pronunciation ability. They pronounced the words precisely learning potential advantages and learners,” vol. 3, no. 3, 2015.
after knowing the transcription. It made the second cycle
[4] J. C. Wells, “Phonetic transcription and analysis transcription,”
successfully improved the students’ pronunciation ability by University College London, May 2018.
using the phonetic transcription exercises. [5] B. Hesselwood, “Phonetic transcription in theory and practice,”
Edinburgh University, 2013.
IV. CONCLUSION [6] H. Winiewska, “Methods and techniques in pronunciation teaching,”
The researcher concludes that exploiting phonetic 2000.
transcription exercises can improve students’ pronunciation [7] J. Kenworthy, “Teaching English pronunciation,” New York: Longman
ability. It was exploited in two cycles, but the first cycle was Inc., 2005.
failed, it could not reach the criteria of success. Then, [8] M. A. Latief, “Research methods on language learning: An Introduction,”
Malang: Universitas Negeri Malang, 2012.

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