Abstract

The majority of English second language learners, including undergraduate students, struggle with English
writing and spelling. These challenges are attributed to a variety of factors, including linguistic differences
between English and their first language. This study aims to look into the most common spelling mistakes
made by undergraduate students. In addition, the root causes of students' poor spelling must be identified.
Furthermore, effective teaching strategies for improving spelling instruction should be recommended. In
this study, Cook's classification of errors was used, which classified errors into four categories: substitution,
insertion, deletion, omission, and transposition.
There are 80 female students and 10 English language teachers in this study. A task and a survey were
created to collect information. The error analysis uncovered that errors of omission account for the
majority of errors (41.55%), while substitution spelling errors account for the minority (24.65%). With a
percentage of (19.72%), insertion errors came in second. Transposition errors had the lowest percentage
of errors with (14.08%).
It was possible to conclude that the students struggled to pronounce the silent letters, which differed
greatly from the Indonesian phonetic system. It has been proposed that English Lecturers should pay more
attention to students' pronunciation and find a better method or technique for teaching it, and students
should study the silent letters in the English language more diligently.

Keywords
Mistake, Errors, Pronunciation, and Silent Letter

Introduction
The manner in which someone pronounces or speaks out the words that are accepted or understood in a
specific language is referred to as pronunciation. It is frequently used as a skill to demonstrate someone's
mastery of English.
Pronunciation is an essential component of foreign language learning, according to Gilakjani (2012),
because it directly affects learners' communicative competence and performance. Some people judge
English proficiency based on the ability to speak clearly rather than any other language skills. Furthermore,
people are considered successful in their second and foreign languages if they can pronounce them
fluently.
Nowadays, knowing English is essential because language is a means of communication and interaction
between people. As the process of globalization and modernization progress, people are coming together
in novel ways.

On a global scale, a way of life. It is impossible to avoid interacting and communicating with people from
various backgrounds, languages, and cultures in a global society. As a result, the international language is
the primary means for English-speaking people to interact and build relationships within their community.
Even though, as Kenworthy (1987) points out, the primary goal of learning pronunciation is to sound like a
native. Understanding English spoken at a natural speed by native speakers presents numerous challenges.

Speak in various accents. When it comes to speaking, non-native English speakers face similar challenges.
The problems stem from a lack of knowledge of phonetics and phonology.
As a result, every English learner has their own phonetic words for their native languages, such as
Indonesian, Javanese, Sumatran, and Sundanese. Because of their accent, English learners in every country
often pronounce English differently than native speakers. Others, on the other hand, accepted and
comprehended their proclamation. Brown (2000) believes that English pronunciation should be more
realistically focused on clear and understandable pronunciation.
Singapore, Australia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and so on. However, English learners' mother
tongue influences how they perform English.
Silence in a letter is something that has always happened in English mistakes. A silent letter is one that
appears in a word's spelling but not in its pronunciation. Podhaizer is convinced Silent letters are letters
that are not sounded, (1998).
As a result, English learners were frequently perplexed about how to pronounce silent letter words.
Despite knowing the rules of the silent letter, some students make mistakes when performing it.
Furthermore, some students do not learn the rules or how to correctly pronounce the words.
Finally, students followed the correct rule frequently but inconsistently.
An error, according to Brown (2007), is a noticeable deviation from a native speaker's adult grammar that
reflects the learners' interlanguage competence. Taylor (1997) defines error as "an unavoidable
uncertainty that attends to all measurements." The word "error" can refer to either a mistake or a
falsehood. A sense of foreboding is associated with error.
It also happened at the English Education Study Program at the University of Bengkulu. Students enrolled
in an English study program, on the other hand, must learn how to pronounce words. They should be able
to correctly pronounce words. They must, after all, speak clearly in front of students if they are to become
teachers.
Because of the way those languages sound, pronunciation, as one aspect of learning new languages, plays
an important role in realizing the target language. Pronunciation is essential when communicating with
others. When a word is misspelled, the listener interprets it incorrectly, resulting in misunderstanding and
miscommunication.
A previous study conducted at the same location as this research, the English Education Study Program at
the University of Bengkulu, supports the high number of pronunciation errors. The study was carried out
by Styvant.
According to et al. (2019), English students have an average predicate when pronouncing syllable words
with stress in the first and second syllables and a low predicate when pronouncing words with two
stresses. The majority of English education students, according to the study, still mispronounce some
English words, particularly when stressing syllables.
Furthermore, the types of errors in pronouncing the silent letter varied according to a 2018 study
conducted by Utama's research. Because of the nature of the mother tongue, the error occurred. After
that, in 2017, SalwaStudents made errors in certain sounds, according to the study findings, with the []
sound being the most common type of interlingual pronunciation error made by students. Furthermore,
Alqunayeer conducted a study in 2016. According to the study's findings, the letter "g" was the most
frequently mistyped. Ayumi (2018) also discovered that students who correctly silenced the silent letter
had better pronunciation than those who did not.
The researchers determined that the current study was worthwhile in order to investigate the types of
silent letter errors made by English education students at the University of Bengkulu.
The following was the research question for the current study: When dealing with English silent letters,
what types of pronunciation errors do English education students make? The researchers expected this
study to produce. The students will learn useful information that will help English lecturers succeed and
advance in their teaching of English silent letters.

Research Methodology
In the study, the descriptive quantitative method was used. The descriptive quantitative method, as
defined by Sudjiono in Ayumi (2018), is a method for describing the state of a phenomenon.
The measuring instrument is processed after the function. The study was conducted at the English
Education Study Program at Bengkulu University. Students in their seventh semester made up the research
population.
A population, according to Arikunto in Salwa (2017), is a set (or collection) of all elements that have one or
more interesting attributes. There were a total of 94 students. They were separated into three groups.
There are 31 in Class A, 34 in Class B, and 29 in Class C. As a result, 30 students from Class A, 11 from Class
B, and 9 from Class C were chosen as samples.
To determine the types of errors made by students when pronouncing words with silent letters, a
pronunciation test and an interview were used. The device, or instrument, is what the researchers used to
collect data, according to Arikunto in Salwa (2017). The pronunciation test included the following English
silent letter words:

Roger purchased a knife two days ago at Bengkulu Caroline values knowledge is important
Indah Mall.
They were amusing to Christopher. Rachelle showed me how to be a sniper.

This is Harvard Medical Care. Limit yourself to one table length.

That dog will gnaw on an old bone until you throw
a steak at him.
The psalm is now at the center of the ceremony.
I hope you enjoy salmon.
A new era has begun.
I published an article about him in the Journal of
Criminal Psychology
Everyone in the neighborhood is staying calm.

It's a long slog, but it keeps me very busy. Before evenly distributing the soap, moisten your
hands and wrists.
 We must clear the aisle.
People make mistakes from time to time.
You're the epitome of autumn.
Victoria purchased a comb two days ago.
At the very least, everyone is truthful.
The veldt of Africa makes me blue.
Agatha's knee had been broken.
Salvador's skin can be thoroughly whitened with
honey and dough.
You had a personal wealth of $250 million a month
ago.
Sign one more for more money.
Pneumonia killed my brother.
My mother always gave me almond milk.
Pay close attention to your parents at home.
I'm going to the island this summer.
Pass me the wrench so I can remove the plug.
He used to sing this hymn at every sunset.
We are a debt collection agency.
Lee enjoys watching the television drama "The
Heir."
You should have seen our Wednesday parties.
Barbara adores the island of Esme.
Mom has been a shambles since your visit this
morning.
I've broken a solemn promise.
I doubt anyone enjoys cheese.
Pattaya did not respect him when he was alive.
Ezekiel is a handsome young man.
Charlotte will be knocking on his door.
You and I are both aware of this.
Mr. Emmett achieves a depth of 20 meters.
I'm looking for a cologne and a wallet.
The psych profiles of cops and criminals are said to
be nearly identical.
You've taken my sunscreen and lip balm.
he'll whistle my favorite song.
Mr. Kim lives on this islet.
This is a watchless wrist.
Write a column about the expansion of South
Beach.
you just have to be subtle.
Rose had been waiting for him for an hour.
Rich Brian was carrying a handkerchief.

Meanwhile, an expert Judgement was used to determine the instrument's validity. The Otter voice meeting
notes application was used to collect data for the study. The following formula was used to analyze the
collected data:

Total number of errors

Total percentage = ×100

Total number of words

Furthermore, the researchers used inter-rater to perform the same measurement or observation on the
same sample, which was calculated using the Cohen Kappa principle to assess the reliability of the data
collected. In 2005, the score was measured in two categories, according to Widhiarso's theory: score 1 if
the judgment of the analysis was the same as between the researchers and the rater, and score 0 if the
judgment of the analysis was different between the researchers and the rater. The following is how the
Kappa value is interpreted:

Kappa values Strength of agreement

<0.2 Poor
0.20 – 0.40 Fair
0.41 – 0.60 Moderate
0.61 – 0.80 Good
0.81 – 1.00 Very good

Results and Discussion

Results
The number of students classified in the specific number of errors was determined based on data analysis
of students' pronunciation.

Samples Pre-systematic Systematic Post-systematic

Student 1 33 19 -
Student 2 33 19 -
Student 3 33 19 -
Student 4 33 19 -
Student 5 33 19 -
Student 6 33 19 -
Student 7 33 19 -
Student 8 33 19 -
Student 9 33 19 -
Student 10 33 19 -
Student 11 33 19 -
Student 12 33 19 -
Student 13 33 19 -
Student 14 33 19 -
Student 15 34 18 -
Student 16 33 19 -
Student 17 33 19 -
Student 18 33 19 -
Student 19 33 19 -
Student 20 33 19 -
Student 21 33 19 -
Student 22 33 19 -
Student 23 33 19 -
Student 24 33 19 -
Student 25 33 19 -
Student 26 33 19 -
Student 27 33 19 -
 Student 28 33 19 -
Student 29 33 19 -
Student 30 34 18 -
Total 992 568 0

According to the data in the table, the students made pre-systematic and systematic errors, with the pre-
systematic error occurring the most in the words of English silent letters. The students made 992 total pre-
systematic errors and 568 different types of systematic errors. It revealed that the most common type of
error made by students was pre-systematic errors.

Silent Number Total

Letters A B C of Errors percentage
K 9 7 14 30 25%
Gh 24 27 20 71 60%
Th 19 22 22 63 52%
G 31 34 28 93 77%
P 24 25 17 66 55%
L 16 22 20 58 48%
T 25 28 21 74 61%
S 29 33 27 89 74%
W 26 25 23 74 61%
N 18 18 18 54 45%
B 32 37 24 93 77%
H 24 19 15 58 48%
D 28 28 18 74 61%
Total Errors 305 325 267 897

The researchers discovered that students made 897 errors from 1.560 data points, with students in class A
making 305 errors, students in class B making 325 errors, and students in class C making 267 errors.
C. Furthermore, the silent letters "g" and "b" had the most pronunciation errors, with a total of 93 errors
per letter and a percentage of 77%.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to discover the types of pronunciation errors made by seventh-semester
students of the English Education Study Program at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education in
Bengkulu.

When dealing with English silent letters at university. According to Corder in Ellis (1994), errors are
classified into three types. There are three types of errors: presystematic, systematic, and post-systematic.
The presystematic error occurs when the learner cannot explain why a particular form is chosen, the
systematic error occurs when the learner cannot correct the error but can explain the rule applied, and the
post-systematic error occurs when the learner cannot correct the error but can explain the rule applied.

When the learner is able to explain the correct rule. The following are the findings of this study:
According to the research results, there was a similarity between this research and Utama (2018), the
researcher discovered that the students made two types of errors, pre-systematic and systematic, the type
of errors
The most common type of occurrence was pre-systematic. This result was similar to Utama (2018) in that
the students made two types of errors: pre-systematic and systematic errors.
It demonstrates that the researcher agrees with Utama's research that each word of silent letters has
distinct characteristics that students pronounce differently based on their phonological knowledge.

Furthermore, the phonotactic constraints of the students' first language as their mother tongue influenced
the pronunciation errors they made.
The silent letters "g" and "b" had the highest percentage of pronunciation errors (77%). Furthermore,
Alqunayeer (2016) discovered that 68% of all pronunciations were incorrect. It demonstrated that the
pronunciation Alqunayeer's research had fewer errors than this study.
In this study, there were 897 errors from 1.560 data points, with the students making the most errors in
the silent letters "g" and "b" with a total of 93 errors and a 77% error rate. This is consistent with Salwa
(2017)'s assertion that the Participants made errors in [v], [], [d], [], and [t] sound, and the most common
type of interlingual pronunciation error made by participants was []. The students made 178 mistakes, for a
percentage of 25.95%. The researchers in previous studies all revealed the factors that caused the errors,
which was a significant difference from previous studies.
In contrast to Ayumi (2018), the findings of this study differ.
According to Ayumi's research, the percentage of correct pronunciation was 71.3%, while the percentage
of incorrect pronunciation was 28.7%. It denotes that the correct pronunciation outweighed the errors. It
could be because of the various subjects involved. This study was conducted in the English Education Study
Program, whereas Ayumi's study was conducted in the non-English Department Students.
The first problem identified in this study was that students in the English education study program made
pre-systematic and systematic pronunciation errors. Many students made mistakes and I am unable to
explain the correct silent letter rule. It suggests that students enrolled in the English education study
program at the University of Bengkulu have difficulty pronouncing English silent letters. This is consistent
with Ningrum (2019) and Irianto (2018), who stated that students in the English Education Study Program
at the University of Bengkulu had difficulty recognizing and pronouncing morphophonemic words, as well
as having difficulty pronouncing English consonants in some sounds. The similarity to this research stems
from the fact that both studies involved students from the same study.
According to the data, the students made two types of pronunciation errors: pre-systematic and
systematic errors. First, consider presystematic errors. When students were unaware and out of control
while pronouncing the words, this type of pronunciation error occurred. They cared for to disregard how to
speak by using correct pronunciations so that when they pronounce the words of English silent letters,
they are not bothered by their own incorrect pronunciations. According to Corder in Ellis (1994), the pre-
systematic error occurs when learners are unable to explain why a particular form is chosen.
The following words were pronounced as pre-systematic errors by students in this type: dough, thorough,
gnaw, reign, cologne, psalm, psych, salmon, almond, honest, heir, honor, hustle, moisten,
Wednesday, handsome, handkerchief, wrench, wreck, wrist, autumn, hymn, solemn, column, comb, debt,
doubt, subtle.
According to the data, the researchers discovered that many words were pronounced incorrectly by
students. When the researchers interviewed the students one by one to clarify their errors, the truth was
that they did not.
Recognize all of your mistakes. Furthermore, they were not fully aware of how to evaluate and correct
their own pronunciations.
Second, there are systematic errors. Pronunciation errors occurred among students who understood the
rules of language function; they were errors in practice. Students are fully aware of the rule of
phonological symbols in pronunciations, but they could be pronunciation errors. They may also be unable
to evaluate and correct errors. According to Corder and Ellis (1994), systematic errors occur when learners
are unable to correct errors but can explain the rules that were used.
The researchers discovered 19 words that were pronounced as systematic errors by students in this type:
know, knife, knee, knowledge, thought, taught, health, wealth, length, depth, sign, pneumonia,
psychology, and others.
Calm, balm, listen, island, wrong hour.
The following are examples of systematic errors made by students. They frequently pronounced the word
"listen" as /lzn/. The correct phonological word is /lsn/. Another word was incorrect. The
Students pronounced the word wrong as /wr/. Despite the fact that the correct pronunciation and
phonological word should be /r/ Some students pronounced it correctly and knew the rules used, but due
to environmental factors such as noise interference, the application recognized incorrect pronunciations or
did not even detect voice properly.
Furthermore, the utterance must not be repeated because the rules state that a sentence can only be
pronounced once and aloud once. To pronounce the word correctly, students needed to consult their
dictionary or an online dictionary correctly.