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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the problem

Pronunciation is always considered the hardest part for students in

learning English. Because speaking English will feel foreign to the

students' tongue, this is because English is not their daily language.

Students may have memorized and even know the vocabulary but when

they want to pronounce it they feel hesitant and wrong when pronouncing

it. English pronunciation is different than pronounce in Indonesian

language. Students must practice and learn English pronunciation a lot.

Good pronunciation can lead to good communication, which is why

pronunciation is an important component of communication.

Pronunciation is the use of sounds that are used to create meaning.

To say something, students need word stress, sentence stress, and

intonation. These are all part of pronunciation. Pronunciation is very

important in communication. Communication requires understanding

between the speaker and the listener. Even with good vocabulary and

grammar, mispronunciation can lead to misunderstanding between the

speaker and the listener. But if the pronunciation is not clear,

communication will not go well.

According to (Yates & Zielinski, 2014) states that pronunciation

refers to how people produce the sound that we use to make meaning

while speaking. It includes the particular consonants and vowels of a

language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of individual

segments, such as stress, timing, rhythm, intonation, phrasing

(suprasegmentally aspects) and how the voice is projected (voice quality).

Pronunciation has a role in order to improve and teach the correct

pronunciation for students, so that later students do not have difficulties in

pronouncing English sentences at the next level of education. The clearer

one's pronunciation, the better and easier it is for the interlocutor to

understand a discussion. On the other hand, it will be difficult for the

listener to understand the conversation if the pronunciation is not clear.

From the investigation carried out, the researcher found that students have

problems in English pronunciation. These factors are because English is

not their daily language, the influence of mother tongue, lack of

motivation, lack of practice because English learning is not the focus of

school goals.

English language learning at SMP N 4 Gunung Talang has the

main subject matter that must be learned by students, one of which is the

linguistic elements attached to the teacher's syllabus. In the elements of

language, there are several points that must be achieved by students,

namely pronunciation, word stress, intonation, spelling, punctuation, and

handwriting. In English learning, language elements such as grammar,

vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling are taught to support the

development of the four language skills. Therefore, upon graduation,

students are expected to have basic reading, listening, speaking and

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writing skills through themes selected based on the developmental level

and interests of the students, and an appropriate level of vocabulary and

grammar.

The condition of student pronunciation at SMPN 4 Gunung Talang,

especially in class eight is quite lacking because students do not know how

to spell correctly. They read English sentences the way they read

Indonesian sentences, it is because the students lack practice and do not do

it on a daily basis. The expected that in learning English at the point of

linguistic elements can support students to be able to mention, pronounce a

sentence correctly is very far from adequate, as observed by researchers. In

the performance of students' spoken English, there are still often some

mistakes in pronunciation, such as not being able to read English writing

such as students' embarrassment to read for fear of being laughed at by

friends, students' motivation in learning English, and students also feel

hesitant to read English sentences because they are used to reading texts in

Indonesian. In addition, researchers also observed that in English language

learning there were students who were not active in the learning process.

According to Karin Richter in (Poschner, 2018) states that, there

are at least seven factors that affect a person's pronunciation mastery,

namely attitude and identity, motivation, anxiety, formal pronunciation

instruction, gender, musically, exposure to the target language.

Based on researcher’s preliminary research conducted at SMP N 4

Gunung Talang through observation, and interview on 13th August 2023

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 researcher is interested in conducting research to find out what factors

influence students' pronunciation mastery entitled INVESTIGATED

FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ PROUNCIATION

MASTERY IN THE NINE GRADE OF SMPN 4 GUNUNG

TALANG”

B. Identification of the problem

Based on the preliminary research conducted in SMP N 4 Gunung

Talang, researcher found several problems that listed below:

1. Students’ lack of interest in earning English.

2. Students’ lack of confidence in pronouncing English sentences.

3. Students’ have difficulty in pronouncing English sentences.

C. Focus of the problem

Based on the identification of the problem above, the purpose of

this research on Investigate, find out about the factors influencing

students’ pronunciation mastery in the eighth grade of Junior High School

4 Gunung Talang.

D. Formulation of the problem

Based on the identification of the problem above researcher would

like to formulate the problem into “What is the factors influencing

students’ pronunciation mastery in Junior High School 4 Gunung Talang?”

E. Purpose of the research

Based on the formulation of the problem above, the purpose of this

research was formulated into following sentence find out about the factors

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 influencing students’ pronunciation mastery in the eighth grade of Junior

High School 4 Gunung Talang.

F. Significant of the research

This research is expected to have some use for certain kind of

people, as follows:

1. Teachers

To develop and improve teachers' abilities in knowing the factors

that influence students' pronunciation mastery.

2. Researcher

This research is expected to In order for researchers to find out the

factors that affect student mastery in pronunciation. And then, this

research expected to to fulfill the researcher's final assignment in UIN

SMDD.

3. Institution

This research is expected to add more collection in the library of

UIN SMDD and become resource for next researcher.

G. Definition of key terms

1. Investigation

Investigation is an activity carried out by means of an investigation

by recording or recording facts in the field, conducting a review in the

field and aiming to obtain the truth of answers to questions and so on.

2. Pronunciation

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 Pronunciation is the action or result of speech sounds, including

articulation, emphasis, intonation, and is usually related to the

correctness of Standard English itself. Pronunciation is the

pronunciation of a language. Words can be pronounced in many

different ways and depend on many factors, such as where they grew

up where they live their ethnic background their social class their

education their speech impediment

3. Pronunciation Mastery

Mastery is the understanding of one's ability to use knowledge,

intelligence, and so on. Pronunciation is how a person pronounces a

word. In this study, the mastery of pronunciation in question is the

ability of eighth grade students to pronounce English words correctly.