CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

English as an international language is the most widely used medium of

communication. In addition, English helps many people express their ideas and

opinions, receive news and information. English plays an important role in

today’s era of globalization. Therefore, English is still being learnt by high school

students in Indonesia. SMK Swasta Budisatrya, as one of vocational high school

in Medan, conducts the teaching and learning English to fulfill the need of

students who have competence in various fields and are accompanied by

sufficient English skills. Teaching English in vocational high school requires

specific materials, methods and strategy. Vocational High School English lessons

should refer to each program study of students being taught. English teacher of

VHS (Vocational High School) has to teach English component that is closely

related to the students’ major study, for example: English expression of handling

guess, information about special terms used by engineering students and etc1.

English materials taught in vocational high school should be different from

general English. VHS students need to be served with the teaching of all four

language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and relate them to the

study program choses by the students so that the teaching and learning process

can

1
Pipit Muliyah and Dyah Aminatun, “Teaching English for Specific Purposes in Vocational
High School: Teachers’ Belief and Practices,” Journal of English Teaching (JET) 06, no. 02
(2020): 122–133.
1
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support them to achieve better performance in the real working environment2.

This better performance can be achieved when the students have better

communication skill. Thus, to have better communication skill, they need correct

pronunciation since pronunciation has significant effect towards the understanding

of the meanings of the words3.

Correct pronunciation is one of the root requirements of students’

competence and it is also one of the crucial aspects of language learning4.

Therefore, the pronunciation learning is important. The purpose of pronunciation

lessons is not to ask students to pronounce like native speakers. But the students’

pronunciation should be understandable in verbal communication. When students

want to change the way they pronounce English words, they need to change the

way they think about the sounds of those words. This applies to both individuals

part of speech such as syllables, stress patterns, and rhythms.

English pronunciation is very difficult for students5. In some cases, there is

a problem due to the fact that the irregular spelling of the language provides

inadequate pronunciation guidance. In other cases, the problem is due to

interference from the primary language to the target language. There are two basic

principles in the overall pronunciation teaching strategy. The first, pronunciation

lessons are integrated with other skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing)

2
Moh Arif Mahbub, “English Teaching in Vocational High School: A Need Analysis,”
Journal of English Education and Linguistic Studies (JEELS) 05, no. 02 (2019): 229–258.
3
Pandya Disha Prashant, “Importance of Pronunciation in English Language
Communication,” Pronunciation and Communication 07, no. 02 (2018): 15–20.
4
Abbas Pourhosein Gilakjani, “English Pronunciation Instruction: A Literature Review,”
International Journal of Research in English Education 01, no. 01 (2018): 1–6.
5
Sondang Manik, “Improving Students’ Pronunciation Mastery by Using English Songs,”
Language Horizon 01, no. 02 (2017): 1–9.
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and the other aspects of the language (grammar, vocabulary, style, function,

discourse). The second, to practice a particular item or problem, we need to

separate the pronunciation6.

The difficulties of learning pronunciation also faced by the eleventh grade

students of SMK Swasta Budisatrya. Based on the observation, the researcher

discovers a fact that pronunciation often frustrated the students. The researcher

designs questionnaires and distributes them to students in order to obtain the data

about problem faced by the students regarding with the pronunciation learning in

the class. The data are as follow:

Table 1.1 the Result of Preliminary Observation

Responses (%)
Item Statements
Agree Disagree
1. I like to learn English 64% 36%
2. English is important for my future 64% 36%
3. Pronunciation is important in English 53% 47%
Communication
4. Pronunciation is difficult to master 83% 17%
Source: Researcher’s Preliminary Observation (2022)

The questionnaires are distributed to 36 students of eleventh grade at SMK

Swasta Budisatrya. From the data obtained, it can be seen that there are 23

students (64%) who state that they like learning English. There are also 23 (64%)

students say that they consider English is an important thing for their future. There

are 19 (53%) students who mention that pronunciation is important in English

communication. However, Table 1.1 shows that there are 30 students (83%) who

say that they find the pronunciation is difficult skill to master. This finding is in

line with a previous research which explained that English pronunciation is

6
Ibid.
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frustrating the students who learn English7. Therefore, English teachers are

demanded to be more creative in teaching English especially the pronunciation

skill to the students so that students can have proper pronunciation and as well as

the other English skills.

Students’ habit in learning English is one of the crucial factor that

determine the pronunciation ability of students. Students who have good habit in

learning English are believed that they have better ability in pronunciation 8.

Learning habits or study habits are actions done by the students frequently in

certain time such as regularly accomplishing learning objectives, taking notes,

reading, and conducting study groups9. Learning habits are considered as the main

core of success in learning. Students who perform activities which supporting

their learning process develop good habit in learning. This habits then will help

them in achieving the learning goals.

Pronunciation ability of the students can be improved by good learning

habits. The habits can be in form of watching movies/videos, listening music and

singing a song. Singing English songs affected the students’ pronunciation and

even it improved students’ speaking ability10. Students who have habit in singing

English song are able to pronounce the specific words out of the songs more

accurately because they got used to say the words in their singing activity. They

imitate the singers (native speakers) in pronouncing the words of the songs and
7
Ibid.
8
Rahmawati Upa, Tenri Ola, and Edi Wahyono, “Correlation Between Students’ Learning
Habit in Listening English Song and Their Pronunciation Capacity,” Ethical Lingua 08, no. 01
(2021): 110–116.
9
Jhoselle Tus et al., “The Learner’s Study Habits and Its Relation on Their Academic
Performance,” International Journal of All Research Writing (IJARW) 02, no. 06 (2020): 1–19.
10
Zahra Farmand and Behzad Pourgharib, “The Effect of English Songs on English Learners
Pronunciation,” International Journal of Basic Science & Applied Research 02, no. 09 (2018):
840–845.
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this is done in several times. Therefore, the students’ ability in pronunciation can

be improved through the process of listening and singing the songs.

Habit in singing English song are beneficial for students in both for

entertainment and learning purposes11. It is because of this habitual action

integrates the receptive and the productive skill. Receptive skill is when the

students begin to listen an English song, they like it, and they try to follow the

singer in the way she/he pronounced the words in the lyrics. The productive skill

is when the students begin to sing the song by imitating the way of the singer

pronounce every words in the lyrics. In short, habit in singing English song

develops students’ ability in listening and pronunciation at the same time.

In addition, English learning and teaching, especially pronunciation skill,

should be conducted in enjoyable and effective way. This is as an effort to solve

one of the problem found in SMKS Budisatrya. As mentioned in Table 1.1 in

previous section that there are 83% students of SMKS Budisatrya felt that English

pronunciation is difficult to learn. One of the possible solution to conduct an

enjoyable and effective learning is by using English song. Songs are considered as

an entertaining companion for students for as long as or even longer than we can

speak. As an integral part language experience, music can be of great value to

foreign language teaching12. Therefore, teachers should be encouraged to utilize

the English songs in teaching and learning English.

There have been several studies conducted which showed that habit in

singing English song can be effective in enhancing the students’ pronunciation.

11
Atikah Wati, “Correlation Between Students’ Listening English Song Habit and Students’
Listening Comprehension,” English Education 01, no. 03 (2017): 1–9.
12
Chunxuan Shen, “Using English Songs: An Enjoyable and Effective Approach to ELT,”
English Language Teaching 02, no. 01 (2019): 88–94.
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Students’ pronunciation mastery can be improved through the use of English

songs13. The process of listen-and-repeat singing trains the students’ to activate

their ability to listen and record what they heard and then produce the sound in the

way of the singers produce the sounds14. Most students enjoy singing songs, and

the can often be a welcome change from the routine of learning a foreign

language15. Students will find the teaching and learning English more amusing

and their preferences of learning English can be risen.

Learning pronunciation which is difficult for students requires the English

teacher’s attention. Teacher should provide an alternative to help them in learning

pronunciation. One of the possible way is by encouraging students to make the

activity of singing English songs as their learning habits. As the previous studies

explained that habit in singing English song can help students in learning

pronunciation. In order to answer the problem mentioned earlier and as well as to

reveal the fact of the previous research’s findings, this present study tries to find

out the correlation between habit in singing English song and the ability of

pronunciation of the eleventh grade students at SMK Swasta Budisatrya Medan.

13
Manik, “Improving Students’ Pronunciation Mastery by Using English Songs.”
14
Karen M Ludke, Fernanda Ferreira, and Katie Overy, “Singing Can Facilitate Foreign
Language Learning,” Psychonomic Society 17, no. 07 (2018): 1–12.
15
Neil T Millington, “Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners,”
Language Education in Asia 02, no. 01 (2021): 134–141.
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B. Research Question

In line with the background of the study, the research question of this

study is: “Is there any correlation between habit in singing English song and the

ability of pronunciation of the eleventh grade students at SMK Swasta Budisatrya

Medan?”

C. Purpose of the Study

The purposes of this study is to investigate the correlation between habit in

singing English song and the ability of pronunciation of the eleventh grade

students at SMK Swasta Budisatrya Medan.

D. Significance of the Study

This study is expected to be beneficial both theoretically and practically:

1. Theoretically

The findings of this study are expected to be beneficial in providing

information about the correlation between habit in singing English song and the

pronunciation ability of students. This study is also expected to be beneficial in

describing the pronunciation ability of students in one of vocational high school in

Medan.

2. Practically

a. For the researcher, this study is expected to be beneficial for her

improvement in conducting educational research and adding her

knowledge about teaching and learning English.

b. For the students, this study is expected to be able helping them in

improving their English competences, especially in pronunciation.

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c. For the English teachers, this study is expected to be beneficial for English

teachers in encouraging them to use creative ways in teaching English.

d. For the readers, this study is expected to beneficial in providing additional

reading materials about correlational study and teaching-learning process.

e. For the other researchers, this study is expected to motivate them in

deepening knowledge and to conduct related research about teaching and

learning English.