IMPROVING PUPILS PRONUNCIATION AMONG 20 PUPILS FROM YEAR 1 CEMERLANG THROUGH PHONETIC APPROACH Prepared by: PN.

ROSMANITA AHMAD SK LKTP Tenang, 22010 Jerteh, Terengganu.

ABSTRACT
This research was done to Year 1 Cemerlang pupils in order to indicate their weaknesses in pronunciation. Twenty pupils of Year 1 Cemerlang were selected for this research. They are among the remedial pupils and they are very weak in pronunciation. They are not able to pronounce the words clearly. The objective of this research is to improve the pupils pronunciation through phonetic approach. The activities that I have carried out in this research are making animal sounds, minimal pairs, tongue twisters and singing along. Hopefully, they will able to pronounce and memorise at least five words a day together with their meanings without any help from the teachers and friends.

86

1.0 TEACHING AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS First and foremost, as a teacher of English, I do not only teach good pronunciation but I also make it possible for pupils to acquire good pronunciation by imitating me. My role as a teacher therefore includes being a model for pupils to imitate. Therefore, many pupils face the problem of pronunciation. Nevertheless, as far as this crucial problem is concerned, I personally found that it is hard for me to overcome this pronouncing problem. This is mainly because most of the pupils are the slow learners and lack of motivation to learn. In addition they have a little knowledge of English Language because they are still in Year 1. The experience and knowledge they have gained during pre school and kindergarten are insufficient for them in order to learn English Language. As year one pupils, they are still confused Bahasa Melayu pronunciation and English Language pronunciation which are totally different. However, they used to pronounce English words similar to Bahasa Melayu words. In this case, I have the hard time in explaining to them the differences in the two languages. I have to introduce consonant sounds /k/ , /t/ and /b/ for three consonant letters, c, t and b and vowel sounds // and // for vowel letters a and o respectively. I also have asked them to memorise the spelling of the words, sounds and their meanings through making animal sounds, minimal pairs, tongue twisters and singing along activities. Therefore I have to use phonetic approach in the activities which I have carried out with them. This approach has facilitated them to pronounce and memorise the words easily. 2.0 FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH The focus of this research is to improve their pronunciation. 20 pupils from Year 1 Cemerlang were chosen because they are very weak in English and in addition they are the remedial pupils. The pupils of Year 1 Cemerlang are not widely exposed to the usage of the English Language. As a result, they are not able to pronounce the English words correctly. So, they need to improve their English with the guidance from their teachers. 3.0 OBJECTIVES 3.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE 3.1.1 To improve the pronunciation of English words. 3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES By the end of this research, all the pupils of Year 1 Cemerlang will be able to; 3.2.1 Pronounce clearly and spell correctly at least 5 words a day.

86

3.2.2 Pronounce and memorise 5 words a day with their meanings. 4.0 TARGET GROUP The target group of this research is 20 pupils of Year 1 Cemerlang. They are among 7 Malay boys and 13 Malay girls.

5.0 ACTION IMPLEMENTATION 5.1 The Problems The problem which arose is the ability of the pupils to pronounce the English words. The pupils who were selected for this research are among the remedial pupils. They have problem to read the text in English. The pupils are not exposed to the usage of English at home. They only learn English during English lesson at school. 5.2 Analysis of the problem It is hard to teach English subject to these pupils of this school. The school is located quite far from town. Their attitude to learn English is also disappointing. They are not interested to learn English by themselves. The teachers need to spoon feed them in order to teach English. We need to resort to many alternatives in order to resolve this problem.
Oral pre - test Able to pronounce the words shown to them with pictures

No

Pupils

Able to pronounce the words shown to them without pictures 3

Able to pronounce and memorise the words shown to them

a)

20

5.3 Action Done I have selected 20 pupils of Year 1 Cemerlang to carry out my research. I have done the strategies that I need to do in order to improve the pupils ability to pronounce the words correctly. I have carried out the strategies which I have planned. The strategies are; a) Oral pre-test b) Oral post-test

5.4 Action Implementation/Evaluation I have carried out three activities in order to improve the pupils pronunciation skills. They are as follows;

87

5.4.1

Activity 1 Making Animal Sounds

As we know young learners are usually more willing to practise repeatedly sounds that they have difficulties with it. Many pupils have problems with the long vowel sounds. In order to help them, I gave them practice in these sounds and told them to make animal sounds. The cow says moo. The horse says neigh. The crow says caw-caw. The chick says cheep-cheep. The duck says quack-quack. The donkey says hee-haw.

The pupils were divided into four groups of five members. Each of the groups was handled by one leader among themselves. Firstly, the leader from each group said aloud the words and the members of the group repeated after their leader. The groups competed among themselves. The teacher gave the marks based on their correct pronunciation. The teacher guided them when they had the difficulty to say the words. 5.4.2 Activity 2 Minimal Pairs

Minimal pairs were taught to practise long and short vowels. The pupils were trained to say these pairs of words. pit bid sit hut bun cut ------------------------------------------------------------------peat bead seat heart barn cart

Minimal pairs to practise consonants/consonant clusters. log rice lay day 5.4.3 --------------------------------------------fog lice ray lay

Activity 3 Limericks and Tongue Twisters

These method could be fun while providing pronunciation practice. Tongue twisters are a good way of practising the positioning and movement of the

88

speech organs. They help pupils open their mouths and shape their lips correctly. The pupils said aloud limericks such as these: A flea and a fly in the flue were imprisoned, so What could they do? Said the fly,Lets flee. Said the flea, Lets fly. So they flew through a flaw in the flue. As a beauty I am not a star. There are others more handsome by far. But my face I dont mind it Because Im behind it; Its the people in front I jar. So, I used the tongue twisters in order to improve the pupils ability to say out the English words. In order to implement it, the teacher guided the pupils to read the tongue twister. Teacher read tongue twister, then the pupils repeated after the teacher.

5.4.4

Activity 4 Singing Along

Teacher sang along with pupils with the help of animated movie. Pupils were required to sing in their groups and finally they had to sing alone.

Roar, roar, roar a tiger roar. Moo, moo, moo, moo a cow moos. Monkeys chatter, donkeys bray. Bees hum, horses neigh. 5.4.5
No

Evaluations
Pupils Oral post - test Able to Able to pronounce pronounce the the words shown words shown to to them without them with pictures pictures 6 10 Able to pronounce and memorise the words shown to them

b)

20

89

5.5

Reflections

Even though all of my objectives were not fully achieved but I am happy with the improvement of the pupils in this class. They have shown their interest to learn how to pronounce the English words. They have the ability to say out the words but they need guidance and help from the teachers. Even though they are the remedial pupils but they are good at memorizing the words if the pictures and words are shown to them at the same time. As a result, they could say out a few words by recognizing the pictures eventhough they still have the difficulty in spelling the words correctly.

6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEXT RESEARCH In my opinion, I hope that my effort will not end. The approach which I have carried out is suitable to be implemented to remedial classes which are very weak in English pronunciation. It also helps the pupils to read and spell in English correctly. It will also helpful for the pupils to understand the language easily. The pupils need to be drilled frequently so that they will familiar on how to pronounce the words easily in their daily life. Drilling activity helps the pupils to memorise the words as well as improving their vocabulary. Making animal sounds, minimal pairs, tongue twisters and singing along activities are also suitable to be taught not only in Year 1 remedial classes but to all English classes from Year 1 to Year 6. These activities help them to cultivate their interest in learning the language itself. As we know that Science and Mathematics nowadays are taught in English. So, the pupils must love the language itself in order to excel in their studies. Last but not least, I also would like to suggest all the teachers to carry out the activities which I have done through out my research. Hopefully, the pupils have got the benefit from this research. The pupils should do the activities throughout the year with the help of their teachers. Mathematics and Science teachers also should encourage the pupils to speak in English during their lessons in order to improve the pupils pronunciation.

90

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eliani Nik Nawi, Othman Ahamad. 2001. Read Easy Phonics. Onestop Language And Computer Consultancy. KW Wai. 2007. Complete Text & Guide UPSR English. Arah Pendidikan Sdn. Bhd.

Nesamalar Chitravellu, Saratha Sithamparan, Teh Soo Choon. 1995. ELT Methodology Principles and Practice. Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. Nor Bi Abd Rahman. 2007. Lets Proceed With Simple English. Alaf 21 Sdn. Bhd.

91