Language is a very important means of communication in daily human life.
Human being uses language both in written and spoken forms to express their
idea. As stated by Ramelan (1992: 10), language is an arbitrary system of speech
sounds which is used in interpersonal communication by an aggregation of human
beings, and which rather exhaustively catalogs thing, process, and events in the
human environments.
English has become an international language. People of different countries
speak English to communicate. English is a key, which opens the door to
scientific and technological knowledge. The Indonesian government has chosen
English as the first foreign language to be taught in the schools.
English becomes one of compulsory subjects from Junior High School up to
University. Therefore, the government provides a curriculum as the guidance of
English teacher in teaching-learning process. In the English curriculum 2006, the
learning activities involve listening, speaking, reading and writing. The four skills
are taught cohesively. Although it is focused on the four skills, pronunciation is
not separately taught from the four skills. 2
It is difficult for Indonesian students to pronounce English words correctly,
for example when they are asked to pronounce the word “umbrella” / ∂mbrel∂ /
they will pronounce /umbrella /. It is because of the differences between their
mother tongue and the English. The degree of difficulty in learning is also
determined by the degree of difference between the two languages. The greater
similarity between them, the less difficult it will be for the students to learn the
foreign language (Ramelan,1985:5).
Pronunciation is one of the most important parts of English to communicate
with others since there are differences between the symbol and its sounds. When we communicate with other people we should not only have a good vocabulary
but also have good pronunciation. Therefore, it is important to teach
pronunciation. As stated by Harmer ( 2000: 183 ) that for all these people, being
made aware of pronunciation issues will be of immense benefit not only to their
own production but also to their own understanding of spoken English.
The students often find problem with pronunciation when they speak, read,
or listen to English words. It might be caused by some factors. Learning English
is very complex since there are many factors that determine the success or failure
of learners in language learning. There are two kinds of factors, which affect
someone in learning English: internal and external factors come from the learners
themselves, such as motivation, interest, aptitude, and intelligence, while external
factors come from outside of the learners, such as the situation and condition of3the environment, learning materials, and the teacher’s ability in handling the English teaching and learning program.
Therefore, the teachers should have several special tricks to make their
students motivated to learn English. The learners need a way of teaching that is
enjoyable and practical so that finally they can integrate themselves into English,
for example singing English songs can get the students integrated to English. It is
assumed that they can contribute many things to improve student’s capabilities,
especially in their skill elements, such as vocabulary enrichment, listening and
speaking. Singing English song is believed to have direct influence on the
pronunciation skills. This thesis tries to find out whether songs can improve
achievement in pronunciation.
1.2 Reason for Choosing the Topic
To teach language skill, it is not enough for a teacher just to give an explanation
to his / her students, but it is necessary for them to be brought in an experience in
practicing the language in a real situation. Therefore the teacher needs a way of
teaching that is enjoyable and practical so that finally they can integrate into
English.
There are some ways in the language learning, for example, using picture to
teach vocabulary and games to teach grammar. In doing this study, the writer uses
songs as the media to improve the students’ achievement in pronouncing English
words. 5
Song is a kind of poet sung with music accompaniment. Most people like
songs. It is believed that songs are like magic. People can cry, laugh, be sad or be
angry only by listening to songs. From songs, they can also learn a lot of things
such as culture and new words. Based on the reasons above, the writer believes
that songs can be used as an alternative way in the language learning.
In the curriculum 2006, the English learning activities involve listening,
speaking, reading, and writing. Most students get difficulties when they have
listening classes. It is difficult for them to memorize and comprehend what they
listen to. Therefore, it is better for the teacher to teach the students with
something interesting and valuable in the listening class. The writer thinks that
song is a valuable material because by listening to songs, students can learn
vocabulary, pronunciation, expression, and so on.
However, the teacher cannot bring all songs into the class. She/ he should be
able to select appropriate songs for the students. She/ he should think about the
level of the students, the theme, and the students’ interest of the songs.
Based on the explanation above the writer wants to show to English teachers
that there are actually many ways of English teaching, which are useful as the
alternative treatments for the students problem in teaching pronunciation. She
hopes that it will be a valuable contribution to the development of English
teaching in general and teaching pronunciation in particular. Gross errors of
pronunciation seriously distract attention in the communication. 7
1.3 Statement of the Problems
In order to make a systematic approach in solving the problems, the statement of
the problem is: are songs effective to improve the students’ achievement in
pronouncing English words?
1.4 Objective of the Study
In line with the statement of the problems, the objective of the study is to find out
whether songs are effective to improve the students’ achievement in pronouncing
English words
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study is expected to have a significant contribution in quality improvement
of the language teaching. In particular, it is expected to be a very useful input for
foreign language teachers in teaching pronunciation. It is also hoped that the
result of study can help the students to find alternative ways to improve their
pronunciation quality.
1.6 Outline of the Report
In order that this study is easy to follow, it is organized within the five chapters as
follow. Chapter I deals with the Introduction. This includes Background of the
Study, Reasons for Choosing the Topic, Objective of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Significance of the Study, Outline of the Thesis. 8
Chapter II includes Review of the Literature Related to The Characteristics
of Junior High School Students, Songs as a Teaching Media, The Definition of a
Song, The Elements of Songs, Songs in the Language Learning, Teaching
Pronunciation, The Elements of Pronunciation, Students’ Problems in
Pronouncing English Words and Songs to Improve Achievement in
Pronunciation.
Chapter III presents Data Collection, Population and Sample, The
Instrument of the Research,Validity, Action Plan and The Analysis Method.
Chapter IV presents Data Analysis. Chapter V presents the conclusions of
