THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SONG AND RHYME IN TEACHING PRONUNCIATION TO THE THIRD GRADE

OF MTSN 1 PURWARKARTA
(A True Experimental Research Done in Third Grade of MTsN 1 Purwakarta)
A PAPER
Submitted to the English Education Study Program Departement of Language and Art
SEKOLAH TINGGI KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN (STKIP) Pasundan Cimahi in Partial
Fulfillment of Requirements for the Educational Scholar Degree.
Written By:
Agung Farid Agustian
(05510024)

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Language is what the members of particular society speak and the society in the
present time use English in most aspect of life (Wardhaugh, 1992:1). Mastering E
nglish is now a challenge for majority of people. It is because of fast transfer
ring of culture which accelerates the development in every aspect of life, inclu
ding the use of English as one of the main important language. Indonesian studen
ts are aware of the importance of English. As one of most applying language, bec
ause English language is the most used in communication. And for those who want
to master English, the purpose of language itself is how to send message to othe
rs in purpose of communication.
In school and in life, students face a many of circumstances that require langua
ge skills especially in communicating with others. For this reason, experience w
ith a variety of speaking activities in school can help learners acquire the ski
lls they need to be successful both in school and in life. Many language learner
s regard communication ability as the measure of knowing a language. These learn
ers define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ab
ility to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They regard speaking as the m
ost important skill they can acquire, and they assess their progress in terms of
their accomplishments in spoken communication. There are three areas of knowled
ge of communication using English language:
• Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words in the
right order with the correct pronunciation
• Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message is esse
ntial (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not r
equired (interaction/relationship building)
• Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of paus
es between speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to take
into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for
 what reason. (A journal of The National Capital Language Resource Center, Washi
ngton, DC, 2004)
In discussing the English pronunciation one of main focus is we may want to desc
ribe what people do when they are speaking English for communication. Speech is
not the same as written language because voice has characteristics that probably
carry extra message.
Pronunciation has been taught for years in kindergarten to high level of educati
on such as university. But what we concerned is that pronunciation highly relate
d with the ability of the teachers in performing language and not every non nati
ve English teacher can do exactly or imitate native sounds. The concept of miss
pronounces is a very confusing topic, because it is deal with deviate usage of S
tandard English pronunciation. Other problems regarding this issue is the pronun
ciation teaching strategies or technique and pronunciation has no position in ou
r system of teaching English because as we know that pronunciation is integrated
within the system.
In classroom activity, we met many obstacles when teachers try to communicate wi
th their students. Ranging from the lack vocabulary mastery, lacking of grammati
cal mastery and processes in speech, and miss pronouncing words that are show by
the students. Young students have short concentration, spans that last for abou
t eight minutes. This is extended if the student is very interested in something
but, in general, activities in the classroom should only last for that period o
f time (Wei, 2002:1). There is a constant need to change the focus in a lesson,
to add variety both in terms of the different learning styles you are catering f
or, as well as the different skills you are practicing in the class. Songs are f
un and they add variety to language learning.
The term ‘word’ is part of everyone’s vocabulary. Words as meaningful building-blocks
of language and words pronunciation are like a golden key to speaking and unders
tanding English. If you do not already know about English pronunciation, you can
try to learn about it. And through song, this is one of my opinions the best wa
ys for you to understand spoken English. And this research comes to meet their n
eeds. It is serves and offers wide knowledge which is useful and also encourages
their capability to communicate very well.
People often remember the words to songs. In fact, this particular learning proc
ess is almost a subconscious act. We hear songs on the radio, on television and
CDs, and by listening to them and we learn the words and how to pronounce it. It
seems that the melody and rhythm make it possible for us to easily remember the
words of songs: we memorize large amounts of words and how to pronounce them th
at in normal conditions we would not remember. Learning songs is, therefore a gr
eat way for students to learn the patterns of English language.
When non-native speakers sing a song in English, their accent is often noticeabl
e as when they speak (A journal by Rosseau Stannard, 2006, www.tefl.org/journal/
techniques). The intonation and stress patterns in songs are easier to understan
d and replicate due to the rhythm and melody, and this often results in better p
ronunciation. With songs, often repeat the sounds at the end of certain lines so
that the words rhyme. This can be a powerful way of highlighting the similariti
es in the sounds of words and help improve students’ pronunciation and an excellen
t way of improving students’ stress and intonation patterns in English.
By creating or collecting or adding our own words or lyrics to a well known and
famous English song picked by students and teacher is SONGS AND RHYMES definitio
n. Each song or rhyme should be thought of as an enjoyable piece of verse in its
own right. The learner s attention should be spontaneously drawn to the use of
language in them and to its expressiveness. The rhymes and songs are intended to
be enjoyed for their own sake, even if some of them have specially been compose
d for drilling structures or vocabulary and can be used in remedial work on pron
unciation with learners of all ages. The teacher need not make the young childre
n aware of these particular aims, although it is sometimes necessary to tell the
older learners what they are practicing and what results they are supposed to a
chieve (A journal by Dorota Cebula, IATEFL, Darwin College, University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent).
The writer is very interested with this issue, because in terms of communication
 pronunciation holds a major role to send messages. Pronunciation refers to the
way a word or a language is usually spoken, or the manner in which someone utter
s a word. In English, the language put a big force (stress) on some syllables an
d no force on other syllables or words. This can make it difficult for speakers
of other languages to understand English that is spoken quickly. Of course, for
native speakers it is not difficult, in fact, stress actually helps native speak
ers understand each other. So it is very important to learn how to pronounce Eng
lish word correctly and with Song and Rhyme the writer hopes that pronunciation
problem faced by the students can be solved.
1.2 Problem Statements
1.2.1 How effective the method in helping the third grade students in pronouncin
g word.
1.2.2 How significant the differences of students pronunciation before and after
treatment
1.3 Aim of the Research
1.3.1 To know the effectiveness of Song and Rhyme method in teaching pronunciati
on.
1.3.2 To know the significant difference of students pronunciation before and af
ter treatment
1.4 Hypotheses
Hypothesis: A testable statement usually derived from theory or observation, whi
ch predicts the nature of the relationship between variables, or the nature of d
ifferences between treatment results (P. Hinton, 2004).
1.4.1 Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference between the mean
performance scores of the experimental and control group.
1.4.2 Alternative Hypothesis (Ha): There is a significant difference between the
mean performance scores of the experimental and control group
1.5 Limitation of the Topic
The writer limits the topic only on effectiveness of the method in teaching word
s pronunciation in helping students’ pronunciation. The songs and rhymes in this r
esearch are from American and British artist/singer, and every issue outside the
topic is outside the writer concern.
1.6 The Benefit of the Study
1.6.1 Students can memorize large amounts of words and how to pronounce them
1.6.2 Improving students’ pronunciation patterns in English.
1.6.3 Solving the pronunciation problem in EFL classroom.
1.6.4 Providing the learner with motivating practice of pronunciation
1.7 Research Methodology
1.7.1 Research Design
The writer applied an experimental approach in this research. An experime
nt approach is just one method, amongst many gathering and the aim is to test a
hypothesis (A. Kerr, H. Kall and A. Kozub, 2002:40)
1.7.2 Populations
Population refers to all possible objects of particular type. And the population
s are taken from the second grade of MTSN 1 Purwakarta with 266 students ranging
from A to G class.
1.7.3 Samples
Sample refers to representative of the population. The total samples are 38 stu
dents of A class as experimental group and 38 students of B class as control gro
up students with random sample (P. Hinton, 2004). There are two groups. Experim
ental group: A group of participant which receive treatment. Where there is only
one experimental condition the group is compared with control group. Control gr
oup: A group of participants in an experiment which is used for comparison with
the experimental group. The control group experiences exactly the same conditio
n as the experimental group except for the treatment level of the independent va
riable. By comparing the results of the two groups, the effects of the independe
nt variable can be observed. Random sample means that each participant has an e
qual chance of entering many groups (A. Kerr, H. Kall and A. Kozub, 2002:40)
1.8 Instruments
1.8.1 Data collection: Phonetic transcription is use in analyzing the data and
recorded in an audio file
1.8.2 Pre-test given both to experimental and control group.
1.8.3 Post-test given both to experimental and control group.
1.8.4 Treatment is the procedure applied to each unit in the experimental
setting, which are qualitative or quantitative depending on whether the vari
ables are real values or categorical. (A. Kerr, H. Kall and A. Kozub, 2002:40).
1.9 Data and Hypotheses Analysis.
19.1 Sample Data Analysis
Average score computation.
• x is the number whose mean we are calculating.
• The symbol x means the mean of x, which is what we are calculating.
• The symbol xi means a particular value of x.
• n means the number of values of x being used to compute the mean.
• The summation symbol, Σ, means to add together a number of cases, in thiscase all
values of x. The notations above and below the summation symbolmean to add toget
her all values of x, starting with the first value (x1) and going to the last va
lue (xn) (Boslaugh, Watters, 2008: 23).
1.9.2 Hypotheses Analysis
Hypothesis testing is fundamental to inferential statistics because it allows us
to use statistical methods to make decisions about real-life problems. There ar
e several conceptual steps involved in hypothesis testing: (1) Develop a researc
h hypothesis that can be tested mathematically (Designing and formulating resear
ch themes or method). (2) Formally state the null and alternative hypotheses (Fi
nding appropriate statistical source in testing hypotheses). (3) Decide on an ap
propriate statistical test and do the calculations (Testing with valid statistic
al method). (4) Make your decision based on the results (Creating research concl
usion) (A. Kerr, H. Kall and A. Kozub, 2002)
Independent t-Test
The purpose of the Independent t-Test is to determine whether score result of th
e population from both Experimental group and Control group can be compared to s
ee how the method works.

(P.Hinton, 2004: 92)

1.10 Clarifications of Terms

1.10.1 Effectiveness : Power to be effective; the quality of being ab
le to bring about an effect, producing the result that wanted or intended.
Potency, capacity to produce strong physiological (wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl
/webwn).
1.10.2 Teaching : Education: the activities of educating o
r instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill (wordnetweb.princeton.e
du/perl/webwn).
1.10.3 Rhyme : If a poem or song rhymes, the lines end with
words that have very similar sounds. A rhyme is a word which rhymes with another
word, or a set of lines which rhyme
(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn).


1.10.3 ong : A short musical composition with words.
A distinctive or characteristic sound.
(wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn).
1.10.4 Pronunciation : Way in which a language or particular word or s
ound is spoken. The manner in which someone utters a word. (wordnetweb.princeton
.edu/perl/webwn).
1.11 Paper Organization
CHAPTER I: Introduction


Contains the Background of the

tudy, Problem tatement,

Aim of the Research, Hy
potheses, Limitation of the tudy, Benefit of the tudy, Research Methodology, I
nstruments, Data and Hypotheses Analyses, Clarification of Terms, and Paper Orga
nization.
CHAPTER II: Theoretical Foundations
Consists of the Human Voice Mechanism, Parts of Pronunciation,

Phonological Proc
ess, Ideas for Focusing

teaching pronunciation,

Why ong?, Reason in Teaching Pr
onunciation Using ong and Rhyme , What ong and Rhyme is.
CHAPTER III: Research Methodology
Consists of the Research Design, Experimental Unit, Treatment, and Hypotheses Te
sting.
CHAPTER IV: Data Analysis
Consists of Research Data Obtained,

and Data Analyses and Interpretation.
CHAPTER V: Conclusion and uggestion

Consists of Research Conclusions, and uggestions.