Teachingofphonology PDF
Teachingofphonology PDF
Teachingofphonology PDF
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teaching of phonology
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Murni Mahmud
Universitas Negeri Makassar
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Murni Mahmud
English Department FBS Universitas Negeri Makassar
Jln Dg Tata Parangtambung Makassar
[email protected]
Abstract
Abstrak
1
pengajaran fonologi bahasa Inggris. Data menunjukkan bahwa
mahasiswa umumnya mengalami kesulitan dalam belajar fonologi
bahasa Inggris. Kesulitan mereka umumnya disebabkan oleh materi
fonologi yang sangat kompleks dan kurangnya praktek dari teori
yang diajarkan. Kesulitan lainnya disebabkan oleh buku teks
fonologi yang tidak sesuai, metode yang kurang efektif, dan
kurangnya minat mereka dalam belajar fonologi. Sebab lain yang
menarik adalah pengaruh latar belakang mereka sebagai orang
Indonesia yang tidak bisa mengucapkan sejumlah bunyi bahasa
Inggris yang tidak mereka dapatkan dalam bahasa Indonesia, dan
oleh karenanya mereka tidak bisa menyesuaikan organ suara
mereka untuk menghasilkan bunyi bahasa Inggris yang sesuai.
1. Introduction
and modern technology. However, the facts show that the teaching of English is
also becoming more difficult. Many problems are encountered by the students in
in the language systems of the two languages. If the two languages learned were
exactly the same, there would be no problems existed. Unfortunately, there are no
languages are the same. Even the same language may have several differences in
their language use as influenced by dialects, etc. Ramelan (1985:7) supported the
idea that ‘the degree of difficulty in learning is also determined by the degree of
difference between the two languages. The greater the similarity between them,
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One of the important subjects in English Language teaching is phonology.
including the symbols and the ways to produce those different sounds. This
English. As supported by Brown (1991:1), ‘learners are clearly aware that poor
every year, there are many students who reprogram and rejoin the class of English
phonology because they failed the subjects or because they got low score.
the data collected in 2010 among the English students of the State University of
Makassar. The population of the research was the second semester students of
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classes. Each class consisted of 35 students. Forty students were taken randomly
2. English Phonology
Hyman (1975:2) defined phonology as ‘the study of sound systems, that is,
the study of how speech sounds structure and function in languages’. Furthermore,
sounds’, in phonology, the focus in phonology will be about ‘how the sounds are
that provides the means for transcribing speech sounds. These sound
transcriptions are important as this provides the symbols for each sound as it is
produced. Therefore, when English learners know the symbols for each sound,
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In English phonology, there are two main topics namely vowels and
consonants. In each part, studies are focused on how the vowels and the
consonants are produced by the speech organ and how different the ways of
producing one sound to another. Each sound has a certain symbol which should be
different symbols. The consonants are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /ð/, /θ/, /s/,
/z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, tʃ/, dʒ/, /m/, /n/, /η/, /w/, /r/, and /y/, whereas the vowels are /i:/, /ɪ/,
/e/, /ɛ/,/ӕ/,/ә/, /u:/, /u/, /ɔ/, /o/, and /a/ (adapted from Dardjowidjojo, 2009:103,
122).
vibrations of the vocal cords. Students are given exercise to touch their
the side of the mouth). Students were directed to know that the only lateral
c. Oral or nasal (which sound produced in the oral cavity and in the nasal
cavity). In this case, consonants such as /m/, /n/, and /η/ are produced with
the interaction with the air flowing through the nose causing nasal sounds.
Other consonants are known as oral as they are all produced in the oral
cavity.
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d. Place of articulation (the position of the mouth, tongue, lips, teeth, alveolar,
or velar ridge when producing the sounds). In this case, students were
sounds, for example, are produced by touching the two lips together such as
e. Manner of articulation (the ways the air from the lung is articulated
and having friction). The consonant /m/, /b/ and /p/, for examples, are
regarded as stop consonants because they are produced by flowing the air
Therefore, one sound will have its own name. For example the sound /s/ in
/say/ is named a voiceless, oral, central, alveolar, fricative. When explaining this
sound, it is called voiceless as it does not cause vibration on the vocal cords. This
sound is also called central as it is produced in the middle of the mouth; oral as it
is produced in the oral cavity with no interaction with the nasal cavity such as /m/
in /many/. It is also alveolar as the position of the tongue will touch the alveolar
ridge behind the upper teeth when producing this sound. Last, it is named as
fricative because when producing the sound, it causes friction for the airstream
Like consonants, the vowels production also has parameters which are
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a. The height of the tongue, which is the relative high-low placement of the
tongue in the mouth. The tongue can be raised high or be lowered while the
b. The position of the tongue, which is the placement of the tongue in front, at
the centre, or at the back of the mouth. When the tongue in front position,
the sounds produced are called front vowels; when in back, they are called
back vowels.
c. The protrusion or rounding of the lips, which relates to the shape of the lips.
d. The tense or lax state of the muscles, which is used to indicate the strength
called tense vowel and if it produces low or no tension, it is called lax vowel.
Therefore, one vowel will also has a name. For example, the vowel /i:/ in
/sheep/ has a name, a high front unrounded tense vowel. When producing this
vowel, the position of the tongue is high in the front part of the mouth. The lip
will be unrounded and it causes high tension on the muscles of the mouth.
This is different from the vowel /ɪ/ in /ship/, with the name a high front
unrounded lax vowel. The main difference is in which when producing long /i:/ in
/sheep/, it causes high tension in the muscle of the mouth which is not the case
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consonantal, ± sonorant, ± strident, ± syllabic, ± continuant, ±coronal, ±anterior,
Therefore, one consonant will have its own name and its distinctive
features. An example of this is the consonant /s/ which is voiceless, oral, central,
Theories of vowels and consonants above are not enough. The materials
on phonology will also cover other aspects such as stress, intonation, and pitch.
Students are then recommended to know the differences of one word to another in
between two similar spelling word: /present/. The word /preˈsent/ with a stress in
the middle will mean differently from the word /presentˈ/ with a stress at the end
of the word. The former means a gift whereas the latter means to give or to
explain.
The above theories are very important for students learning English
phonology. Failure to recognize the above names and symbols for each vowel or
phonology are demanded to know the theories of sounds productions and the ways
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system between the native and the foreign language offer difficulties for students
learning English phonology. The sounds may be new or strange because the
learning English pronunciations such as (1) some English sounds do not exist in
Indonesian sounds such as /v/, /ð/, and /θ/, (2) some English speech sounds are
such as the sound /r/; (3) some of English speech sounds formations do not exist
in Indonesian speech sounds; and (4) different spelling system of Indonesian and
English.
The case of stress pattern, for example, may cause difficulties for English
learners who need to pronounce the words in appropriate stress patterns. The fact
is that the stress patterns between Indonesian and English are different. Basri
(2010:348) has stressed that the stress patterns of English is different from those
in Indonesian language. In Indonesian language, the stress pattern will fall on the
penultimate syllable, whereas for English, the stress will fall on the heavy syllable.
Basri further stated that English shows a rather complicated stress pattern,
relying much on the dictionaries since in English dictionaries, stress of the words
pronouncing the words. This implies that there are adequate phonological rules
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These facts suggest that the teaching of phonology is difficult and
Based on the questionnaire given to them, the majority of the respondents (100%)
stated that English phonology is a difficult subject. Some of their reasons can be
Based on the above table, it can be seen that the majority of the difficulties
complicated as they contain symbols and items that should be recognized and
memorized. Students are recommended to know the ways to produce those sounds
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which will be different from one another. Of course, they are required to know the
55%). This problem occurs because the teaching of phonology mainly concerns
certain symbols and difficult items. In fact, the students want more practice in
each item in order that they can differentiate between one sound to another sound.
For example, the production of the consonant /s/ and /z/ in which one of them is
voiceless and the other one is voiced. Students need to demonstrate the difference
(45%) who stated that their difficulties in learning English phonology were
addition, their Indonesian language, which does not recognize certain sounds in
English, such as /ʒ/ in /measure/ or /ð/ in /mother/. This make them difficult to
produce those sounds while wrong ways of pronouncing the sounds may end in
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by drilling the examples. However, such methods are regarded not effective by the
students. In facts, the students need various methods such as group oral
presentations, watching movies, and games in the class in which they can learn
and play. The students also want to be active in the teaching process by involving
them in the class activity. In addition, the presence of native speakers in teaching
using English as a medium is not really helpful for the students. They need a
combination of English and Indonesian in the teaching process, given that the
teaching of phonology is on the early semester, in which the students are still in
English phonology. There were 9 respondents (22,5%) who stated that they had
compulsory subject in their early semester. They do have to learn it and of course
they have to pass the subject. Unless they are not interested in the course, they
There are four respondents (10%) stated that their difficulties in learning
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appropriate books for Indonesian students. As stated by Dardjowidjojo (2009:xiii),
‘books about phonology in the market is not bad, they just do not fit very well
English students and often, different books will have different symbols for each
sound. This bear another problem for students which make them confused and not
is a new course for them. If they have learned before they entered the university,
they could have known and understood about the subject. Often new subject is
This may caused by their inability to adjust their speech organ to appropriate ways
habit in which they are not accustomed to pronouncing certain sounds in their
4. Conclusion
This paper has discussed the teaching of English phonology as one of the
basic concept for studying English language skills and components. In fact, it is
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the basic idea for acquiring good pronunciation, one of the English language
contribute to those difficulties which may end in failure in phonology course such
books, etc.
are needed for understanding the sound differences. Appropriate books are also
needed. Often textbooks available in the market are not appropriate for Indonesian
students need. Therefore, more significant effort is needed to improve the quality
teaching acquire more appropriate books, more practice in the sounds productions
REFERENCES
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London: Rotledge.
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, Peter Collins, and David Blair. 1984. An
and Winston.
Hyman, Larry M. 1975. Phonology: Theory and Analysis. USA: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston.
Jovanovich, Inc.
Jakarta: Pusat Kajian Bahasa dan Budaya, Unika Atma Jaya Jakarta, 387-
390.
University Press.
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