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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.

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1.0 TEACHING AND LEARNING REFLECTIONS

First and foremost, as a teacher of English, I do not only teach goodpronunciation but I also make it possible for pupils to acquire good

pronunciation by imitating me. My role as a teacher therefore includesbeing a model for pupils to imitate. Therefore, many pupils face the

problem of pronunciation. Nevertheless, as far as this crucial problem isconcerned, 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 littleknowledge of English Language because they are still in Year 1. Theexperience and knowledge they have gained during pre school andkindergarten 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 thetwo languages. I have to introduce consonant sounds /k/ , /t/ and /b/ for

three consonant letters, c, t and b and vowel sounds // and // forvowel letters a and o respectively. I also have asked them to memorisethe spelling of the words, sounds and their meanings through makinganimal 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 andmemorise the words easily.

2.0 FOCUS OF THE RESEARCH

The focus of this research is to improve their pronunciation. 20 pupils fromYear 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 arenot 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 toimprove 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 ableto;3.2.1 Pronounce clearly and spell correctly at least 5 words a day.

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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. Theyare 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 theEnglish words. The pupils who were selected for this research are amongthe 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 learnEnglish during English lesson at school.

5.2Analysis of the problemIt is hard to teach English subject to these pupils of this school. The schoolis located quite far from town. Their attitude to learn English is alsodisappointing. They are not interested to learn English by themselves. The

teachers need to spoon feed them in order to teach English. We need toresort to many alternatives in order to resolve this problem.

Oral pre - test

No Pupils Able to

pronounce

the words shown

to them without

pictures

Able to pronounce

the words shown to

them with pictures

Able to

pronounce and

memorise the words

shown to them

a) 20 3 6 2

5.3Action DoneI 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 thepupils ability to pronounce the words correctly. I have carried out thestrategies which I have planned. The strategies are;

a) Oral pre-testb) Oral post-test

5.4Action Implementation/EvaluationI have carried out three activities in order to improve the pupilspronunciation skills. They are as follows;

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5.4.1 Activity 1 Making Animal SoundsAs we know young learners are usually more willing to practise repeatedlysounds 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 thesesounds 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 leaderfrom each group said aloud the words and the members of the group

repeated after their leader. The groups competed among themselves. Theteacher gave the marks based on their correct pronunciation. The teacherguided them when they had the difficulty to say the words.

5.4.2 Activity 2 Minimal PairsMinimal pairs were taught to practise long and short vowels. The pupilswere trained to say these pairs of words.

pit ------------ peatbid ------------ bead

sit ------------ seat

hut ------------ heartbun ------------ barncut ------------ cart

Minimal pairs to practise consonants/consonant clusters.

log ------------ fogrice ------------ licelay ------------ ray

day ------------ lay

5.4.3 Activity 3 Limericks and Tongue TwistersThese method could be fun while providing pronunciation practice. Tonguetwisters are a good way of practising the positioning and movement of the

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speech organs. They help pupils open their mouths and shape their lipscorrectly.

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 thepupils to read the tongue twister. Teacher read tongue twister, then thepupils repeated after the teacher.

5.4.4 Activity 4 Singing AlongTeacher sang along with pupils with the help of animated movie. Pupilswere 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 Evaluations

Oral post - test

No Pupils Able to

pronounce

the words shown

to them without

pictures

Able to

pronounce the

words shown to

them with pictures

Able to

pronounce and

memorise the words

shown to them

b) 20 6 10 5

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5.5 Reflections

Even though all of my objectives were not fully achieved but I am happywith the improvement of the pupils in this class. They have shown theirinterest 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 memorizingthe words if the pictures and words are shown to them at the same time. Asa result, they could say out a few words by recognizing the pictureseventhough 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 Ihave carried out is suitable to be implemented to remedial classes which are

very weak in English pronunciation. It also helps the pupils to read andspell in English correctly. It will also helpful for the pupils to understandthe 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, tonguetwisters and singing along activities are also suitable to be taught not onlyin 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 inEnglish. So, the pupils must love the language itself in order to excel intheir studies. Last but not least, I also would like to suggest all the teachersto carry out the activities which I have done through out my research.

Hopefully, the pupils have got the benefit from this research. The pupilsshould do the activities throughout the year with the help of their teachers.

Mathematics and Science teachers also should encourage the pupils tospeak in English during their lessons in order to improve the pupils

pronunciation.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eliani Nik Nawi, Othman Ahamad. 2001. Read Easy Phonics. Onestop

Language And Computer Consultancy.

KW Wai. 2007. Complete Text & Guide UPSR English. Arah PendidikanSdn. 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 21Sdn. Bhd.