AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION PROBLEMS OF PRONOUNCING ENGLISH PALATO ALVEOLAR SOUNDS (A Case Study of the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 1 Bumijawa in the Academic Year 2018/2019) A final project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan in English by Fifit Rizkiyani 2201415056 ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS NEGERI SEMARANG 2019 ii ii iii iii iv MOTTO AND DEDICATION “Push Yourself, Be Healthy and Keep Shining” (My Self) “Man Jadda Wa Jadda” This final project is dedicated with full of love and gratitude to: Suswati, My mother Sopari, My father Marpuah, My grandmother Slamet S., Teguh K., and Wiwit F., My brothers and sister Nur Fatimah and Susianto, My older cousin My family and My best friends iv v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost I would like to deliver my greatest gratitude up to Allah SWT who has given me the blessing, the health, the opportunity, and the power so that I can complete my final project. I also would like to deliver my sincere gratitude to all the people who have helped me to finish this final project. I would like to express my gratitude to: 1. Drs. Amir Sisbiyanto, M.Hum as my advisor for his patience and kindness in giving me the guidance, the motivations, the suggestions and also the corrections in completing my final project. 2. All lectures of English Department of Unnes who have given me a lot of meaningful knowledge and experiences. 3. The Headmaster of SMP N 1 Bumijawa, Mr. Muhaemin who allowed me to do the research in his School. The English teachers of SMP N 1 Bumijawa, Mrs. Ratna and Mrs. Meris and all the students of SMP N 1 Bumijawa. 4. My beloved family: My mother, my father, my brothers and sister, my grandmother and all my relatives who always give me support during my college and completing my final project. 5. To all my best friends at Unnes, especially to my best friends at English Department (Fria, Faza, Yasinta, Barir, Anika, Hilal, Arsy, Hilda, Asfia, Yuyun and Nilam), “Sahabat Selvian” (Uut, Ismi, Rizka, Shinta, Yashinta, Mba Ica, Mba Hajar and Mba Evi), My friends in Rombel B, My PPL & KKN friends. v vi ABSTRACT Rizkiyani, Fifit. 2019. An Analysis of Students‟ Perception and Production Problems of Pronouncing English Palato Alveolar Sounds (A Case Study of the Eighth Grade Students of SMP N 1 Bumijawa in the Academic Year 2018/2019). A Final Project, English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Semarang. Advisor: Drs. Amir Sisbiyanto, M.Hum. Key Words: Analysis, Students‟ error, Perception, Production, English Palato Alveolar Sounds This study is about students‟ error in perceiving and producing English palato alveolar sounds. The aims of this study are to describe how well the students perceive and produce English palato alveolar sounds and to find out the most common problems/errors encountered by the students whether in the level perception or production. This study used mix-method design. There were thirty eighth grade students as the sample of this study taken by convenience sampling technique. The data of this study were gained from two kinds of test, namely perception test in the form of listening test and production test in the form of speaking test. The results of both listening and speaking test were the source of data for this study. This study revealed that the eighth grade students were good in perceiving English palato alveolar sounds with errors 36% and were fair in producing English palato alveolar sounds with errors 53%. Therefore, it can be concluded that the most common problems faced by the students were at the production level and there were some factors influenced them in producing English palato alveolar sounds, namely the non-existence of English palato alveolar sounds, the influence of orthographic writing, the influence of distractor sounds and the interference of mother tongue. It is suggested that the students practice a lot in pronouncing English palato alveolar sounds and the teachers provide many learning strategies and improve their teaching quality. vi vii TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER ................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………...x LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... xi LIST OF APPENDICES ....................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I………………………………………………………………………1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..……1 1.1 Background of the Study ........................................................................ 1 1.2 The Reason for Choosing Topic ............................................................. 4 1.3 Statements of the Problems .................................................................... 5 1.4 Objectives of the Study .......................................................................... 5 1.5 Significant of the Study .......................................................................... 6 1.5.1 For the Teachers ..................................................................................... 6 1.5.2 For the Students ...................................................................................... 6 1.5.3 For the Further Researcher .................................................................... 6 1.6 Limitation of the Study ........................................................................... 7 1.7 Outline of the study ................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................... 9 REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE ................................................ 9 2.1 Review of Previous Studies .................................................................... 9 2.2 Review of The Theoretical Studies ...................................................... 14 2.2.1 Pronunciation ....................................................................................... 14 2.2.2 Pronunciation Problems ....................................................................... 15 2.2.3 Pronunciation of English Palato Alveolar Sounds ............................... 17 2.2.4 Perception and Production ................................................................... 26 2.2.5 Error and Mistake ................................................................................ 27 2.3 Theoretical Framework......................................................................... 31 vii viii CHAPTER III ..................................................................................................... 32 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION .................................................................... 33 3.1 Research Design ................................................................................... 33 3.2 Population and Sample ......................................................................... 34 3.2.1 Population ............................................................................................ 34 3.2.2 Sample .................................................................................................. 34 3.3 Role of the Researcher .......................................................................... 35 3.4 Instrument ............................................................................................. 35 3.5 Procedure of Collecting Data ............................................................... 36 3.5.1 Library study ........................................................................................ 36 3.5.2 Field activity ......................................................................................... 36 3.6 Procedure of Analyzing Data ............................................................... 37 3.6.1 Identifying Errors ................................................................................. 37 3.6.2 Describing Errors ................................................................................. 37 3.6.3 Explaining Errors ................................................................................. 38 3.6.4 Criterion of Interpreting the Data ........................................................ 39 3.6.5 Drawing Conclusion ............................................................................. 39 CHAPTER IV………………………………………...………………...……….40 FINDING AND DISCUSSION………………………..……………………….40 4.1.1 Description and Interpretation of Students‟ Error in Perception ........ 41 4.1.2 Description and Interpretation of Students‟ Error in Production ........ 43 4.2 Discussion of Production Test .............................................................. 49 4.2.1 The English Palato Alveolar Sound [ʃ] ................................................ 50 4.2.2 The English Palato Alveolar Sound [ʒ] ................................................ 50 4.2.3 The English Palato Alveolar Sound [ʧ] ................................................ 51 4.2.4 The English Palato Alveolar Sound [ʤ] .............................................. 52 4.3 DISCUSSION ....................................................................................... 53