HOMPHONE GAMES

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.   Background

In English language teaching, there are four language elements namely: structure, vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling. Those elements are though in order to develop the students’ skill in the language learning. One second of them should be noticed is pronunciation is considered difficult element method that can be applied in learning pronunciation.

The researcher has observed that in junior high school students are lack of pronunciation while Nurhayati (2008:1), states that the pronunciation means knowledge of knowing to produce word which is very essential in oral communication. When speakers mispronounce some words or phrases, people can be misunderstanding. To reduce it, the teacher must equip the learner with English certain degree accuracy and fluency in understanding, responding and in expressing him self in the language in speech in other the learners communicatively in using the language.

The specific characteristic of English learners who categorized as a good and successful oral skill developer is those who have a good pronunciation of English consonant and English vowel. A good pronunciation of English consonant and English vowel suggested is a consonant and vowel of pronunciation that sounds like native speaker. Therefore, it is necessary for English learners to have a good pronunciation to support them to be good speaker (Nurhayati, 2008).

Due to the problem above, most of the result indicates that the students have low ability in pronunciation included the students of the second year SMP Negeri 15 Makassar. Based on the researchers’ observation, she got that the students still have much difficulty when they are asked to pronounce especially English vowels. Besides that, based on the students’ mean score is still low. 

              There are many interesting media that can be applied to serve the pronunciation in the class; one of them is Homophone Games. With the reason that games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning. After learning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to use language in a non-stressful way (Uberman, 1998:2).

              Games also motivate students to introduce an element of competition into language-building activities. This provides valuable impetus to a purposeful use of language (Prasad, 2003). In other words, these activities create a meaningful context for language use. Most students who have experienced game-oriented activities hold positive attitudes towards them (Uberman, 1998:2).

              Homophone Games are a natural follow on from the homophone dictation and can be used to help the students to practice and remember homophones (Editor, 2000). A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of “rise”). So that they are pronounced the same but have different meanings. A homophone is a type of homonym, although sometimes homonym is used to refer only to homophones that have the same spelling but different meanings (Wikipedia, 2010).

              Based on the explanation above the researcher would like to take a class action research under the title of “Improving the Students’ Pronunciation through Homophone Games (A Classroom Action Research at SMP Negeri 15 Makassar)”.

B.   Problem Statements

Based on the background above, the researcher formulates the research questions as follow:

1.    How is the improvement of the students’ pronunciation of English long vowels through Homophone Games?

2.    How is the improvement of the students’ pronunciation of English short vowels through Homophone Games?

C.   Objective of the Study

The objectives of the study are as follow:

1.    To find out the improvement of the students’ pronunciation of English long vowels through Homophone Games.

2.    To find out the improvement of students’ pronunciation of English short vowels through Homophone Games.

D.   Significance of the Study

            It is expected that the finding of the study will be significant information for teachers of English in general and for the teachers of English in SMP Negeri 15 Makassar in particular.

E.   Scope of the Study

              The scope of the study is limited on the application of Homophone Games in improving the students’ pronunciation, focused on the students’ English long vowels and English short vowels.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A.   Homophone Games

1.    Homophone

                 According to etymology, homophone is taken from the Greek word, “homos” meaning “same”. “phone” meaning “voice” or “sound” (Turnball, 2009). So homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling.  Homophone is the words have identical pronunciation but be different words with different meaning (Akmajian, 1995:225).

              In another sense a homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning (Encyclopedia, 2009). Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (Rippel, 2010).

              The examples in English homophones are as follows:

a.    Dear /diǝ/ and deer /diǝ/

·         Dear /diǝ/ is referring to loved somebody.

·         Deer /diǝ/ is any several types of animal with long legs and a graceful appearance that eat grass, leaves and can run quickly.

b.    Two / tu:/ and too / tu: /

·   Two / tu: / is the number between one and three

·   Too / tu: / is another way of saying as well.

c.    Steal / sti:l / and steel / sti:l/

·   Steal / sti:l / is a thief does this

·   Steel / sti:l / a hard strong metal

d.    Poor / po:r / and pour / po:r ?

·   Poor / po:r / is having very little money

·   Pour / po:r / is flow in continuous stream

e.    Cent / sent / and scent / sent /

·   Cent / sent / is one 100^th part of main unit of money

·   Scent / sent / is smell

f.     Dam / dæm / and damn /dæm/

· Dam /dæm/ is wall bilt to keep back water

· Damn /dæm/ is used for showing anger

2.    Game

              A game is structured or semi structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes also used as an educational tool. Games are generally distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration and from art, which is more concerned with the expression of ideas. (Wikipedia: 2010).

              Hornby (2000) in advanced learners’ dictionary of current English said that games:

1.         From of play or sport with rules.

2.         Children’s activity when they play with toys, pretend to be somebody else.

              The game is a competition and should be played in a lighthearted spirit. Games area also motivating, this game also helps to highlight some sounds, which may be particularly difficult for the students to hear and write (Prasad, 2003). Games offer students a fun-filled and relaxing learning condition. After learning and practicing new vocabulary, students have the opportunity to use language in a non-stressful way (Uberman, 1998).

              According to definition above, the writer conclude that game is a play or competition to give the students a chance to learn, practice or review specific language material.

              There are many factor consider while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very careful about choosing games, one to make them profitable for the learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond to either students’ level or age, or to the material that is to be introduced or practiced. Not all games appropriate for all students irrespective of their age (Uberman, 1998).

              Homophone Game is a word in which a player creates a sentence or phrase containing a pair or larger set of homophones, substitutes the homophone pair with another (usually nonsensical) pair of words, then reads the newly created sentence out load. The object of the game is for the other players to deduce what the original homophone pair. (Wikipedia, 2010).

              BBC (2010) argues that Homophone Game is a natural follow on from the homophone dictation and can be used to help the students practice and remember homophones. This game also helps to highlight some sounds which may be particularly difficult for students to hear and write.

              Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things. For example, "bear" and "bare" are homophones. The Homophone Games help students recognize homophones and their everyday occurrences in the English language. When tutoring or in-class work on homophones doesn't seem enough, try out a few different games for a fun yet educative approach to learning homophones (Jansov, 2010).

              Based on the explanation above, it can be conclude that by using  Homophone Games in teaching English especially pronunciation help students in improving their pronunciation, because from good pronunciation they can understand what people said (native speaker), so they feel comfortable to speak up.

3.     How to Play Homophone Games

              There are some steps of Homophone Games in its implementation (Ehow, 2010). They are:

a.    Before giving the games, the teacher will explain to the students that homophones are two words that sound alike, but have different meanings, like "two" (the number between one and three) and "too" (another way of saying as well).

b.    Students will be divided into small group that consist of 3 or 4 members. Every group has a leader who will choose the first player from his/her member.

c.    The teacher will ask the students or first players to stand on a chair facing the board (about 3 or 4 meters).

d.     The teacher will write the blank sentences and choices of homophone words e.g. Fill in the blanks with the correct word: a. road, b. rode, c. two, d. to.

1.    I ________ an elephant at the circus last week

2.    Mom, may I go _________ the market

3.    Sue was lost and  didn’t know which __________ to take

4.    I have __________ pens

e.     The first player will run up to the board to answer the question by pronouncing.

f.     The first player will be change by the second player until all the members will get chance.

g.    The teacher will give the point for the group who can answer the question truly.

h.    The winner is the highest point 

B.   Concept of Pronunciation

1.    Definition of Pronunciation

              There are some definitions of pronunciation given by linguist. According to Broughton (1980:49) pronunciation is the way the sound the words of which to give its meaning. He continues that in teaching pronunciation as for students can get. Byrne (1987:8) states that pronunciation is the sound that a speaker can imitate from the speaker and they say to after listener.

              All of the definitions given above are very closely related to the lexical meaning of the words pronunciation that is the way of expressing word or to sound them.

Hornby (1995: 670) gives three definitions of pronunciation. First, pronunciation is the way in which a language is spoken. Second, pronunciation is a person’s way of speaking a language, or words of a language. Third, pronunciation is the way in which a word is pronounced.

            Hay (1970:61-64) states that by teaching pronunciation the teacher gives method of pronunciation and later ask the student to judge every word they say of two different kinds but almost the same in pronunciation namely, the minimal pairs. The students’ task is to judge which one of the teaching of pronunciation through this way enables the students to get the different among several sounds.

By viewing the concepts of pronunciation according to some linguistic above, the writer tries conclude that pronunciation relates to the way expressing words a sound which has a meaning in utterance. Therefore, pronunciation can not be separated with phonology.

According to Ba’dulu (2004:20), phonology is subfield of linguistic that studies the structure and systematic pattern of sound of human language. In other sense, phonology is concern with structure of language. Pronunciation can vary with cultures, regions and speakers, but there are two major standard varieties in English pronunciation: British English and American English.

2. Elements of Pronunciation

When learning English we will find two kinds of speech features (Ramelan, 2003: 22).

1.    Segmental features, which refer to sound units, arranged in a sequential order; or it is about consonant and vowel.

2.    Suprasegmental features refer to stress, pitch, length intonation and other features that always accompany the production of segmental.

English segmental system includes vowels and consonants. The classification is based on the differences in their functions in an utterance and their ways of production.

Vowels are sounds which are made without any kind of closure to the escape of air through the mouth (Syafei, 1988: 11). English vowels consist of / i: /, / ә: /, / a: /, / u: /, / o: /, / i /, / e /, / æ /, / ә /, / л /, / u /, / o /.

Beside English vowels above, there are also diphthongs. Diphthong is a sound composed of two vowels pronounced in close succession within the limits of a syllable (Syafei, 1988: 13). There are nine English diphthongs, / ei /, / ai /, / oi /, / au /, / oә /, / iә /, /әu /, / uә /, / eә /. The English consonants consist of twenty-four. Those are / p /, / b /, / t /, / d /, / k /, / g /, / f /, / v /, / θ /, / ð /, / s /, / z/ , / ʃ /, / ʒ /, / h /, / ʧ /, / ʤ /, / m /, / n /, / ŋ /, / l /, / r /, / w /, / y /.

It is quite different with the condition in Indonesian. There are only 5 vowels, 21 consonants and 3 diphthongs. It is possible if the students find difficulties when they learn English.

Suprasegmental features are like the style used in words or sentences. There are four kinds of suprasegmental features. The first is stress. Stress is meant the degree of force loudness with which a syllable is pronounced so as to give it prominence (Ramelan, 2003: 25). Stress can be classified into a word stress and sentence stress. A word stress within a word and a sentence stress is the stress within a thought group or a sentence. Stress has an important role in English because different stress will differentiate meaning and intention.

Second is pitch and intonation. Speech is produced with a sort of musical accompaniment or intonation. Intonation is the use of what we say (Syafei, 1988: 28). For example if someone is getting angry, he will speak in a high tone. But when he is sad, he will speak in a low tone.

The third is pause. English is spoken in groups of words, which are separated by pause. There are two kinds of pause, a short one and a final one (Syafei, 1988: 33). For example “Can you see the van?” the words see and van takes primary stresses for special purposes.

3. Students’ Problems in Pronouncing English Words

Our mother tongue has some differences with English in pronunciation. In our language, there is no difference between its writing and its sound. But we find it different in English. Sometimes we sound differently from the writing. For example, the word here is pronounced    

[ hi:ә ] ; however, in Indonesian we pronounce [ here ]. It is not denied that students often make mistakes in learning foreign language; however doing mistake is a part of learning the language itself.

According to Julian Edge on ‘Mistakes and Corrections’ as quoted by Harmer (2001: 99) that mistakes can be divided into three broad categories: ‘slips’ (that is mistakes which students can correct themselves once the mistake can be pointed out to them), ‘errors’ (mistakes which they cannot correct themselves – and which therefore need explanation), and ‘attempts’ (that is when a student tries to say something but not yet know the correct way of saying it). From the three categories, it can be said that error is the most important thing for the teacher to be concerned because the students cannot correct themselves instead of the teacher’s help.

There are two kinds of mistakes that might cause the students to make mistake: L1 interference and developmental error. Ramelan (2003: 6-7) states some reasons about why students make mistakes in their pronunciation are because they face such problems as follows:

(1) The existence of a given sound in the latter, which is not found in the former.

(2) Sounds which have the same phonetic features in both languages but differ in their distribution.

(3) Similar sounds in two languages which differ only slightly in their phonetic features.

(4) Sounds that have the same qualities in both languages may constitute some learning problem if they occur in a cluster or sequence of sounds.

C. English Vowels

      1. What is Vowel?

According to Milawati (2007: 20) vowel is a phonetically the sounds which are articulated without complete closure in the mouth or degree of narrowing which would produce audible friction, the air escapes evenly over the centre of the tongue. Then according to Jackson (1982: 20) states that vowel is the sounds which are made by many kinds of closure or impediment to the escape of air through the mouth.

Roach (1987: 10), vowel are sounds has there is no obstruction to flow of air as it passes from the larynx to the lips. While Badulu (2004: 22) defines that vowels are sounds produced with little obstruction the vocal tract and are generally voiced.

Wikipedia (2010) vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! [ɑː] or oh! [oʊ], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis.

There are three dimensions that we should know in order to describe the English vowels (Ampa, 2008: 30)

1)    The high of the tongue or the openness of the mouth. It is related to close (/ı/, /i:/, /ʊ/, /u:/), half close, half open or mid (/e/, /ͻ:/ ,/з:/, /ә/), open (/ /, /o/, /ɑ:, / /)

2)    The areas of the mouth having the highest part of the tongue or the general are of the mouth in which the vowels are made. It is related to front (/i:/, /ı/, /e/, /æ/)  central (/ә/, /з:/, / /) and back (/u:/, /ʊ/, /ͻ:/, /o/, /ɑ:/)

3)    The shape of the lips. It is related to rounded (/u:/, /ʊ/, /ͻ:/, /o/) and spread (/i:/, /ı/, /e/, /æ/, /ɑ:/, /з:/, /ә/, / /).

2. Classification of English Vowels

English has a large number of vowel sounds; the first ones to be examined are short and long vowels.

1.   Long Vowels

According to Roach (1987:17) long vowels are the vowels which tend to be longer than the short vowels in similar contexts. It is necessary to say: in similar contexts” because, as we shall see later, the length of all English vowel sound that follows them) and the presence or absence of stress.

Long vowels are homophonous with the names of the single letter vowels, such as /eɪ/ in baby, /iː/ in meter, /aɪ/ in tiny, /oʊ/ in broken, and /juː/ in humor. The way that educators use the term "long vowels" differs from the way in which linguists use this term. In classrooms, long vowels sounds are taught as being "the same as the names of the letters." Teachers teach the children that a long vowel "says" its name (Wikipedia, 2010).

Based on the definitions of the English long vowels above, the symbols for long vowels are:

·         / i: /

This vowel is nearer to vowel / i: / it is more close and front, the lips are slightly spread (close front spread vowel)

e.g. words in homophone: ‘steal’ / sti:l / and ‘steel’ / sti:l/

·         / з: /

This a central vowel which is well-known in most English accents as a hesitation sound (spelt ‘er’) but which many foreigners find difficult to copy, the lip position is neutral (mid central spread vowel).

e.g. words in homophone: ‘desert’ /dızз:t/ and ‘dessert’ /dızз:t/

·         / ɑ: /

This is an open vowel in the region vowel / ɑ /, but not as back as this, the lip position is neutral (open back spread vowel).

e.g. words in homophone: ‘ aunt’ /ɑ:nt/ and ‘ant’ /ɑ:nt/

·         / ͻ: /

The vowel is almost fully back and has quite strong lip-rounding and the tongue height for this vowel is between vowel / ͻ / and / o / (mid back rounded vowel)

e.g. words in homophone: ‘fort’ / fͻ:t / and ‘fourth’ /fͻ:θ/

·           / u: /

This vowel is not very different from vowel / u /, but it is not quite so back nor so close, and the lips are only moderately rounded (close back rounded vowel)

e.g. words in homophone: ‘ two’ / tu:/ and ‘too’ / tu: /

2. Short Vowels

According to Roach (1987:15), short vowels are only relatively short, shall see later, vowels can have quite different lengths in different contexts. Short vowels are the five single letter vowels, a, e, i, o, and u when they produce the sounds /æ/ as in cat, /ɛ/ as in bet, /ɪ/ as in sit, /ɒ/ as in hot, and /ʌ/ as in cup. The term "short vowel" does not really mean that these vowels are pronounced for a particularly short period of time, but they are not diphthongs like the long vowels (Wikipedia, 2010).

Based on the definitions of the English short vowels above, the symbols for short vowels are:

·         / ı /

 This vowel is in the close front area, compare with vowel / i / it is more open and nearest in to the centre. The lips are slightly spread (lower and centralized close front spread vowel).

e.g. words in homophone: ‘light’/laıt/  and ‘lite’ /laıt/

·         / e /

This is a front vowel between vowel / e / and / ε /, the lips are slightly spread (mid front spread vowel).

e.g. words in homophone: ‘lesson’ /lesn/ and ‘lessen’ /lesn/

·         / æ /

This vowel is front, but not quite as open, the lips are slightly spread (open front spread vowel)

                        e.g. words in homophone: ‘dam’ /dæm/ and ‘damn’ /dæm/

·         / Ʌ /

This a central vowel, it is more open than the half-open tongue height, the lip position is neutral (open central spread vowel).

e.g. words in homophone: ‘son’ /sɅn/ and ‘sun’ /sɅn/

·         / ɒ /

This vowel is not quite fully back, and between half-open and open in tongue height, the lips are slightly rounded.

e.g. words in homophone: ‘profit’ /prɒfıt/ and ‘prophet’ /prɒfıt/

·         / ʊ /

This vowel is more open and nearer to central, the lips are rounded and the nearest vowel / u / (lower and centralized close back rounded vowel)

e.g. words in homophone: ‘roe’ /rǝʊ/ and ‘row’ /rǝʊ/

·         / ǝ /

This vowel is central vowel, which is called schwa (unstressed mid central spread vowel)

e.g. words in homophone: ‘dear’ /diǝ/ and ‘deer’ /diǝ/

C.   Conceptual Framework

The conceptual of framework is illustrated below:        

INPUT Pronunciation Material -       English long vowels -       English short vowels

Planning of Lesson Plan based on principal teaching of Homophone Games

Cycle I

Implementation of Homophone Games

Observation

 

Reflection

PROCESS This research will follow the principal research of classroom action research which will be conducted with two cycles.

                                                                       

Planning of lesson plan based on the development from the first cycle

                                                             

                                                 

 

Implementation of Homophone Games

Cycle II

             

Observation

Reflection

OUTPUT The students’ pronunciation improvement

Long vowels

 

Long vowels

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

A.  Research Setting

            This research used a classroom action research (CAR). It covers research location, research time and classroom action research cycles as follows:

1.    Research Location

This research was conducted at SMP Negeri 15 Makassar for English subject.

2.    Research Time

This research was conducted on August-November 2010-2011 academic year.

3.    Classroom Action Research Cycles

This classroom action research was conducted in two cycles, and the research was not continued in the cycle 3 because the result of cycle 2 was significant. It aimed at observing the application of Homophone Games in improving the students’ pronunciation.

B. Classroom Action Research Preparation

Before classroom action research was done a variety of instrument inputs were used to give treatment in classroom action research, were: lesson planning, was become a classroom action research. Besides that, researcher made other preparations in order to smooth treatment in teaching learning process later. But, before preparing was done the researcher did observation for one week to research subject was called by pre-action. In this pre-action, the researcher was able to analyze the students’ competence so the method could be applied as well. This activity was also not released from observer and teacher’s guidance.

C. Research Subject

              The subject of this research was all of the students’ class VIII E SMP Negeri 15 Makassar. The number of the students in this class consists of 38 students that consist of 21 women and 17 men. The students were taken as the subject of the study since they have poor ability of pronunciation.

D. Research Procedure

            This research was conducted in four stages. They are: planning, action, observation and reflection as follows:

                                                                                    

CYCLE I

1.    The Planning

The activities that had been done in this stage as follow:

a.    Arranged a schedule classroom action research

b.   Made a lesson planning

c.   Prepared some students worksheets

d.   Prepared list sentences for students contain about homophone

e.   Prepared a form assessment

2.     Action

a.    Before gave the games, the teacher explained to the students that homophones are two words that sound alike, but have different meanings, like "two" (the number between one and three) and "too" (another way of saying as well).

b.    Students divided into small group that consist of 3 or 4 members. Every group has a leader who will choose the first player from his/her member.

c.    The teacher asked the students or first players to stand on a chair facing the board (about 3 or 4 meters).

d.     The teacher wrote the blank sentences and choices of homophone words e.g. Fill in the blanks with the correct word: a. road, b. rode, c. two and d.  to.

1.    I ________ an elephant at the circus last week

2.    Mom, may I go _________ the market

3.    Sue was lost and  didn’t know which __________ to take

4.    I have __________ pens

e.     The first player ran up to the board to answer the question by pronouncing.

f.     The first player changed by the second player until all the members would get chance.

g.    The teacher gave the point for the group who can answer the question truly.

h.    The winner is the highest point 

3.    Observation

a.    Situation of teaching learning activity.

b.    Students’ activeness.

c.    Students’ ability in discussion group.

4.    Reflection

Reflection would be done to see the whole first cycle action process. Reflection would be meant as analyzing, understanding, and making conclusion activity, the researcher analyzed first action cycle as consideration matter whether cycle had been reached success criteria based on test result of first action.

After finishing the cycle I and the result of learning process was not significant to what the researcher expect so the next cycle (cycle II, ?) can be taken again for improvement of the next cycle achievement. 

Cycle II                      

1.    Planning

a.    Evaluated reflection result, discussing and finding improvement to be applied for the next learning process.

b.   Made a lesson planning

c.   Prepared some students worksheets

d.   Prepared list sentences for students contain about homophone

e.   Prepared a form assessment

2.    Action

a.     Analyzed to overcome the previous problem

b.    Before gave the games, the teacher explained to the students that homophones are two words that sound alike, but have different meanings, like "two" (the number between one and three) and "too" (another way of saying as well).

c.    Students divided into small group that consist of 3 or 4 members. Every group has a leader who will choose the first player from his/her member.

d.    The teacher asked the students or first players to stand on a chair facing the board (about 3 or 4 meters).

e.     The teacher wrote the blank sentences and choices of homophone words e.g. Fill in the blanks with the correct word: a. road, b. rode, c. two and d.  to.

1.    I ________ an elephant at the circus last week

2.    Mom, may I go _________ the market

3.    Sue was lost and  didn’t know which __________ to take

4.    I have __________ pens

5.     The first player ran up to the board to answer the question by pronouncing.

6.    The first player changed by the second player until all the members would get chance.

7.    The teacher gave the point for the group who can answer the question truly.

8.    The winner is the highest point 

3.    Observation

a.    Situation of teaching learning activity.

b.    Students’ participation.

4.    Reflection

Reflection was done to see the whole second cycle action process. The researcher analyzed second action as consideration matter whether cycle has reached success criteria bases on test result and observation.

In second cycle, the researcher made the conclusion about implementation Homophone Games in improving students’ Pronunciation of the English long and short vowels at the second year students of SMP NEGERI 15 MAKASSAR.

E.  Research Instrument

In this research, the researcher used two instruments for collecting data:

1)    Observation List

Observation list used to watch out the situation of teaching and learning process which covers the method applied by a teacher in the class.

2)    Test

The test  used in the observation stage of every cycle to measure the students’ achievement in pronunciation of the English short vowels and the students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels.

F.  The Procedure of Collecting Data

            In collecting the data, the researcher used two instruments, they were: observation list and test.

1)     Observation list; the researcher observed the students’ activity in following teaching and learning process in the class.

2)    Test; the researcher gave pronunciation test to the students in order to know their improvement. In this case, the researcher gave some words, phrases and blank sentences; and the researcher asked the students to pronounce them.

G.   Technique of Data Analysis

              The collected data analyzed by quantitative. For the quantitative technique used descriptive static analysis, they are: describe mean of the students’ value, the highest score and the lowest score, distance, median, devisees value.

1.   

To Score the students’ answer of test, the researcher used the formula.

(Depdikbud 1985:6)

2.    To find out the mean score  of the students’ test, the researcher used the formula :

 

Where :                                                

X               = Mean Score

            = Total Score

               = The number of students

                                            (Tiro, Arif and Ilyas, 2002: 69)

3.    To classify the students’ score, there are seven classifications which used as follows:

1. Score 96- 100       :     Excellent

2.    Score 86-95        :     Very good

3.    Score 76-85        :     Good

4.    Score 66-75        :     Fairly good

5.    Score 56-65        :     Fair

6.    Score 36-55        :     Fairly poor

7.    Score 0-35           :     Poor

 (Gay, 1990:25)

3.   

To Calculate the percentage of the students’ score, the formula which used as follows:

Notation :             P         : Rate Percentage

                              F          : Frequency of the correct answer

                              N         : The total number of students

                                                                              (Sudjana, 1999)

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter consists of the findings of the research and discussion that contains of the data analysis in detail. The findings of the research cover the result of the data cycle I and cycle II about students’ pronunciation and observation result.

A.   Findings

The findings of classroom action research deal with the answer of the problem statement which its aim was to improve students’ long and short vowels in pronunciation. The findings consisted of students’ pronunciation and observation result.

1.    The students’ Progress in Long Vowels

The following table 1 shows the students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels of cycle I and cycle II.

Table 1

 The students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels in from cycle 1 to cycle II

Cycles	Meeting				Mean Score (X)	Classification
	1st X	2nd X	3rd X	4th X
I	48.2	52	58.2	62	55.1	Fairly Poor
II	72	82	83	85	80.5	Good

Based on the table 1 above, the researcher can explain that the students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels through Homophone Games in cycle I was still poor with mean score of first meeting till fourth meeting were 48.2, 52, 58.2, and 62 with the total mean score (55.1). But, mean score of the first meeting till the fourth meeting of the cycle II were 72, 82, 83 and 85 with the total mean score (80.5). It means that the students’ progress in long vowels shows the improvement and process from cycle I to cycle II after the researcher did some efforts.

The process that could be explained from the cycle I to cycle II as follows:

a.    At the beginning of the implementation of the cycle I has not been suitable with planning yet. This matter was caused by:

1.    Some students did not know to study Homophone Games

2.    Some students did not want to cooperative with their group

3.    Some students still did not know the step of Homophone Games

b.    At the end of the cycle II could be concluded:

1.    Students already understood to study Homophone Games

2.    All students wanted to cooperative with their group

3.    Students already knew the step of Homophone Games

To change the process from the cycle I to cycle II the researcher did some efforts as follows:

1.     The researcher intensively gave understanding or explanation to students about working together, participation in Homophone Games.

2.     The researcher helped the members of the groups who did not know what to do in Homophone Games.

The process could also be shown from the graphic below:

Graphic 1

 The students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels in from cycle 1 to cycle II

2.    The students’ Progress in Short Vowels

The following table 2 shows the students’ pronunciation of the English short vowels of cycle I and cycle II.

Table 2

 The students’ pronunciation of the English short vowels in from cycle 1 to cycle II

Cycles	Meeting				Mean Score (X)	Classification
	1st X	2nd X	3rd X	4th X
I	49	51.1	59	61.1	55.1	Fairly Poor
II	71.1	81.1	84	85	80.3	Good

Based on the table 2 above, the researcher can explain that the students’ pronunciation of the English short vowels through Homophone Games in cycle I was still poor with mean score of first meeting till fourth meeting were 48.2, 52, 58.2, and 62 with the total mean score (55.1). But, mean score of the first meeting till the fourth meeting of the cycle II were 72, 82, 83 and 85 with the total mean score (80.5). It means that the students’ progress in short vowels shows the improvement and process from cycle I to cycle II after the researcher did some efforts. It could be shown at the graphic below.

Graphic 2

The students’ pronunciation of the English short vowels in from cycle 1 to cycle

3.     Observation Result

The following table shows the students’ observation in learning pronunciation of cycle I and cycle II.

Table 1

 The students’ observation in learning pronunciation

Cycles	Participation				Mean Score (X)
	1st %	2nd %	3rd %	4th %
I	65	74	82	83	76
II	82	85	88	91	87

            Based on the table above, the researcher can explain that the students’ observation in learning pronunciation through Homophone Games in cycle I was still low with percentage of first meeting till fourth meeting were 67, 74, 82 and 83 with the mean score 76. Percentage of the first meeting till fourth meeting of the cycle II were 82, 85, 88 and 91 with the mean score 87. It means that the students’ observation shows process from cycle I to cycle II.

B.   DISCUSSION

This part is divided into two elements (long and short vowels) and observation result of pronunciation through Homophone Games as follows:

1.    The Improvement in Pronunciation of the English Long Vowels for the Students through Homophone Games

The improvement of the students’ pronunciation through Homophone Games had effect that was effective. From the improvement showed the process form the cycle I to cycle II.

In applying Homophone Games in learning process in the class, the researcher found that the mean score of test in cycle 2 of students’ pronunciation of the English long vowels was greater than test in cycle 1, in table 1 shows that in test of cycle 1 got 55.1 and after repairing the action in cycle 2 got 80.5. Therefore the researcher indicates that there was significant improvement of pronunciation of the English long vowels through Homophone Games.

2.    The Improvement in Pronunciation of the English Short Vowels for the Students through Homophone Games

The improvement of the students’ pronunciation through Homophone Games had effect that was effective. From the improvement showed the process form the cycle I to cycle II.

In applying Homophone Games in learning process in the class, the researcher found that the mean score of test in cycle 2 of students’ pronunciation of the English short vowels was greater than test in cycle 1, in table 1 shows that in test of cycle 1 got 55.1 and after repairing the action in cycle 2 got 80.5. Therefore the researcher indicates that there was significant improvement of pronunciation of the English short vowels through Homophone Games.

3.    The Observation Result of the Students’ Participation in Learning Pronunciation through Homophone Games

Based on the data analysis as result of observation sheet of students’ participation in learning process in previous findings shows that the participation of students from the first meeting till fourth meeting were 50, 55, 63, and 67 with mean score of four meetings as cycle 1 were 58.7. Percentage of the first till the fourth meeting of the cycle 2 were 73, 78, 80, and 83 with the mean score 78.5. From the data analysis shows that the students’ participation in cycle I in process learning is still low. So that’s why the researcher did repairing in cycle II so that there was significant improvement in cycle II of students’ participation.

Basically cycle II had positive effect on the students’ pronunciation because in Homophone Games the researcher gave their students opportunity to express their expression and the students can learn English especially English pronunciation without being aware they are studying, thus without stress, they can learn a lot. However, Homophone Game is a good way that can be used in improving the students’ pronunciation.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

This chapter presents the conclusion and suggestions are based on finding and discussion of the data analysis.

A.   Conclusion

Concerning the findings and discussions in the previous chapter, the researcher concludes that the application in teaching pronunciation through Homophone Games of the second year students is effective to improve the students’ pronunciation.

1.    Homophone Game is one of effective teaching strategy for the second year students of SMP Negeri 15 Makassar to improve their pronunciation.

2.    The pronunciation achievement of the students in learning pronunciation of English long vowels in cycle I had “fairly poor” classification, it was proved by the mean score was 55.1. And after giving cycle II, the students achievement in learning pronunciation had “good” classification, it proved by the mean score was 80.5 pronunciations improving.

3.    The pronunciation achievement of the students in learning pronunciation of English short vowels in cycle I had “fairly poor” classification, it was proved by the mean score was 55.1. And after giving cycle II, the students achievement in learning pronunciation had “good” classification, it proved by the mean score was 80.3 pronunciations improving.

B.   Suggestion

Based on the conclusions above, the researcher would like to put forward the following suggestions:

1.    In teaching English pronunciation, teacher can use Homophone Games as one alternative for improving students’ pronunciation.

2.    Teachers of English should be creative to develop teaching material, where they can use many various method or strategy in learning English especially in teaching pronunciation.

3.    The students should have standard dictionary in order to make students understand easily.

4.    The students should be good learners, not only in the classroom, so that they can follow up what they get from this learning teaching process.

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