Articles

The Capability in Pronouncing the English Final Consonant Clusters by the English Department Students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University

This study attempts to describe the ability of the English Department students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University in pronouncing English final consonant clusters. Consonant clusters are groups of consonants that can occur initia lly (onset) and finally (coda) in the syllable structure. The features of consonant clusters in each language are highly dependent on the language itself. In English, the number of consonants at the beginning of a syllable can be up to three such as: structure /strʌktʃə/, spring /sprIŋ/, while the number of consonants that forms a cluster in the coda can be up to four as in sixths /siksθs/, texts /teksθs/. While, Consonant clusters in Indonesian and Balinese as the mother tongue of students are very limited in number and only exist initially in the words. This difference, obviously, creates problems for students in pronouncing English words containing these consonant clusters
The knowledge of the English sound system is taught in the English phonetic and phonemic course in the fifth semester at the English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University. This study examined the ability to pronounce consonant clusters by the second semester students who have not taken English Phonetic and Phonemic courses to be compared with student s who have taken the course, so that it can be seen to what extent the course can change students’ performance in pronouncing the consonant clusters.
This research is descriptive qualitative research, supported by quantitative data. The research population was 20 second semester students and 20 sixth semester students randomly taken. The research instrument was a list of English words containing consonant clusters and questionnaires. The data collection technique was done through recording, and the data were analyzed descriptive qualitatively and presented formally and informally.

The Capability of Pronouncing the English Diphthongs by the English Department Students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University

This study aims at investigating the capability of the English department students, Faculty of Humanities, Udayana University in pronouncing diphthongs. Diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another. English is very rich in words containing diphthongs, such as: / aI / in the word try / traI / buy / baI /; / eI /, in the words they / ðeI /, day / deI /, / eə / as in hair / heə /, chair /tʃeə/. Meanwhile, the number of diphthongs in Indonesian and Balinese as the mother tongue of the students is very limited. This difference certainly creates problems for students in pronouncing the English words consisting of diphthongs.

The knowledge of English sounds is taught in the subject of English phonetics and phonemics in the fifth semester. This study examined the ability of new students who have not taken the English Phonetics and Phonemics subject to be compared with the ability of those who have got this subject, so that it can be seen to what extent this course can change student performance in pronouncing diphthongs.

This research is a qualitative descriptive research supported by quantitative data. The population of this study was 50 new students and 50 sixth semester students, taken randomly. The research instrument was a list of English words containing diphthongs and questionnaires. The technique of collecting data was done through recording, and the data were analyzed descriptive qualitatively and presented formally and informally.