IMPROVING ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION OF ADULT ESL LEARNERS

THROUGH READING ALOUD ASSESSMENTS

Siti Nurani1; Amrina Rosyada2

1,2
English Education Department, Faculty of Language and Art, Indraprasta PGRI University
Jl. Nangka No. 58C Tanjung Barat (TB Simatupang), Jagakarsa, Jakarta Selatan 12530
1
nurani_city@yahoo.com; 24mrin4@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Communication skill nowadays becomes a must that everyone should master. The agreement of such conceptual
meaning in communication should meet the same perception among speakers. One of the tools to improve one’s
communication skill is by learning pronunciation through Reading Aloud for misperception emerged from mispronunciation
can be avoided. This research aims at improving English pronunciation through reading aloud in the form of short
texts. The research was carried out in Statistics Data Center (BPS) by employing an action research with two cycles of
assessments. There were 20 IT engineers of Networking Operation Center with various background of knowledge as an
object of the research. The data was collected by observation, note taking, and test which are designed and administered
to identify the participants’ core and frequency of English tasks and also to investigate participants’ previous experiences
with English. Findings show that there is an improvement on participants’ pronunciation skill through Reading Aloud as
it can be seen from the increase of a mean score on the second cycle with 77.75 that is considered as good predicate.

Keywords: English pronunciation, reading aloud technique, pronunciation skill

ABSTRAK

Kemampuan berkomunikasi saat ini menjadi suatu keharusan yang harus dikuasai oleh setiap orang. Persamaan
persepsi diantara sesama penutur terhadap makna konseptual sangat diperlukan dalam berkomunikasi. Salah satu cara
untuk meningkatkan kemampuan berkomunikasi adalah melalui pembelajaran pelafalan (pronunciation) dengan teknik
membaca nyaring (reading aloud) agar kesalahpahaman makna yang ditimbulkan dari kesalahan pelafalan dapat
terhindarkan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk meningkatkan kemampuan pelafalan bahasa Inggris dalam bentuk
teks pendek. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian tindakan kelas dengan dua siklus yang dilakukan di Badan Pusat Statistik.
Sebanyak 20 karyawan SubDit JKD yang berprofesi sebagai insinyur IT dengan berbagai latar belakang pengetahuan
sebagai objek penelitian. Data dikumpulkan melalui observasi, catatan lapangan, dan tes yang dirancang dan diberikan
untuk mengetahui kemampuan dasar dan frekuensi penggunaan bahasa Inggris partisipan serta untuk mengetahui
pengalaman partisipan terhadap penggunaan bahasa Inggris sebelumnya. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya
peningkatan kemampuan partisipan dalam pembelajaran pelafalan melalui teknik membaca nyaring yang terlihat dari
peningkatan nilai rata-rata pada siklus kedua yaitu sebesar 77.75 dengan predikat kategori bagus.

Kata kunci: pelafalan bahasa Inggris, teknik membaca nyaring, kemampuan pelafalan

108 Jurnal LINGUA CULTURA Vol.9 No.2 November 2015

INTRODUCTION processor in native-like attainment. The access to second
language can only be achieved if a learner has a high level
As an integrated information center corporation in propensity of acquiring a second language.
Indonesia, Statistics Data Center (BPS) is expected to be Since the participants in this research are adult
able to offer clients a full range of services, particularly of ESL learners, who might be called as ultimate learners
Networking Operation Center to each unit of Data Center. of pronunciation (age factor) hypothesized in a critical
In doing such services, the employees (i.e., IT engineers of period, must meet problems in their pronunciation
Networking Operation Center) are required to use English learning process. Compared to adults, younger learners
as the medium of communication for communicating with would generally receive more and more varied input from
their clients both from local and across cultures. Along native speakers and would be more highly motivated to
with the fast development of technology and science, acquire the second language at native-like level (Schuman,
cultural and social life, the communication competence 1975). In other words, adults are assumed to receive only
becomes one of the primary factors in achieving the less adequate input and are considered as less motivated
perfection of language comprehension. Therefore, the language learners as contrast to Klein’s hypothesis. Due
target of communication among people could be reached to some above factors that might interfere the process of
without any obstacles. With the continuing demand of learning, pronunciation lesson should be set as good as
using English in surroundings, people’s communication possible to ease ultimate learners receiving the materials.
skill must be developed to ease them to communicate with Various activities and assessments in the learning process
each other. have to fulfill the needs of participants’ learning situation
One of the learning aspects that is significant to which involves subjective and process-oriented needs,
learn for increasing communication skill is pronunciation. consisting of the participants’ language learning preference
Clear pronunciation gives speakers the power to be to do such activities that will be given in the learning
confident when expressing and indicating themselves in process. Therefore, reading aloud technique might be the
communicating with others (Zaigham, 2011), whereas best alternative to overcome participants’ needs in learning
mispronunciation will lead misperception among them. pronunciation. The benefits of reading aloud are numerous
Hence, pronunciation is what speakers concern with as and one of them is increasing the motivation of students to
it comprises rules to utter words accurately (Harmer, read and to build their topical knowledge about a specific
2001). The success of communication really depends subject. By Reading Aloud employed in the pronunciation
on the speakers’ fluency in pronouncing the words. In learning, participants are expected to be more active and
this case, the speakers must adhere to some standard of interactive in engaging their real life communication.
pronunciation in order to be understood by others. No two individuals pronounce exactly alike. The
Learning pronunciation of a second language differences arise from a variety of causes, such as the time
possesses a problem that is different to a problem that in which they grew up, the area in which they now live,
speakers face when they learn their first language. their early influences, social class, social surroundings,
There appears to be multiple factors contributing to the their level of education, and there are also individual
pronunciation attained by the second language learner, peculiarities for which it is difficult or impossible to
such as the age (Krashen, Long, & Scarcella, 1979); and account. Even within the same groups of the same area and
also the length of residence in a place where the target class, each individual has his or her own unique way of
language is spoken (Purcell & Suter, 1980). There will speaking. Pronunciation refers to the way in which a word
be some learners who may want to approach a native-like or a language is usually spoken in which someone utters a
pronunciation as they want to deal on equal terms with word or a language. The fluency in pronouncing English
native speakers in an English-speaking country. However, utterances is the most important aspect in producing
some studies claim that older people are not disadvantaged accurate meaning of the utterance so that it could be
for the attainment of native-like pronunciation of the easily comprehended by a community. Pronouncing the
second language (Neufeld, 1978; Olson & Samuels, 1973; utterances is really influenced and determined by the use
(e.g. Neufeld, 1978; Olson & Samuels, 1973; Snow & of intonation and stressed word in a sentence correctly.
Hoefnagel-Hole, 1977). Various mastery levels of pronunciation portray
Similarly, (Scovel, 1988) pointed out that learners the difference of one’s competence and performance in
who start to learn second language later than, say, age communication. Having a good or a bad pronunciation
12, will never be able to “pass themselves off as native really depends on one’s effort to learn pronunciation.
speakers” and will “end up easily identified as nonnative In the learning process, learners may face difficulty to
speakers of that language”. Learners who start to learn cope the materials as they are imposed to the language
a second language before the close of the critical period they are not familiar with . As the late start learners of
were assumed to be able to achieve native-like mastery, pronunciation, adult ESL learners must find pronunciation
provided that they were continuously exposed to sufficient learning as such frustrating lesson.
input from native speakers of that language (Lenneberg, One of the difficulties in learning pronunciation
1967). However, (Klein, 1995) assumed that although the is when learners pronounce English words. As a result,
age factor may generally hold true but adults can ultimately making errors in pronouncing English as foreign language
attain good pronunciation by the interplay of three factors, is considered as a common and natural phenomenon in the
that is, language processor, access, and propensity. Klein early stage of foreign language learning process. Goodwin
argued that there is no evidence of any drastic changes in (2001) affirmed that in teaching pronunciation, there is a
adults’ biological barrier which influenced the language set of goals of instructions examined, namely: 1) to enable

Improving English Pronunciation .... (Siti Nurani; Amrina Rosyada) 109

 our learners to understand and be understood, 2) to build by framing the target of reading skill achievement that
their confidence in entering communicative situations, is integrated with other skills (i.e., speaking, reading,
and 3) to enable them to monitor their speech based on writing, listening, vocabulary and grammar). Also, in
input from the environment. To accomplish these goals, the step of fluent reading modeled, teachers must be as
he describes the tools we need to teach pronunciation in a a fluent model in reading the text. This is conducted to
systematic and principled way. Therefore teachers should overcome learners’ mispronunciation. The most important
determine the best technique to cope with the problems phase where all learners are involved into their own text
that learners face. By pointing those problems, some is called as animation and expression phase (Fisher et. al.,
scholars have demonstrated that reading aloud is said to be 2004) . In this phase, teachers are expected to read the texts
an effective way to ease learners in comprehending both in a full of expression by using gesture, intonation, and
of written and spoken contexts in teaching pronunciation body movement. Therefore, learners are totally engaged
(i.e. Alshumaimeri, 2011; Huang, 2010; Tost, 2013). in the situation of learning. Another stage, discussing the
By applying Reading Aloud in classroom context, text, is a step when both teacher and learners discussing
learners will experience more joyful learning circumstance the text to get the appropriate concept of meaning and to
as it offers numerous benefits as supported by (Jacobs & link the function of text to learners’ daily life. This can be
Hannah, 2004) who classified them into two groups, that done either before reading, during the process of reading
is “benefits of reading aloud to students who are learning or even after the process of reading. The last step is
to read and benefits of ‘reading aloud to students at any independent reading and writing. Here, teachers evaluate
level of reading proficiency”. The former states that learners’ reading competence on how far they comprehend
reading aloud helps students see the link between print their reading texts. Various exercises and brief comment
and language, i.e., those black marks on the page represent on journal will be beneficial for learners to enhance their
sounds and words, and students see the direction in which level of reading competence.
words and letters flow in the language of the book being
read to them. Teachers demonstrate how to hold a book, METHOD
to open a book, and to turn the pages. Students build
their memories as they seek to recall earlier parts of a This research basically aims in improving English
book and previously read books. Hearing books read to pronunciation through reading aloud assessments. The
them inspires students to want to learn to read. The latter research was carried out in Statistics Data Center (BPS),
affirms that students can learn new language items, such engaging 20 IT engineers of Networking Operation Center
as vocabulary and grammar, and their understanding of with various background of knowledge as an object of the
previously learned language is deepened and broadened research. This research is a Practical Action Research
with two cycles of assessments, focused on learners’
by new and repeated encounters. Students’ listening skills
pronunciation improvement (Creswell, 2012). The data
increase. A bond of shared experience is built between was collected through interviews, observation, and
the reader and the listener. Reading aloud can be used documents to identify the participants’ core and frequency
to launch a discussion about life, topics currently being of English tasks and also to investigate participants’
studied, and language. Students build their knowledge previous experiences with English (Creswell, 2012).
of the world and its inhabitants. Teachers share their As stated by (Fisher et al., 2004), each of cycle
enthusiasm for reading, encouraging students to read the in the process of reading aloud is conducted by various
same book, books by the same author or of the same type, assessments, namely: text selection, previewed and
or any sort of reading matter on their own. practiced, clear purpose established, fluent reading
Since reading loud technique releases numerous modeled, animation and expression, discussing the text,
benefits, many teachers conduct the teaching strategy and independent reading and writing. The research design
in this Practical Action Research is cycling the process
by modeling some assessments in the teaching and
of reading aloud as (Mills, 2011) described that action
learning process, specifically in the process of teaching research as ‘dialectic action research spiral’. This model
pronunciation by using the reading aloud technique. provides four-step guide which is drawn as follows:
There are some steps in investigating several assessments
in the reading aloud technique, namely: 1) text selection,
2) previewed and practiced, 3) clear purpose established,
4) fluent reading modeled, 5) animation and expression,
6) discussing the text, and 7) independent reading and
writing (Fisher et al, 2004). In the text selection, teachers
choose the most appropriate reading texts that will be
read in front of learners based on their needs. In this case,
teachers should consistently choose the text that meets its
requirement in improving learners’ English competence.
Previewed and practiced is a step for teachers reading the
text fluently by doing the pause in each section of theme. Figure 1 Dialectic Action Research Spiral
In this step, learners are welcomed to ask for questions of Source: (Mills, 2011:19)
every problem in reading they face. Further assessment,
which is known as clear purpose established, is held before The identifying step is a step related to defining the
learners starting to read texts by using reading aloud area, doing the self-reflection and description, reviewing
technique. Here, teachers determine general objectives the literature, and writing an action research plan to guide

110 Jurnal LINGUA CULTURA Vol.9 No.2 November 2015

the research. Collecting is an action of gathering multiple read. More practical overview of the text’s features is given
sources of data by using the interviews, observation, in the previewed and practiced stage. This is employed
and documents. The analyzing and Interpreting step to deprive learners’ boredom to the materials. The phase
are conducted by identifying themes, coding the data, of clear purpose established, released on giving learners
asking the key questions, doing an organizational more interactive exercise with a simpler short text by also
reviews, connecting findings to personal experiences, and examining various role plays in learners’ performance.
contextualizing the findings in literature and theory. The Accordingly, the writers as the reading models for learners
final step, developing an action plan, includes a summary provide directly practicing the aspects of animation and
of findings, recommended actions, and the identification expression, either before, during, or after the process of
of individuals responsible to carry out the action. This reading. It is a step where the writers had to elaborate
model includes four stages where the cycles back and more on the supra-segmental aspects of the materials.
forth between the data collection and identifying stage; The collecting data stage in the second cycle should
and data collection and analyzing and interpretation stage also portray a better performance of learners’ pronunciation.
(Creswell, 2012). For this time, every single of mispronunciation was noted.
In this present research, the writers who also Here, learners were tested twice as they have another
acted as the researchers , conduct two cycles of reading chance to identify their mispronunciation. In accordance,
aloud assessments of which in each cycle carried out learners were given a more open opportunity to improve
various assessments. Those are text selection, previewed their ability on pronouncing the words. The recording
and practiced, clear purpose established, fluent reading session is set to be more comfortable as they have space
modeled, animation and expression, discussing the text, to prepare themselves to read aloud the text better than
and independent reading as well as writing. By doing before. In the observing stage, report is made into journals
such assessments, it is expected that problems in learning regarding learners’ improvement in learning pronunciation
pronunciation faced by adult ESL learners will be solved. by categorizing the aspects of learning in detail. Then,
In this case, learners are facilitated with various interesting scores were also identified together with the analysis of
learning media to succeed the teaching-learning process. the progress. As for the feedback, in the developing an
It is hoped that learners experience better learning action plan stage, the writers mapped the learners’ need by
circumstance in learning pronunciation. interviewing learners about what aspect of learning that
At the first cycle, numerous interactive materials should be included and what should be leaved out.
were prepared in the identifying stage. In the text selection,
the writers observed that learners find their job description RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
of the text is the best text given. Here, the appropriate text
is determined to meet their need suited to their scopes of With a very perusal investigation at each cycle,
work. The writers then previewed and practiced the text the writers found that there was an increase of learners’
by giving the concept of the classification of segmental pronunciation performance in the second cycle. Learners’
phonemes, i.e., classification of vowels and consonants by mean score was then also increasing. The results show
giving list of those categories. In the phase of clear purpose that in the second cycle, each learner had a progress in
established, the writers then gave participants exercises pronouncing the words and sentences in a short text
of some lists of short vowel and consonant words in the clearly both of pronouncing vowels and consonants.
form of short text. After each participant practiced the The assessments of pronouncing segmental phonemes
text given, the writers were acting as the fluent reading are scored to learners’ mean score of clear pronunciation
models to show the participants how to read the text well. of vowels (i.e., front, central, and back vowels) and
The aspects of animation and expression should also be consonants (i.e., viewed from the place of articulation and
involved in the process of reading the text. This is a task manner of articulation). The mean score will be averaged
for writers to take supra-segmental phonemes into the
in each cycle that can be seen from the table below:
learning process, such as the use of gestures, intonation,
stressed patterns in the sentences of the text.
Both in the identifying and collecting phase, note Table 1 Learners’ Mean Score
taking is held in the two last activities of reading aloud of Pronouncing Segmental Phonemes
assessments, that is, the stage of discussing the text in Each Cycle
as well as independent reading and writing. In these
activities, learners were assessed by giving them some Learner
Vowels Consonants
examples of words contained segmental phonemes in a 1st cycle 2nd cycle 1st cycle 2nd cycle
short text to be pronounced. Each learner should come to 1 62 78 60 78
2 58 72 56 78
the front of the class to read aloud the text. The activity is 3 57 73 56 77
conducted by recording learners’ voice during the process 4 61 78 61 78
5 62 77 61 78
of reading aloud. This is done to identify mispronunciation 6 62 76 60 78
made by learners in detail as the writers evaluate it in 7 65 81 60 80
8 62 78 60 77
order to score their pronunciation level. In this stage, 9 62 78 61 76
10 62 77 60 78
learners are welcomed to ask for and to comment on 11 65 83 62 80
their pronunciation problems. In the analyze and interpret 12 61 78 61 80
13 61 77 61 77
phase, the writers analyzed on the assessments that had 14 63 78 60 80
been done and decided to conduct another cycle as they 15 65 77 62 76
found that the level of learners’ pronunciation mastery 16 62 78 60 76
17 65 82 60 80
was not yet considered as satisfactory. 18 62 79 60 78
Having a better preparation in selecting the text is 19 62 78 61 78
20 61 77 58 77
relied on the identifying phase of the second cycle. Here, Mean 62 77.75 60 78
the text is chosen and put the phonetic transcriptions of
each segmental phoneme into the text to make it easier to

Improving English Pronunciation .... (Siti Nurani; Amrina Rosyada) 111

 note taking were carried out to record the process of
learning in the classroom, whereas the test was conducted
to measure and score the learners’ pronunciation mastery.
At the first cycle, the writers found that many
learners still got difficulty coping their learning in each
level of assessment. Most of learners still had lack of
confidence to experience the activities as they did not
have such the thing before. As the result, every learning
assessment of each cycle did not run smoothly. Learners in
this cycle were as passive for giving only little contribution
to the learning process. Here, mispronunciation made by
almost 90 percents of learners was massively found as
Figure 2 Learners’ Mean Score it presented in their mean score of segmental phonemes
of Clear Pronunciation in Each Cycle (table 1). The mean score of each learner was also still at
the poor level. Hence, better teaching and learning process
circumstance were brought by examining more numerous
As the chart displayed, there is an improvement of
interactive things into the classroom.
learners’ pronunciation test from one cycle to the second
A more excited situation of learning was created
one. In the first cycle, learner’s mean score releases on
in the second cycle. To take the cycle played better
61 point as the result, of which it was categorized as poor
than former cycle, writers then built more practical
score. This point showed that the students’ competence in
assessments to ease learners achieve their goal of learning.
pronunciation was low. At the first time, it was expected
Learners began to be very enthusiastic in learning. This
that every learner could apply reading aloud in their
can be seen from their progress to have their confidence
pronunciation learning smoothly. In fact, learners still got
both on written and spoken assessments. The mean score
problems in pronouncing some vowel sounds especially
had also been increased by the time they were given
in pronouncing back vowel /Ʊ/ such as in ‘good’, ‘could’,
various interactive media of learning. In this second cycle,
would’, ‘input’, ‘book’, ‘pull’, etc. ; front vowels /a/ as in
learners became active and mispronunciation made by
the words ‘’five’, ‘light’, etc.; and /æ/, e.g., ‘back’, ‘bag’,
them was also gradually derived . All learners were totally
‘cash’, ‘can’, ‘cabinet’, ‘carry’, etc; and some consonant
getting involved in their learning process as they led their
sounds particularly of fricative sounds of /θ/, for instance
pronunciation to be as fluent as native like pronunciation.
‘month’, ‘through’, etc.; and /ð/ as in the words ‘other’,
The technique of reading aloud made learners have
‘there’, ‘that’, and also affricate sounds of /ʧ/ like in the
a joyful experience of learning pronunciation as it offers
expressions ‘cheap’, ‘question’ ‘chair’, ‘chain’, etc.; and
many advantages for creating a better circumstance of
/ʤ/ such as in ‘wage’, ‘June’, etc. (table 1). Those parts of
teaching and learning process. As reading aloud integrates
sounds seem to be difficult for learners to pronounce. This
all skills of language competence and performance, then
might happen as there is an influence of mother tongue
learners will have a complete thought for understanding
toward the target language. In accordance, learners’
the concept of learning pronunciation by delivering the
confidence was also still at a low level as they perform
message of its meaning thoroughly. Clear pronunciation
their first experience.
made by learners will lead them to meaningful
In the second cycle, the mean score was increased
communication. By pronouncing the words correctly,
by 77.75 point, of which it indicated a progress from
communicative requirements must be reached.
previous cycle. The result showed that learners made
more progress both of their score as well as of their
confidence on performance. Problems on pronouncing CONCLUSION
each segment of speech, particularly for the difficult parts
Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that
of vowel and consonant sounds that are mentioned above
the use of reading aloud assessments in pronunciation
were also decreased. In this second cycle, learners had lesson is said to be successful in improving English
more effort to lead their pronunciation into a better level pronunciation of adult ESL learners. This can be seen
of mastery. This was influenced by doing more practice from the increase of learners’ mean score of their clear
among learners themselves. Also, with more interactive pronunciation performance in the second cycle, of which
media of learning, learners might feel comfortable to 61 point at the first cycle and 77.75 point at the second
receive the lesson materials well. The mean score was cycle. Moreover, reading aloud is also considered to be
categorized as good score. beneficial to increase learners’ motivation in learning
The Practical Action Research had been conducted pronunciation. This can be seen from their enthusiasm
in two cycles that comprised of six meetings. In each of learning pronunciation as they view the circumstance
cycle, there were four stages investigated, namely: of learning as their experience new environment. In
addition, the interaction among learners is developed
identifying an area of focus, collecting the data, analyzing
significantly as they feel free to be involved on the
and interpreting the data, and developing the action plan. communication among them. In every step of the lesson,
Each cycle was then accomplished by using reading the writers give an enormous opportunity to the learners
aloud assessments to look over learners’ need in their to give their aspiration for creating a better circumstance
learning circumstance. The writers who also acted as the of teaching and learning process.
researchers did the analysis by examining the procedures The results of the study are expected to be as a
of observing, note taking, and testing. Observation and contribution to the development of language education

112 Jurnal LINGUA CULTURA Vol.9 No.2 November 2015

particularly of the pronunciation skill improvement. The Snow, C., Hoefnagel-Hohle. (1977). Age Differences in
results are also expected to give an important insight Pronunciation of Foreign Sounds. Language and
and valuable information for educational practitioners Speech, 2lX4), 357-365.
in investigating the theoretical underpinnings of second Tost, G. (2013). Bettering Pronunciation through Reading
language acquisition, especially of the attainment native- Aloud and Peer Appraisal. Bellattera Journal of
like pronunciation. This present research deals with Teaching and Learning Language and Literature,
the identification of pronunciation skill improvement
6 (1), 35-55.
by examining reading aloud assessments as its main
focus. To see more comprehensible input to the research, Zaigham, M. S. (2011). Language Starts with the Ear. The
such approaches might be also linked to several other Fiat Pointer, 1(4), 26-27.
perspectives of disciplines, such as ESP and corpus-based
approach to foster educational practitioners in increasing
the innovation in teaching and learning process mainly of
pronunciation lesson in the classroom context.

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Improving English Pronunciation .... (Siti Nurani; Amrina Rosyada) 113