EFL Students’ Pronunciation Problems in Presenting Thesis Proposal at Tertiary Level of English Department

The aim of the research is to investigate EFL Students’ Pronunciation Problems in Presenting Thesis Proposal at Tertiary Level of English Department. This qualitative study reported in this article focused on segmental features problems. The instruments used to collect the data needed in this study were the researcher, recording, and Dictionary. The data analysis covered consonant and vowel pronunciation problems. was based on the theories of phonetics proposed by George Yule and Jacobs, which embraces voicing, manner of articulation and place of articulation for English consonant production and the tongue part and position, sound length, and mouth forming for English vowel production. The result of the study shows that the research subject encountered a number of segmental pronunciation problems consisting of consonants and vowels including pure vowels and diphthongs. Furthermore, this research revealed that the problem with consonant sounds were the substitution of the sounds [v], [ð], [θ], [t∫], [ʒ], [ʃ] [z] and the deletion of the sounds [k], [ɡ], [t], and [s]. The problem with pure vowel sounds were the substitution of the sound [ɪ], [iː], [ɛ], [ʊ], [ʌ], [ɜː], [ɒ], [ɔː] and [ə] and the insertion of the sound [ə] between two consonant sounds. The problem with diphthongs were: the monophthongization of the sound [aɪ], [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪə], [əʊ], and the replacement of the sounds [eɪ] and [ɪə] with other diphthongs. It is suggested for the next researchers to investigate pronunciation problems related to supra-segmental aspects and phonemic opposition. and factors driving pronunciation problems in the EFL Classroom setting. Article History Received: 29-05-2021 2


Introduction
Pronunciation plays an important part in improving an English speaking skill, It is inline with Ellis as cited in Sahatsathatsana (2017) points out that good pronunciation is a key to have good speaking. In communication process, good pronunciation can avoid verbal misunderstanding speakers need to deliver their speech with proper English pronunciation in order that the message clearly delivered and understandable. At the same line, Gilakjani (2011) says that people who had incorrect pronunciation would not be successful in communication. However, learning pronunciation is quite difficult for Indonesian students since they have been used to speaking their mother tongue. Due to the English is greatly different from Indonesian language in its pronunciation system. The common problem of learning English pronunciation is caused by the differences between the sound systems of the two languages. There are some sounds in English which do not exist in Indonesian. The vowels, such as [ae], [I:], [u:] and consonants, such as [ð], [θ], [ʒ], do not exist in Indonesian. It will be difficult for Indonesian students to pronounce them. Pronunciation, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, refers someone's competence in producing sound used to deliver used to collect the data needed in this study were the researcher, recording, and Dictionary. The researcher came to the presentation of the thesis proposal in which the subjects of the research were performing their English speaking practices. Then, the researcher analyzed the results qualitatively with three steps by Miles, Huberman and Saldana (2014), i.e., 1) Recording: the data-collecting process in this research was done by recording the speaking practices performed by the English Department students during the presentation of the thesis proposal. The recordings were then listened to catch and write down the transcription, 2) Dictionary: the Oxford Tertiary Learners' Dictionary was used as a determinant to do the analysis since it was the commonly used dictionary among the English Department students.
The data of this research were the speaking practices performed by the English Department students in the presentation of the thesis proposal. The researcher recorded students' thesis proposal presentation during thesis proposal seminar in March to April 2021. Totally, ten students' thesis proposal presentations were taken as the data source. This research took and recorded the data directly during the presentation of the thesis proposal. Some steps were done by the researcher to collect the data. The first step was directly coming to the class to observe and listen to the presentation of the thesis proposal. While observing and listening, the students' performances were recorded. The second step was listening to the recording and then writing down the transcription and marking every single English sound which was mispronounced. The last step was noting and classifying the data based on their segmental phonological characteristics (Miles, Huberman and Saldana, 2014).
The data analysis of the research covered two stages; The first stage was grouping the mispronounced English sounds. The whole collected data which have been written down are firstly classified or grouped based on their segmental phonological characteristic. Second, the data were allocated into two main classifications; consonant and vowel pronunciation problems. The vowel pronunciation problem is divided into three branches; pure vowels, diphthong and trip thong while the consonant pronunciation problem does not have any branch to divide. The second stage was analyzing how the mispronounced sounds were becoming the pronunciation problems. It began with analyzing the segmental features of the mispronounced English phonemes which had been classified. To check off the accuracy of the analysis, The Oxford Tertiary Learners' Dictionary and the theory of English phonetics and phonology proposed by Yule (2010) and Roach (2009) were used as the determinants to convey the accuracy of the analysis. The phonological environments of some mispronounced English sounds were explained as it was considered necessary.

Finding and Discussion
To answer the research question, the finding presents the analysis of the research data by categorizing the data into two classes; consonant and vowel including diphthong, and explaining the segmental features which become the pronunciation problems occupied by the ten research subjects during the presentation of their thesis proposals.

1) The problem with the English Consonants
This research identified that there are the consonant sounds which were inaccurately pronounced by the subjects of the research in their presentation of their thesis proposal. The accuracy was determined with the phonetic transcription provided on the Phonetic Latin alphabet standardized by (International Phonetic Association, and the Oxford Tertiary Learner's Dictionary, 2015). The inaccurate production of the consonants will be described through the phonetic theories of consonants proposed by Roach (2009) andYule (2010) which focus on the voicing, the manner of articulation and the place of articulation. The English consonant sound [ð] is described as a voiced dental fricative sound that its production should fulfill those three main features of [ð] sound. The problem encountered by the research subjects regarding of the sound [ð] arose in two position; initial and final. In the case of the sound [ð] in the initial position, the research subjects articulated the /ð/ in the improper way of the manner and the place of articulations while the voicing remained correct. One subject did not touch his tongue to the dental area, but to the nearest place of articulation which was the alveolar ridge and changed its manner of articulation to be a stop or plosive. Thus, this eventually result edit the production of the sound [d] which substituted the sound [ð].
This kind of substitution happened, for example, in the words the /ðə/and "then" /ðen/. The substitution of the initial [ð] with the sound [d] by the research subjects made them pronounced /də/ and /den/. This initial substitution occur under one phonological environment. The change of the [ð] in the initial position is always followed a vowel. For instance, in the subject pronunciation of the word, "then" as /ðen/, it can be identified that the sound [d] is followed by the sound [e] which is a vowel. c). The Sound [θ].
The following table shows the sound [θ] which was substituted with sound [t] by the subject occurring in the initial and final position and the substitution of the sound [θ] with [s] in the initial position committed by the subjects. Table 3.

problem with the sound [θ] Position Word
The correct pronunciation

Initial
Thank Three Third is described as a voiceless dental fricative sound. Those three phonetic aspects should be occupied when producing the sound [θ]. However, some of the subject in some cases did not meet two of the three phonetic aspects when they articulated the sound [θ]. They changed the place of articulation of the sound [θ] from dental to alveolar. In accordance with the manner of articulation, the sound [θ] that should actually be articulated through producing an air stream as it is fricative was articulated with the manner of stop or plosive. The voicing of this sound was produced correctly. Those two changes of the phonetic aspects of the sound [θ] resulted in the production of the sound [t] that substituted the sound [θ]. This kind of substitution occurred in two position; initial and medial.
In this cases, the subject articulated sound [θ] is in the proper way of voicing and manner of articulation. The sound [θ] was voicelessly articulated with a fricative manner. However, the place of articulation of the sound [θ] was changed by the subject from dental to alveolar. This eventually ended up with the production of the sound [s] which is phonetically described by a voiceless alveolar fricative sound. It means that the sound [θ] was substituted with the sound [s] by the research subjects. This kind of substitution happened only once and it was in the initial position. It happened to the word "third" /θəː(r)d/. The medial [θ] sound was substituted with the sound [s] that made it pronounced /səːrd/. The change of the initial sound [θ] to the sound [s] performed by the subject occurs in one phonological environment. The change of the sound [θ] to the sound [s] in the initial position is followed by a vowel. For instance, in the subject pronunciation of the word "third" as /səːrd/, it can be identified that the sound [s] is followed by the long vowel [əː].

d). The Sound [t∫]
The following table shows the sound [t∫] which was replaced with sound [c] by the subject occurring in the medial position. This problem did not happen in the initial and final position. is a consonant sound that should be articulated through three phonetic aspects: voiced, palatal and fricative. Those three aspects should be completely fulfilled all together in order to produce the proper sound [ʒ]. Otherwise, the sound [ʒ] will be mistakenly altered into another sound. The problem encountered by the research subjects related to the sound [ʒ] was in the voicing aspect. They devoiced sound [ʒ] that resulted in the production of a voiceless, palatal and fricative sound. This sound can be addressed by the sound [ʃ] which substituted the sound [ʒ]. This kind of substitution happened only in one position; medial position. It happened to the word "conclusion" /kənˈkluːʒ(ə)n̩ / and "cohesion" /kəʊˈhiːʒ(ə)n̩ /. The substitution of the medial [ʒ] sound with the sound [ʃ] made those words pronounced /kɒnˈkluːʃən̩ / and /kəʊˈhɛʃən̩ /. It can be seen that some vowel changes also happened and they will be discussed in the vowel section.

2). The Problem with the English Vowels and Diphthongs
The findings of the study shows that there are same vowel sounds which were inaccurately pronounced by EFL learners during presentation of thesis proposal. This is in line with Purba et al (2019) who said that these problems were occurred because the students didn't have the material about phonetic symbols yet. They still confused how to pronounce English short vowel sounds in English words correctly. The accuracy was determined with the phonetic transcription provided on the Latin alphabet standardized by the (International Phonetic Association, 2015) and the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. The inaccurate production of the consonants will be described through the phonetic theories of vowels proposed Yule (2010) which focus on the part and the position of the tongue. In addition, it is important to note that the phonological environment of the vowel substitution will not be described in each vowel as there must always be only one possible phonological environment; an initial vowel must always be followed by a consonant, a medial vowel must always be preceded and followed by consonants, and a final vowel must always be preceded by a consonant.

a) The Vowel [ɪ]
The sound [ɪ] is produced in the close front area. This means that when the sound [ɪ] is produced, the front part of the tongue is heightened to the roof of the mouth with the lips are slightly spread. However, the front part of the tongue is not heightened as high as possible to the mouth roof. It is slightly pulled down near the quality of the close-mid vowel. When it came to the sound [ɪ], some of the subjects found it problematic. They did not use and posit their tongue properly for producing t the sound [ɪ]. As the result, the sound [ɪ] is changed with other sounds. The following table shows the change of the sound [ɪ] performed by the research subject. . This substitution occurred, for example, in the words "this" /ðɪs/ and "examine"/ɪɡˈzaemɪn/, the medial [ɪ] sound was substituted by t he research subjects with the sound [i] which made them pronounced /ðis/ and /ɪɡˈzaemin/.
Second, the sound [ɪ] was produced in the front tongue but the tongue was not raised sufficiently that they failed to produce it as a close vowel. The tongue was just raised as the degree of mid-open vowel and it brought about dropping jaw. Then, the vowel sound [ɛ] was eventually produced instead of [ɪ]. The substitution of the sound [ɪ] with the sound [ɛ] happened in two position; initial and medial. The initial substitution can be seen from the word "examine" /ɪɡˈzaemɪn/ which was pronounced /ɛɡˈzaemɪn/. This means that the initial [ɪ] sound was substituted with the sound [ɛ]. The medial substitution can be seen from the words "perfect" /ˈpəː(r)fɪkt/ and "preferred" /prɪˈfəː(r)d/ which were pronounced /ˈpəːrfɛkt/ and /prɛˈfəːrd/. This means that the medial [ɪ] sound was substituted with the sound [ɛ].

b). The Sound [ʌ]
The sound [ʌ] is an open central vowel. Producing the sound [ʌ] involves the central part of the tongue. However, the sound /ʌ/ is not a fully open vowel. The central part of the tongue is a little bit raised near the area of the quality of the open-mid vowel sound. The following table show the sound /ʌ/ caught to be incorrectly produced by the subjects during the research. . This error occurred in the medial position and it occurred in the words "multiple" /ˈmʌltɪpl̩ /, "public" /ˈpʌblɪk/ and "construct" /kənˈstrʌkt/.

The substitution of the sound [ʌ] with the sound [a] made them pronounced /ˈmaltɪpl̩ /, /ˈpablɪk/ and /kənˈstrakt/. c). The Sound [ɜː]
The sound [ɜː] is a long mid-central vowel. This vowel sound is, thus, produced a little longer than short vowels. The production of the sound [ɜː] makes use of the central part of the tongue. The central part of the tongue is raised in halfway between open and close area of vowel sound quality. More specifically, the central part of the tongue position is a little bit pulled down near the area of open-mid vowel sound quality. The shape of the lips when producing the sound [ɜː] is neutral. The following table shows the altered sound [ɜː] performed by the subjects during the research.  Ramasari (2017) who found that the participants employed an error in pronouncing the word "data" /deɪtə/ as /data/. It was happened because the students used Indonesian language system in pronouncing English words.
The diphthong substitutions which were done by the research subjects in this research can be exemplified as when they had to pronounce "classified" /ˈklasɪfaɪd/ and "main" /meɪn/ which contained the diphthong sounds [aɪ] and [eɪ], they were replaced by the subjects with the sound [ɛ] and [aɪ] by means they monophthongized the diphthong sounds [aɪ] and substituted the sound [eɪ]. As a result, /ˈklasɪfaɪd/ and /meɪn/ were pronounced /ˈklasɪfɛd/ and /maɪn/. From this example, it can be identified that the research subjects substituted and monophthongized some English diphthong sounds. Other than sound substitution, the research subject also committed the consonant sound [k], [ɡ], [t] and [s] deletions and the schwa insertion. However, this pronunciation problem needs to be revealed through the discipline of phonological process rather than phonetic aspects and it is beyond the limitation of this study (Cahya, 2017).
All in all, the segmental pronunciation problems encountered by the research subjects can be summed up as sound substitution. In common, the target sounds are substituted with the similar sounds or the sounds which are usually represented by the orthographic writing.

Conclusion
The conclusion is stated based on the analysis of the pronunciation problems in terms of segmental phonetic features committed by EFL students of English Departement in their presentations of their thesis proposal,i.e., 1) During the presentation of their thesis proposal, the research subject under pronunciation problems with a number of consonants, vowels and diphthongs. 2) There were two consonant pronunciation problems encountered by the research subjects.
First, they substituted some consonant sounds with other consonants sounding similar to the target sounds. Second, they deleted some consonant sounds when they occurred in consonant clusters.

Suggestion
After finding the result of this research, the researcher suggests the students of English Department, to seriously learned and concerned with an English pronunciation, in case distinguishing to pronouns vowel and consonant, so that they can assist their speaking skills with an appropriate English pronunciation. Even though the goal of speaking is to deliver meaning without concerning with pronunciation, but they are still expected to have a good pronunciation since they are the students of English Department. Furthermore, the researcher also suggests the lecturers to give feedback and correction the students' mispronunciation during learning activity to get accustomed with a correct pronunciation.
For further research, the researcher suggests the next researchers to investigate pronunciation problems related to suprasegmental phonetic features which include stress, intonation and rhythm since pronunciation involves both segmental and suprasegmental features. Furthermore, the researcher suggests the next researchers to investigate the quality change of sound driven by its position in the phonological environment. This field of study is called phonemic opposition. Finally, as English pronunciation is very problematic even for those who have been studying English for years, the researcher finally suggest the next researchers to find out the factors causing pronunciation problems.