Search This Blog


A. Background         
Laidlaw, (2006) state that language is a tool of communication. Language can be a medium for giving information and it reflecting on various things as well. Speaking is so important in acquiring and using a language, and language-competence covers so many aspects. Phonetics, both theory and practice constitute the basis of speaking above. Speaking is a tool of communication that very easy to understand meaning if the speaking is smooth, but if the speaking is disjointed and mispronounced, others might not understand the meaning. It is analogous to a fish out of water. Pronunciation is the foundation of speaking. Good pronunciation may make the communication easier and more relaxed and thus more successful, but poor pronunciation can never facilitate effective communication. If they didn't know how to pronounce each word or sentence in the right way, this was sure to lead to a failure of communication.
In learning foreign language specially English language, it must be really understood that the language sound system different between Indonesia language. There are several sound of English language are not found in Indonesia languange,  such as vocal, conconant, diphthong and another sound systems. Beside that in Indonesia language stress, length and intonation not influence the meaning of a word or phrase. Caused existence the different various, the English learners often experience difficulty that  coused by anything various: the different sensitivity of ear, the matter of making foreign sounds, the distribution of the sounds, and fluency.
In English many words can have the same pronunciation but be written differently with different meanings. For example "to, two, and too" which all have the phonetic transcription /tu/. Sometimes, words can be written similarly but have different pronunciations as in the "ough" combinations thought, though, bough, and through. The students are indicated with the International Phonetic Alphabet and followed by examples and exercises dealing with contrasting sounds, recognition and dictation.
In learnign English, can express words, phrase, and sentences as well as, righteously pronunciation be produced by the native speaker English is the main point. It is very important because in language English, error pronunciation will cause the meaning of the word be erroneous. As a consequence, the information be conveyed will not accepted clearly.
Based on the explanation above, it is very important to introduce the role of English speaking with pronouncing correctly toward the English leaners specially students of SMP level . Thereby, can be expected to appear the English leaners that able to master the role of speaking with pronouncing correctly in English language so finally the students can speak English accuracy and fluency. All problems above will be overcome by the use of tongue twisters strategy to increase the students’ speaking ability.
Karin M. Cintron, (1999-20120) state that tongue twisters are a great way to introduce the concept of alliteration and help those trying to learn English better understand the language. Practicing tongue twisters allows people who are learning English to strengthen their speech skills. The faster a person can say the tongue twister without slipping up, the stronger their language skills become.
A tongue twister is a series of words or a longer piece, like a poem, constructed to be very difficult to pronounce properly. Tongue twisters are used to create humor by challenging someone to repeat them very fast and listening to the funny results, as well as by public speakers and speech language students to increase verbal agility. Tongue twisters are also useful in understanding how we process language. It turns out that there are certain sound sequences that are difficult to alternate because of the changing positions in the mouth and/or the aural feedback of the sound similarities, and tongue twisters focus on these.
Alicia, (2012) state that using tongue twisters is a common ESL (English as a second language) teaching technique because it helps ESL students to learn correct pronunciation of English words, to correctly use vowels and consonants and to become familiar with common English words, all while making the learning process fun. To incorporate tongue twisters into ESL teaching, create games that challenge the students' minds and motor skills, while still keeping the learning of a language fun.
Acoording to the information that research found of SMP Muhammadiyah 9 Perumnas Makassar for the class VIII which the students still low in speaking.  specially in accuracy (pronounciation) and fluency (content).
Beside that the research have done observation and teaching for several days which found  some problems that students faced in speaking are accuracy (pronounciation) and fluency (content) of the students are still low. It is same with the information from the teacher in the school. Based on the condition of the students faced in speaking, the research would like to solve the problems by using a strategy. The research strategy will be applied is Tongue Twisters Strategy, so the students’ speaking ability can increase.
Using tongue twisters strategy in learning speaking is very important to increase the students speaking ability. So, Tongue Twister in learning to speak is powerful capacity and help given to the students, so that they will  be the learners can use the role of speaking accuracy in English language so for the future they can speak English accuracy and fluency.
B. Problem Statements
Based on the statement above, the researcher formulates the research question as follows :
1.      Is the use of tongue twisters an effective strategy to increase the students’ speaking accuracy?
2.      Is the use of tongue twisters an effective strategy to increase the students’ speaking fluency?
C. Objective of the Study
Based on the questions formulated above, the aims of this research are:
1.      To investigate the use of tongue twisters an effective strategy to increase the students’ speaking accuracy?
D. Significance of the Study
The results of the research are expected to be a very useful reference for the teacher English in general in order they can improve their knowledge and strategy in teaching English speaking and for the students to increase their knowledge and ability in speaking so they can speak actively and fluently.
E. Scope of the Study
This study is limited to the use of tongue twisters strategy to increase the students’ speaking ability at the second grade SMP Muhammadiyah 9 Perumnas Makassar. which covers accuracy (pronounciation) and fluency (content). The study will take these items because it is very important to identify by the teacher to increase the role of tongue twister in motivating and overcoming the students’ problems in speaking English.


Postingan terkait: