RiELT Draft Proposal
RiELT Draft Proposal
by
2201418153
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
2021
FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL
1. Research Title:
Error Analysis on English Front Vowel Sound Perception and Production Made By The
Tenth Grade Students At SMK Negeri 1 Samigaluh
students, but in fact, Indonesian learners could not produce English words correctly. They
get confused when producing them. However, the confusions were also found in the level
of perception.
In second language learning, there are two dimensions involving language uses,
which are perceptive and productive activities. Perceptive activity deals with the
communication of it (Troike, 2012, p.162). On those activities students usually make some
errors which are not the exception in pronunciation session. These problems occurred due
to several factors such as their lack of pronunciation accuracy which based on their
phoneme articulation.
Moreover, most of these studies were not related to the analysis of English vowel
sounds error by the subject of the study. They have been made to compare English vowel
pronunciation that is produced between native language and second language learners.
Some other studies focused only on factors affecting the students’ English pronunciation.
Therefore, this study aimed to gauge the perceived and produced level of their
English pronunciation and analyzed the errors they made and saw what factors caused
those errors. It was expected that the findings of this study would help English teachers
identify more students’ pronunciation problems and provide better instruction for students.
4. Research Question:
According to the background of the study above, the problems of this research as follows:
1. How the tenth grade students in SMK Negeri 1 Samigaluh' knowlegde in the perception
and producing the words which used the front vowels in English.
2. What errors are found in the tenth grade students in SMK Negeri 1 Samigaluh' English
learning to distinguish the front vowels sound in the level of perception and
production?
3. What are the causes of those errors in the perception and production of English front
vowel pronunciation?
5. Research Objectives
The objectives of this research based on the research problems are stated as follows:
1. To describe the most common errors encountered by the students in learning English
2. to describe the causes of the errors perception and production of English front vowel
Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to provide information about the
and producing English vowel sounds. The writer expects that the information in this study
may be able to be a reference both for the teacher and the students to improve teaching-
learning process, especially related to pronunciation, besides for the other researcher to
carry out any similar research in contact with the analysis of students’ error in perception
Pedagogically, the result of this study may be able to stimulate the students to
improve their pronunciation, mainly in pronouncing English vowel sounds. Besides, the
students will see their pronunciation errors and know how to fix them. In the other hand,
this study may also be able to motivate the English teachers to find the better way how to
teach pronunciation. They should be capable to design the method to improve their
sounds.
Practically, this study, which is related to the analysis of students’ error in the
source for the English teacher to create the best teaching and learning process of English
subject. Moreover, the significance of this study for the readers is that it could enlarge their
There have been a number of researchers who carried out studies related to pronunciation
The first study identified in this research was Cheng (2004). He presented an
acoustic study of English vowel production by ten males and ten females of Taiwanese
adult speakers who are learning English as a foreign language. Their pronunciation
compared with twenty speakers of American English by recording and measuring three
times in order to acquire the objective result. The findings showed that the Taiwanese adult
learners and the English native speakers are different in vowel height and frontless. The
Taiwanese produced better in the vowel sounds [ɪ] and [ɛ] than front vowel sounds /i: /.
The next study was followed by Lin (2013), which aimed to compare the
perception and production of English front vowel pairs: [i:]-[ɪ] and [ɛ]-[æ] and to identify
They were involved in two tests with 4 front vowels ([i:],[ɪ],[ɛ],[æ]) consisted of ten
[i:]-[ɪ] pair was significantly better than that on [ɛ]-[æ] pair both in terms of perception and
production. Tseng’s (2011) study conducted perception and production tests of English
front vowels for the Taiwanese students to find out whether or not there were problems.
The result showed that the students had difficulties in distinguishing both in the perception
and production of the front vowel sounds [ɛ] and [æ], in which the [ɛ] sound was the
Another study was followed by Kassaian (2011) which has been focused on the
effect of age and gender in phonetic perception and production. This was primarily to find
the relationship between either age or gender and the perception and production of English
speech sounds by Persian speakers by constructing two tests. Those were measuring
auditory discrimination and oral production of English sounds. The findings revealed that
age has equal aptitude for perception and production of the English sounds. Moreover,
gender was not found to be an influential factor regarding the perception and production of
English sounds.
In another study, Fullana and Joan (2007) investigated the effects of experience
and starting age in the production and perception of English [i:] and [ɪ] than [ʌ] and [æ].
The result revealed that neither starting age nor experience significantly caused some
problems created in perceiving and producing those two vowel contrast. However, the late
foreign language learners were better in perceiving and producing the vowel sounds [i:],
Lin (2014) has done a study concerning the ability of the students in perceiving and
producing front vowels. The result revealed that the students perceived better in [i:] and [ɪ]
than [ɛ] and [æ]. Besides, the productions of the front vowel sounds [ɪ] and [ɛ] were better
than [i:] and [æ]. As what Lin (2014) said, another study conducted by Broboza (2007)
indicated that the students were confused to recognize and produce the [ɛ] and [æ] vowel
sounds. Chen, et al (2006) also argued that the entire subject of the study which was 39
Markovic (2009) conducted a study and found different outcomes from the first
year students of English at Novi Sad University in perceiving and producing English
vowels [ɛ] and [æ]. The perception tests held indicated a poor discrimination level between
the two L2 vowels. In addition, the production tests revealed that both [ɛ] and [æ] occupy
the same area in the vowel space in the interlanguage of the subjects. Besides, Ho’s (2010)
study, which aimed to find out the problems in perceiving English front vowels, stated that
the students perceived best in the vowel sounds [i:] and [æ]. Although, the students were
Meanwhile, Gilakjani (2012) intended at the factors affecting EFL learners’ English
pronunciation learning and strategies for instruction. The aims of this study were to
pronunciation, elaborate the integration of pronunciation into the curriculum, and discuss
the teaching strategies in pronunciation that can assist EFL learners to discover their
personal and professional needs. The review of this study showed that with cautious
Another study is conducted by Almbark (2014) which examined the perception and
model. He used a Perceptual Assimilation Task to examine the resemblance between the
participants’ L2 and L1 vowels, and the recognition task was used to examine the correct
identification of the SSBE vowels compared to Native English listeners. Besides, for a
production task, the SSBE vowels were produced and analyzed in the /hVd/ context by SA
and NE participants. The results revealed that in the level of FL speech perception, the
ultimate aim, and the classroom instructions, FL learners were different from naturalistic
pronouncing some English sounds. They can occur because they are still involving their
native phonetic sounds system rules during learning English. However, the error that they
made came not only from the production of the sounds but also in some cases it came from
the perception of which they heard. Therefore, this study obtains more specific sounds
7. Theoretical Foundation
In this section, the researcher presents a number of concepts that support this study.
Theorists that are indeed in the research explain the definition of pronunciation, English
front vowels, perception and production, and error and error analysis.
general term as the production of significant sounds in two senses” (p.3). The first sense is
about pronunciation as the production and reception of sound speech. The second sense is
their language exactly alike. The differences come up from a variety of causes, such as
locality, early influences and social surroundings (Jones, 1956). In addition, every
language has its own sound system and grammatical systems that make the way to produce
Thus, pronunciation refers to the way in which people speak. It achieves meanings
and makes communication possible. In order that the meaning should be conveyed clearly
then the production of speech sounds should appropriate with the aspects of language in
pronunciation such as the vowels and consonant, stress, rhythm, and intonation. Regarding
English Vowel
When a speaker produces an utterance, there will be two features that can be distinguished.
They are segmental features and supra-segmental features. Segmental features refer to the
sound unit arranged in sequential order. In the other hand, supra-segmental features refer to
such features such as stress, pitch, length, intonation, and others that always follow the
production of segmental.
Ramelan (1994) stated, “Vowels and consonants are called segmental features
definition, vowels are some of the continuous voiced sounds which are generated without
obstruction in the mouth (Jones, 1956). It means that in the production of the vowel sound,
the air does not through the nose. It is always followed by the vibration of the vocal cord.
Ramelan (1994) also elaborated that vowel sounds are evaluated on the basis of the
following variables: first is the raised of the tongue, second is the degree of raising the
tongue, and the last is the position of the lips (p.52). There are two kinds of vowels. They
are pure vowel and diphthongs. Pure vowels consist of [i:], [ɪ], [ɛ], [æ], [a:], [ͻ], [ͻ:], [ʊ],
[u:], [ʌ], [ə], [ə:] which are produced when the organ of speech remain in the certain
position in a period of time. whereas, diphthongs containing nine vowel sounds such [eI],
[ou], [aɪ], [au], [ͻɪ], [ɪə], [ɛə], [uə], [ͻə]. The production of which is the organ of speech
move from one vowel position to another vowel position in one syllable.
Based on the differences in the functions in an utterance and in the way of production,
speech sounds are classified into vowels and consonants. A vowel is known as ‘voice’ in
phonetic. It means in the production of a vowel; the vocal cords are vibrated.
Vowel sounds are divided into some classifications. Dalton and Barbara (1994)
declared three main descriptive criteria of vowel (p.15). First is according to the position of
the lips, vowels consist of the unrounded and rounded vowel. The high and low vowels or
the close and open vowels are included in the vowel sounds produced by the position of the
vertical tongue. The last is according to the position of the horizontal tongue; vowel is
divided into two parts. They are front vowel and back vowel.
The position of the tongue becomes a factor for producing sounds. When the front
of the tongue is elevated and it changes the vowel sound that already produced in the
larynx is referred to the front vowel (Ramelan, 1994, p.53). The position of front vowel
(Ramelan,1994)
English has /i: /, [ɪ], [ɛ], and [æ], as the front vowels which differ in the level of raising the
front of the tongue from one another. The sound /i: / is in the highest front vowel position.
Then, the sound [ɪ] is articulated slightly back and lower than the previous vowel [i:]. In
the middle position of a front vowel is the sound [ɛ]. In addition, the lowest position of a
front vowel is the sound [æ]. They are articulated with the tongue far forward in the mouth
competence in foreign language learning is usually done within the context of native
culture. It is important to determine the distinction between second language learning and
foreign language learning. The differences lie on what and how they are being learned, and
In considering the purpose of second language learning, there are four kinds of
activity that may be classified into two dimensions involving language uses that are
receptive and productive. Troike (2012) stated, “Receptive activities are second language
use that involves interpreting the meaning of others by reading and listening” (p.204);
more observable, someone cannot speak a language without listening. The result of the
listening meaningful input might be observable in the form of spoken or written output.
That output is derived from listening performance. Brown (2004) characterized four types
Listening, and Extensive Listening (p.120). Each of them comprises a category within
which to consider assessment tasks and procedures. In this case, listening activity is
In the other hand, speaking is a productive activity that can be empirically observed
(Brown, 2004, p.140). Those observations are always indicated by the accuracy and
effectiveness of learners listening skill. Moreover, speaking is not only regarding the
pronunciation and intonation but also to its function. It aims to make everyone understand.
Thus, the speakers are required to speak in the correct pronunciation and speech pattern of
the target language. Therefore, speaking and listening are almost closely interrelated.
In learning the second language, everyone usually makes some errors. Troike (2012) stated
that error is inappropriate utterance which is due to learners who are deficient in second
language knowledge (p.41). It can occur because the learners do not know which one is
correct.
Those errors will make annoyance in the process of second language learning. They
need to be analyzed by the teacher to correct them. An expert defined that, “Analyzing
error is the first approach to second language acquisition that takes an internal focus on
learners’ creative construction” (Troike, 2012, p.40). It is useful for teachers to know what
errors that the learners make and develop the way of a second language learning process.
Ellis (1997) stated the means of analyzing errors as follows; identifying errors,
describing errors, and explaining errors (p.19). The first step is to determine the elements
of learners’ language which deviate from the target language in some way. Then, if it is
being identified, they will be classified according to language level, general linguistic
category, and more specific linguistic elements. Afterward, they are being clarified by
Eventually, it can be inferred that to know what the errors are and why they occur,
we have to analyze them by doing those following steps above. Further, the teacher can
discover the solution to that problem.
8. Theoretical Framework
This research focuses on the error of students’ perception and production of English
front vowel pronunciation. The researcher will find the errors which students made by the
there are many students who sometimes still make errors towards the pronunciation of
English sounds both in the level of production or perception. Therefore, the researcher
decided to find out the common errors made by students in pronouncing English sounds,
The first way to observe is giving the participants a list of utterances containing
English front vowel sounds, such as [i:] in the words ‘key’, [ɪ] in the word ‘bit’, [ɛ] in the
word ‘bet’, [æ] in the word ‘bat’ (Ramelan,1994, p.57). That list of words will be
examined in the speaking test and listening test. Both tests represent a productive and
perceptive skill. As stated by Brown (2004), Speaking is a gainful ability that is able to
immediately observe (p. 140); which is belongs to the imitative speaking. Thus, the
test. It contains the list of similarly-spelled words and they are guessed by the participant
which one is the appropriate word spoken according to front vowel sounds tested. The test
The next way is that the researcher finds out the cause of possible errors made by
the participant. They shall be interviewed. As stated by Cohen, Lawrence, and Keith
(2004) that interviews allow the participants to state how they assume the situations from
their own point of view (p. 349). It contains some questions related to the research problem
Finally, the last step is analyzing the data collected from the test and interview.
Cohen et al. (2004) stated that data analysis involves organizing, accounting for and
explaining the data (p. 461). Thus, from the analysis, the researcher concludes the findings
of this study.
(Ramelan,1994)
(Troike,2012) (Troike,2012)
(Brown,2004) (Brown,2004)
Semi-structured
Interview
(Sugiyono, 2015)
A. Research Design
To look for the objectives of the study, which discovered the students’
pronunciation error as the result of analyzing it, the researcher chose a descriptive
This research is trying to explain, describe and analyze data which are exhibited in
opinions. According to this matter, this study is a kind of descriptive qualitative research.
Qualitative and descriptive are very suitable to the second language teaching and learning.
They concern a naturalistic data which means that they conduct natural language learning
Qualitative methods are the approach used to systematically gather data, but the
data are purely descriptive and therefore not numerical (Sprinthall, Gregory and Lee,
1990). Besides, the descriptive research is to describe a phenomenon and its characteristic.
It involves what something has happened and the instruments that usually used to obtain
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to describe the result of the analysis of a
regarding whether or not there were errors in perception and production of English front
vowel sounds together with the causes. Even though, this method applies the number of
calculation in the form of percentage to know how many errors occurred first.
B. Role of the Researcher
several things that occur around them. By using research which means an activity
to examine something carefully and thoroughly (Saleh, 2012, p.5), they try to
solve a problem logically, scientifically, and its result is accountable for others.
Therefore, research can be done when there are researchers and the problems that
will be examined.
In this study, the researcher takes a role as a data collector and an analyst.
As a data collector, the researcher will collect the students’ perception and
production test, which will be recorded, and the students’ opinion by answering
the interviews given. In addition, as an analyst, the researcher will analyze all of
the students’ test result and response of the interview. Thus, the researcher can
C. Research Participants
This part deals with the target of the research study. It refers to the
populations which are meant by the entire group of persons, things, or events that
shares at least one common trait (Sprinthall et al,1990), while, the population of
this qualitative research is called social situation. It consists of three elements that
are the place, actors and activity (Sugiyono, 2015, p.297). Likewise, this research
about thirteen years old. They have been learning English since they were in
elementary school in which both listening and speaking skills are infrequently
taught. Even when they are at home, their parents are rarely treating them to get
accustomed to applying the use of English. Thus, they were chosen as they are
appropriate with the particular social situation regarding these research questions.
In addition, they are considered to know the most about what the researcher
expects.
The object of the study in this final project is English front vowel
result of the perceptive and productive test about English front vowel utterances.
The analysis focuses on the errors in pronouncing words containing English front
E. Types of Data
There are several types of outcomes in case study research. Yin (1984) as
cited in Cohen et al (2007) identifies three types of case study outcomes. Those
are exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory (p.255). Exploratory means that the
result of the research is intended to be an escort for the other research questions.
Besides, the explanatory elaborate on the result of theories testing. Thus, in this
case, this study contains qualitative data in the form of description. Those are
11. References
Fullana,N.,& Joan C.M. (2007). Production and Perception of English [i:]-[ɪ] and
[æ]-/ʌ/ in Formal Setting: Investigating the Effects of Experience and
Starting Age. ICPhS XVI., 1613-1616
Gall, M.D., Gall, J.P., & Borg, W.R. (2007). Educational Research: An
Introduction (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Tseng, W.C. (2011). A study of Tiwanese High School Students' Production and
Perception Performance in English Non-high Front Vowels. Retrieved
from http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi/login?o=
dnclcdr&s=id=%22099STUT8741022%22.&searchmode=basic
12. Instruments of The Study
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
A. Listening Test
Direction:
In this test, you will hear some words spoken in English. The words will
be spoken once. When you are listening, you can see the two columns of
words on your answer sheet. You must listen carefully to understand what
the speaker said. Decide that the word said is from column A or Column B
A B Answer
Eat It
As an example, if these are the words in the columns and you hear ‘Eat’
A B Answer
Eat It A
The words spoken are:
1. Mill [mɪl] 31. Fish [fɪʃ]
2. Feed [fi:d] 32. Rat [ræt]
3. Cat [kæt] 33. Met [mɛt]
4. Bed [bɛd] 34. Meal [mi:l]
5. Meat [mi:t] 35. Bag [bæg]
6. Man [mæ] 36. Neat [ni:t]
7. Get [gɛt] 37. Rid [rɪd]
8. Sick [sɪk] 38. Keep [ki:p]
9. Dish [dɪʃ] 39. Mad [mæd]
10. Leave [li:v] 40. Tell [tɛl]
11. Dad [dæd]
12. Read [ri:d]
13. Set [sɛt]
14. Clean [kli:n]
15. Act [ækt]
16. Teeth [ti:θ]
17. Sit [sɪt]
18. Egg [ɛg]
19. Animal [‘æn.ɪ.məl]
20. Red [rɛd]
21. Hand [hænd]
22. Live [lɪv]
23. Seek [si:k]
24. Sat [sæt]
25. Help [hɛlp]
26. Teach [ti:ʧ]
27. Hen [hɛn]
28. Bad [bæd]
29. Seat [si:t]
30. Carrot [‘kær.ət]
Students Answer Sheet
No
Name
Listening Test
Direction:
In this test, you will hear some words spoken in English. The words will
be spoken once. When you are listening, you can see the two columns of
words on your answer sheet. You must listen carefully to understand what
the speaker said. Decide that the word said is from column A or Column B
A B Answer
Eat It
A B Answer
Eat It A
No A B Answer
1 Mill Meal
2 Fit Feed
3 Ket Cat
4 Bed Bad
5 Meat Mitt
Now, go
to the word
6 Mend Man
number 1
to 40 !
7 Get Gate
8 Sick Seek
9 These Dish
10 Leave Live
13 Sat Set
14 Clean Clinch
15 Egg Act
16 Teeth Tiff
17 Seat Sit
18 Act Egg
19 Animal Enemy
20 Red Rat
21 Hand Hen
22 Leave Live
23 Sick Seek
24 Sat Set
25 Help Half
26 Tiff Teach
The answer key of listening test:
1. A
2. B
3. B
4. A
5. A
6. B
7. A
8. A
9. B
10. A
11. A
12. B
13. B
14. A
15. B
16. A
17. B
18. B
19. A
20. A
21. A
22. B
23. B
24. A
25. A
26. B
27. A
28. A
29. B
30. B
31. B
32. A
33. A
34. B
35. A
36. B
37. B
38. A
39. B
40. A
Interview
This interview was given to the students.
The questions list for students
1. How long have you been learning English, especially for learning
pronunciation?
2. Have you ever known the kinds of front vowels? Can you mention them?
3. What do you think about the front vowel sounds? Are they difficult to pronouce?
4. Which front vowel’s sound is the most difficult to pronounce?
5. In your opinion, why is it difficult?
6. Have you ever been taught how to pronounce the correct English front vowels
sound?
7. Do you get enough opportunity to practice them outside the classroom?
8. In your opinion, what can be done to improve your pronuciation skills?
9. What is the method do you expect for learning English front vowel
pronunciation?