Factors Affecting Indonesian Students in Learning English Pronunciation

Abstract

Oral fluency is very important in communication. It involves different skills like grammar and vocabulary. Pronunciation, however, is very significant for successful communication. Many learners of the English language have major problems with English pronunciation even after years of learning the language. Certain factors affect the learners’ pronunciation learning and the present study aims to identify the factors that affect Indonesian students in learning pronunciation of English as a foreign language. Participants were 45 first-semester students who enrolled in a Pronunciation class in a private university in West Java, Indonesia. A mixed method was used to gather data. The researcher used a quantitative method by using a questionnaire to identify the factors and a qualitative method by using observation, records, and note-taking to identify the problems students have in learning pronunciation. Data were collected, categorized, and analyzed. From this study, it is identified that the factors influencing the students’ pronunciation accuracy were native language interference, phonological awareness, pronunciation instruction, corrective feedback, and the most important of all was the response students gave to achieve their goal. The researcher also suggests some strategies to help students overcome the problems concerning those factors. It is hoped that by knowing the factors affecting students in learning English pronunciation, the teachers can help students to have English pronunciation accuracy.