The Analysis of Pronouncing Post-Alveolar Fricative Faced by the English Education Students of Tanjungpura University

Abstract

The objective of this research is to describe the percentage of post-alveolar fricative sound pronunciation acceptability among the English Language Education students in their sixth semester at the University of Tanjungpura. The scope of the study would be limited to the comparison of the first and second formants of the participants with those of the native speaker, whose formants were evaluated utilising the PRAAT software. The data was gathered from a pronunciation performance test that was conducted via an audio recording procedure. The study involved a total of 15 participants who were categorised into three distinct ethnic groups, including Indonesian Tionghoa, Dayak, and Malay. Each participant pronouncing a set of 20 words, consisting of both voiceless and voiced post-alveolar fricatives. According to the findings of the study, 1) the percentage of voiceless post-alveolar fricative sounds that were considered ‘Acceptable’ was 40.5%, whereas the percentage of those that were considered ‘Not Acceptable’ was 59.5%., 2) the percentage of ‘Acceptable’ pronunciation of voiced post-alveolar fricative sounds was 42%, while the percentage of those that were ‘Not Acceptable’ was 58%. The inference that can be drawn is that students encounter challenges when attempting to articulate post-alveolar fricative sounds.