The Pronunciation Problems of the English Department Students in the University of HKBP Nommensen

Abstract

This research was conductedto find and analyze the problems production of consonants sounds faced by the students. Using qualitative descriptive method, data were collected from sample of some students who took Speaking class at the second semester. All data collection session was recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. The results of the analysis grouped into two parts, namely total production of dental fricatives wrong that spoken by students, then systematically categorized based on IPA. The results showed some student were fail to pronounce dental fricatives /∫/, /ð/. /θ/, /t∫/, /ʒ/, /v/ and /f/. The students used the closest sound to replace those sounds were /s/, /d/, /j/, /p/. It was caused the Indonesian phonological systems were not found. This error occurred as the result of the process of inter-lingual. However, this study only describes a phenomenon that occurred in a group of Indonesian students in producing dental fricative along with the factors that influence the process.