Penyerahan SK Pertama Dalam Jabatan Widyaiswara

My Thesis Tahun 2003

IMPROVING EFL STUDENTS’ ORAL READING PERFORMANCE THROUGH PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE BASED ON MISCUE ANALYSIS¹

By

Alamsyahril²

1. INTRODUCTION

When a person learns a new language, he or she will face some difficulties to have a good pronunciation like the native speakers of the language. On the other words, a person tends to make some pronunciation errors. The pronunciation errors he or she makes are not only in impromptu speech but also in oral reading. However, a learner tends to make pronunciation errors more in oral reading than in impromptu speech. In relation to English as a foreign language (EFL) learning, Indonesian students tend to read some English words as they are spelled. This can make the listeners have a misinterpretation in the meaning of the word when they read word as it spelled.

This is one of the errors in oral reading. Errors in oral reading are called miscues. However, the miscue in oral reading refers to not only mispronunciations but also to other errors. Besides mispronunciation, the miscues can be in forms of omissions, substitutions, insertions, repetitions, reversals, pronunciations, hesitations and self-corrections (Vacca et al., 1991:441-442; read also James, 1998: Rubin, 1997; Spache, 1981).

Yet, the identification of these miscues means nothing if not followed by the treatment of miscues. For the treatment of miscues, I proposed regular pronunciation practice since most EFL students made miscues in the form of mispronunciations. This treatment was done in a remedial teaching. By having this remedial teaching, the students’ oral reading performance was hopefully improved and developed. Therefore, there were two questions that were discussed in this study, namely: (1) is giving regular pronunciation practice effective to reduce the miscues? and (2) can regular pronunciation practice be used to improve EFL students’ oral reading performance?

To anser these questions, I did a study in which I tried to find out the miscues made by the EFL students of Sriwijaya University. There were a lot of miscue found. These miscues, then, were analyzed by identifying those miscues and categorizing them. After that, remedial teaching was done. The remedial teaching was arranged based on the miscues the students made. This was done by providing a good model and then followed by some exercises.

2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Reading can be distinguished into two different types: silent reading and oral reading. Oral reading refers to saying a written text aloud. When a reader reads a text aloud, he or she sometimes makes some errors. These errors are called miscues (see Potter, cited in James, 1998:139). Goodman (1995:2) uses the term miscues because it reveals that miscues are unexpected response cued by the readers’ knowledge of their language and the concept of the world. The term ‘miscue’ implies positive view of error. The term error and miscue essentially describe the same phenomenon that is a deviation or difference between what a reader says and how the word on the page should be pronounced.

According to Vacca et al. (1991:441), there are some miscues that a reader tends to make in oral reading. The miscues are: (1) Omission, an omission miscue occurs when the reader omits a unit of written language; that is, a word, several words, parts of words, or a sentence (s), (2) Substitution, a substitution miscue is noted when a real word (or words) is substituted for another word in the text, (3) Mispronunciation, a mispronunciation miscue is one in which the word is pronounced incorrectly, (4) Insertion, the insertion miscue results when a word (or words) is inserted in the passage, (5) Repetition, repetition miscue occurs when a word or phrase is repeated, (6) Reversal, the reversal miscue occurs when the order of a word (or words) in the text is transposed, and (7) Pronunciation, it refers to word (or words) is (are) pronounced for the reader.

One of the ways in correcting the errors a learner makes is giving the treatment of the errors. One of the treatment of the miscues that a teacher can do is pronunciation practice. It is a kind of practice which stress on the students’ pronunciation.

3. DISCUSSION

Before I discuss the findings of this study, I present the result of the pre-test and post-test of oral reading. The results are as follows.

TABLE 1

RESULTS OF ORAL READING TESTS

No	Miscues	Number of Miscues		Means		tobtained
		Pretest	Posttest	Pre	Post
1.	Omissions	236	243	13.88	14.29	0.270
2.	Substitutions	284	291	16.70	17.11	0.22
3.	Insertions	54	33	3.17	1.94	-1.364
4.	Mispronunciations	797	590	46.88	34.70	-3.379**
5.	Pronunciations	53	11	3.11	0.64	-6.126**
6.	Repetitions	119	110	7.0	6.47	-0.636
7.	Reversals	13	4	0.76	0.23	-3.043**
8.	Self-Corrections	59	33	3.47	1.94	-2.263*

Notes: * significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

** significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

From the table, it can be seen that the total number of miscues in the forms of mispronunciations, pronunciations, reversals, and self-corrections in the posttest were fewer than those in the pretest. In addition, the means of those miscues were also fewer than those in the pretest. The table also shows that the t_obtained of mispronunciations, pronunciations, and reversals were higher than the value of t_table at the 0.01 level. The t_obtained of self-corrections was higher than the value of t_table at the 0.05 level. Therefore, it can be stated that regular pronunciation practice was effective to reduce the miscues made by the students in oral reading. However, this pronunciation practice was not effective for reducing omissions, substitutions, insertions, and repetitions.

To see whether or not pronunciation practice could improve EFL students oral reading, I compared the students’ reading levels before and after having pronunciation practice. The percentage of students’ reading levels in both tests can be seen in the table below (Table 2).

TABLE 2

PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS’ READING LEVEL

Reading Level	Pretest			Posttest
	Ind.	Ins.	Fr.	Ind.	Ins.	Fr.
4	-	100%	-	7.14%	92.86%	-
5	-	76.47%	23.53%	-	76.47%	23.53%
6	-	35.29%	64.71%	-	58.82%	41.18%
7	-	35.29%	64.71%	-	70.58%	29.42%
8	-	52.94%	47.06%	-	76.47%	23.53%

Notes: Ind. = independent Ins. = instructional Fr. = Frustration

There were some differences between the percentage of students’ reading levels before and after the students have regular pronunciation practice. The percentage of the instructional level in the posttest was higher than the percentage in the pretest. On the other hand, the percentage of frustration level in the posttest was lower than the percentage in the pretest. Therefore, it can be said that the EFL students’ reading level were improved after they have regular pronunciation practice based on miscue analysis. It means that regular pronunciation practice can improve their oral reading performance.

4. DISCUSSION

In this part, I discuss some points dealing with the findings of the study. First, I assume that the students tended to make more miscue on one kind than other kinds. This happened due to several possible reasons. The students, for example, made more miscue on omissions to reduce the miscue on mispronunciations. They omitted some words or some parts of the words to avoid mispronunciations. This is one of the strategies used by the students in oral reading. Goodman and Gollash (cited in Anderson, 200:340) present the reason why readers omit words or some parts of the words from the text during their reading aloud. Furthermore, they say that some omissions may arise from dialect or first-language differences from the language of the text, and other omissions may be seen as part of a strategy of avoiding the risk of being wrong. Related to the omissions that EFL students made in the posttest, I assume that it is a strategy they used in oral reading to avoid mispronunciations. This is supported by the negative correlation among miscues. It means that increasing in omissions related to decreasing in mispronunciations.

Another strategy is the EFL students substituted some words they could not pronounce with the words they could pronounce well. For example, they substituted the word through with the word to since they could pronounce the word to correctly. They also substituted some words that they did not know with the word they know well. They, for example, substituted the word levee [levi] with the word leave because they know the word leave well. This is also a strategy of avoiding the risk of making mispronunciations. Therefore, this strategy is called the strategy of avoidance (see Brown, 1987:172). In this case, the students avoided a particular sound or word by omitting it or by substituting it.

The two phenomena above shows that the treatment in the form of regular pronunciation practice that I did could not reduce all kinds of the miscues made by the students in oral reading. It was effective for reducing mispronunciations only. It may have something to do with the form of the treatment. This treatment can only be used to overcome the mispronunciation or the errors of faulty vowels and consonants (Monroe cited in Tierney et al., 1980:190-191). For reducing other kinds of miscues, Monroe proposed other ways. For example, to overcome the omissions of words, she suggested slowing the reader’s rate or leaving increased spacing between the lines of print because she associated word omission with excessive reading speed.

Finally, the treatment I did can also improve students’ reading levels. The criteria of reading levels are based on the word recognition (Betts in Rubin, 1997:168). The treatment in the form of regular pronunciation practice have relationship to the word recognition. Since this treatment was effective for reducing mispronunciations, it has also an effect on the word recognition. That’s why, this treatment can improve the students’ reading levels. Students’ reading levels changed after they had the treatment of the miscues. From these findings, it can be said that the treatment of the miscues in the form of regular pronunciation practice can develop EFL students oral reading performance because there is a difference in students’ reading level before and after the treatment.

5. CONCLUSION

After giving this practice for sixteen meetings, I found that this treatment was effective to reduce not only mispronunciations but also pronunciations, reversals, and self-corrections. This can be seen from the comparisons between the results of the pretest and posttest. The t_obtained of these miscues exceed the t_table at the 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance. This implies that this treatment can be used to reduce the miscues of mispronunciations, pronunciations, reversals, and self-corrections. It means that regular pronunciation practice based on miscue analysis can improve EFL students’ oral reading performance. However this treatment was not effective for reducing omissions, substitutions, insertions, and repetitions. The t_obtained of these miscues was lower than the t_table at the 0.01 and 0.05 levels of significance. So, regular pronunciation practice can not be used to reduce these kinds of miscues.

From these two findings, I assume that the students used a certain strategy in oral reading. The strategy they used was strategy of avoidance. The students tended to omit some words or some parts of words to avoid mispronunciation.

REFERENCES

Anderson, J.Charles. 2000. Assessing Reading. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge

University Press.

Brown, H.Doughlas.1987. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.

Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall.

Cooper, J.David, et al. 1988. To What and How of Reading Instruction. Columbus,

OH.: Merrill Publishing Company.

Goodman, Yetta M. 1995. “Miscue analysis for classroom teachers:some history and

some procedures.” Primary Voices, 3(4), 2-8.

Hatch, Evelyn and Hossein Farhady. 1982. Research Design and Statistics for

Applied Linguistics. Rowley, MA.: Newbury House Publisher.

Hendrickson, James M. 1980. “Error correction in foreign language teaching”. In

Kenneth Croft (ed.). Readings on English as a Second Language. Cambridge, MA.: Wintrop Publisher, Inc, 153-173.

James, Carl. 1998. Errors in language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis.

NY.: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.

Nunan, David. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teachers.

New York, NY.:Prentice Hall.

Rubin, Dorothy. 1997. Diagnosing and Correcting Reading Disabilities. Boston,

MA.: Allyn and Bacon.

Vacca, Jo Anne L., Richard T. Vacca and Mary K. Gove. 1991. Reading and

Learning to Read. New York, NY.: Harper Collins Publisher.

Rancangan Aktivitas Tutorial

RANCANGAN AKTIVITAS TUTORIAL

(RAT)

MATA KULIAH	:	KOMPUTER DAN MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN
NAMA TUTOR	:	ALAMSYAHRIL, M.Pd.
DESKRIPSI SINGKAT MATA KULIAH	:	Mata kuliah Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran ini mempunyai fokus pada pengembangan keterampilan mahasiswa untuk merancang dan menggunakan berbagai media pembelajaran termasuk terampil membuat media berbasis komputer. .
TUJUAN INSTRUKSIONAL UMUM	:	Setelah mempelajari matakuliah ini, mahasiswa diharapkan dapat mengembangkan berbagai media pembelajaran serta menggunakan aplikasi komputer yaitu program word dan memanfaatkan internet untuk mencari informasi tentang isu pembelajaran.

NO	TUJUAN INSTRUKSIONAL KHUSUS	POKOK BAHASAN	SUB POKOK BAHASAN	MODEL TUGAS TUTORIAL DAN BOBOT NILAI	ESTIMASI WAKTU	DAFTAR PUSTAKA	TUTOR-IAL KE
1.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 1, mahasiswa mampu: 1. menjelaskan berbagai teknik dan bahan yang diperlukan untuk membuat gambar sederhana; 2. menjelaskan cara membuat gambar manusia, hewan, dan alam; 3. menyebutkan peralatan yang diperlukan untuk teknik potong tempel dan teknik memperbesar gambar; 4. menjelaskan cara memotong gambar dari berbagai media cetak, cara menempel gambar dan cara memberi tulisan pada gambar; 5. menjelaskan cara memperbesar gambar dengan teknik panthograph, teknik grid, dan teknik proyeksi; 6. menjelaskan pengertian, kegunaan, macam-macam dan cara membuat chart; 7. menjelaskan pengertian, kegunaan, dan macam-macam grafik; 8. menjelaskan pengertian dan kegunaan poster; 9. menjelaskan pengertian, kegunaan, dan macam-macam bulletin board.	1. Media Gambar Diam 2. Media DIsplay	1.1 Berbagai Bahan, Peralatan dan teknik yang Diperlukan dalam Membuat Gambar 1.2 Teknik Memotong dan Menempel serta Memberbesar Gambar 2.1 Chart, Grafik, Poster dan Bulletin Board 2.2 Perencanaan Pembuatan Media	Mahasiswa membuat media gambar diam sederhana dengan cara memmotong dan menempel gambar Mahasiswa membuat media display dalam bentuk poster	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	I
2.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 2, mahasiswa mampu: 1. menjelaskan pengertian dan struktur bagian dalam overhead projector; 2. menjelaskan pengertian, jenis-jenis, dan bentuk-bentuk overhead transparency; 3. menjelaskan kelebihan dan kelemahan media OHP; 4. menjelaskan teknik merancang visual transparency; 5. menjelaskan prinsip-prinsip dasar mengembangkan tranparency; 6. menjelaskan hal-hal yang perlu dipersiapkan dalam memproduksi transparansi; 7. menjelaskan dua macam teknik memproduksi transparansi; 8. menjelaskan cara cepat menghasilkan transparansi; dan 9. menjelaskan cara memperbaiki penampilan dalam menggunakan OHP.	Overhead Tranparency	1. Dasar Pengertian OHP dan OHT 2. Prinsip-prinsip dasar Merancang Transparansi 3. Teknik Dasar Pembuatan dan Penyajian Perangkat Lunak Overhead Transparency (OHT)	Mahasiswa membuat media pembelajaran dalam bentuk overhead transparency yang berkaitan dengan materi pembelajaran yang akan mereka ajarkan di kelas sesuai dengan rencana pembelajaran yang telah mereka tulis.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	II
3.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 3, mahasiswa mampu: 1. menjelaskan alasan-alasan perlunya mengembangkan media sederhana; 2. menjelaskan prinsip-prnsip dasar yang dapat menjadikan tumbuhan sebagai media sederhana dalam pengembangan aktivitas proses belajar mengajar 3. menguraikan macam-macam kegiatan yang dapat menggunakan media nyata (real thing) dari tanaman; 4. menggunakan tumbuan untuk menjelaskan perkembangbiakan tumbuhan; 5. menggunakan daun untuk menyelidiki polusi; 6. menggunakan tumbuhan untuk menyelidiki pengaruh keasamaan pada tumbuhan.	Tumbuhan Sebagai Media Sederhana	1. Alasan Memanfaatkan Tumbuhan Sebagai Media Sederhana 2. Pemanfaatn Tumbuhan Sebagai Media Sederhana dalam Pembelajaran	Mahasiswa mengidentifkasikan tumbuhan-tumbuhan yang hidu dis ekitar seklah yang bisa dimanfaatkan sebagai media embelajaran di kelas.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	III
4.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 4, mahasiswa mampu: 1. menjelaskan hambatan yag sering dihadapi guru dalam menjelaskan materi pembelajaran ; 2. enjelaskan berbagai hambatan yang sering dihadapi guru ketika akan membuat media dari bahan sederhana; 3. enguraikan rambu-rambu atau pedoman khusus yang harus diperhatikan guru ketika ingin mengembangkan media dari bahan-bahan sederhana; 4. menyebutkan kendala-kendala yang sering dihadapi guru dalam memanfaatkan media sederhana; 5. menjelaskan keterkaitan antara media butan sendiri dan media lainnya; 6. empertimbangkan kapan media lain dibutuhkan di samping media buatan sendiri	Barang Bekas dan Barang Sederhana	1. Peranan Barang bekas dan Peralatan Sederhana sebagai Media Pembelajaran 2. Pemanfaatan Barang Bekas, Bahan dan Peralatan Sedrhana sebagai Media Pembelajaran	Mahasiswa membuat media pembelajaran sederhana dari bahan sederhana, barang belkas, dan peralatan sederhana di sekitar mereka.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	IV
5.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 5, mahasiswa mampu: 1. Menjelaskan peranan sekolah dalam memanfaatkan lingkungan alam; 2. Menguraikan kita memanfaatkan lingkungan alam bagi siswa sekolah dasar; 3. Menjelaskan lingkungan alam sebagai tempat belajar sambil bermain; 4. Menjelaskan berbagai lingkungan yang bisa dijadikan media belajar siswa; 5. Menjelaskan lingkungan kelas dan seklah sebagai sumber belajar yang efektif 6. Menjelaskan taman sebagai lingkungan yang paling baik untuk mempelajari sesuatu 7. Menelaskan manfaat tanah liat untuk kepentingan belajar siswa; 8. Menjelaskan air sebagai media yang baik untuk membantu proses belajar siswa 9. Menjelaskan pasir sebagai media yang baik untuk membantu proses belajar siswa	Lingkungan Alam Sekitar Sebagai Media Pembelajaran	1. Peran Lingkungan dan Alam Sekitar Sebagai Media Pembelajaran 2. Pemanfaatan Lingkungan dan Alam Sekitar sebagai Media Pembelajaran	Mahasiswa menciptakan suatu permainan manipulatif untuk mengajarkan konsep dengan memanfaatkan lingkungan alam sekitar mereka yang bisa mendukung permainan tersebut.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	V
6.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 6, mahasiswa mampu: 1. Menjelaskan komponen-komponen dari perangkat komputer; 2. Menjelaskan beberapa aplikasi atau penggunaan komputer; 3. Menjelaskan kelebihan dan keterbatasan komputer sebagai medium pembelajaran 4. Menjelaskan jenis-jenis pembelajaran berbasis komputer	Komputer dan Pembelajaran	1. Pengenalan Komputer 2. Bentuk Bentuk Interaksi Pembelajaran Melalui Komputer	Mahasiswa membuat sutau karangan pendek satu paragraf yang berisi 20 baris kalimat di program Word, lalu disimpan di komputer dan juga dicetak.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	VI
7.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 7, mahasiswa mampu: 1. menjelaskan sistem operasi Window ’98; 2. mengelola sistem Folder dan File; 3. mengakses internet menggunakan shortcut pada Window ’98 4. mencari situs web, Home Page, dan halaman Web dengan Browser Internet Explorer; 5. mencetak halaman-halaman Web	Pengunaan Komputer Untuk Pemerolehan Informasi	1. Prosedur Pengoperasian Window 2. Konsep Internet dan Prosdur penggunaannya	Mahasiswa membuka salah satu atau beberapa situs web yang berhubungan dengan dunia pendidikan.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	VII
8.	Setelah mengikuti tutorial 8, mahasiswa mampu: 1. membuat media pembelajaran berupa poster; 2. membuat media pembelajaran berupa transparansi 3. membuat media pembelajaran tiga dimensi 4. membuat ketikan komputer dengan menggunakan program microsoft word; 5. mencetak halaman web site.	Panduan Praktek Pembuatan Media dan Pemanfaatn Komputer	1. Pembuatan Poster 2. Pembuatan Transparansi 3. Pembuatan Media Tiga Dimensi 4. Pemanfaaant Komputer	1. (a) Buatlah media pembelajaran berupa poster pada kertas manila yang berukuran 60 X 45 cm beserta Rencana Pembelajaran (RP) yang berkaitan dengan poster tersebut. (b) Buatlah media pembelajaran transparansi untuk penggunaan media pembelajaran overhead projector (OHP) pada kertas transparansi ukuran 23 X 23 cm serta Rencana Pembelajaran (RP) yang berkaitan dengan transparansi tersebut. 2. Buatlah media pembelajaran tiga dimensi yang bisa dilihat, diraba dan dirasa, disertai Rencana Pembelajaran (RP) yang berkaitan dengan media tersebut 3. (a) Buatlah ketikan komputer tentang kesan-kesan berupa penjabaran masalah dan saran Anda berkenaan dengan mata kuliah IDIK4403 Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran dengan menggunakan program microsoft word dengan ketentuan:. (b) Cetaklah maksimal 3 halaman web site yang berbeda, misalnya: www.ut.ac.id http://www.dikmenum.go.id http://www.yahoo.com http://www.dikti.org Tuliskan identitas Anda berupa Nama, NIM, Kelompok Belajar, UPBJJ, dan Program Studi pada tugas 3 (a) dan 3 (b) Anda.	120 menit	Deny Setiawan, dkk. 2008. Materi Pokok Komputer dan Media Pembelajaran. Jakarta: Universitas Terbuka.	VIII

Mengetahui, Kepala UPBJJ-UT Palembang Drs. Jamaludin, M.Si. NIP. 131948864

Tugu Mulyo, 24 Oktober 2009 Tutor, Alamsyahril, M.Pd. NIP. 19690910 199412 1 001