A Pronunciation Errors Analysis on How to Pronounce the Spelling of ‘th’ through a Reading Text

Abstract

Pronunciation is one of features that has to be learnt in the process of learning a language. In learning the pronunciation, sometimes the learners face a problem of pronunciation errors. The errors of pronunciation may occur due to some factors. One of the factors that may interfere is their mother tongues. Concerning the phenomenon, this research will focus at revealing the errors of pronunciation on the spelling of ‘th’ in English made by the English Department students Faculty of Letters, Jember University of Academic Year 2007/2008. The informants are Javanese and Madurese. The data are obtained from the chosen samples. They are asked to read a text loudly and their voices are recorded. The errors found in the research are then identified and analyzed. The research results show that languge transfer and age are commonly factors that encourege students to commit errors. The learners produced the errors in their ‘th’ pronunciation may be caused by the phonological transfer from the mother tounge. Their mother tongues also play a significant role in influencing the students to commit pronunciation errors