“English pronunciation application” as a media to improve students’ pronunciation: the effectiveness

Abstract

This paper intended to investigate the effectiveness of English Pronunciation Application (EPA) as a media in pronunciation classroom. The objectives of this study were: 1) to find out the students’ ability in pronunciation before being taught using EPA, 2) to find out the students’ ability in pronunciation after being taught using EPA, and 3) to find out the significant difference between the students’ ability in pronunciation before and after being taught using EPA. Pre-experimental design in one group pre-test post-test design was applied as the research design. 32 students of class X Science III of SMA Kesatrian 2 Semarang in the academic year of 2018/2019 were taken as the sample. The instrument was valid and reliable, the level of difficulty was categorized as medium and the discriminating power was categorized good. The data collected were analyzed using t-test. It was found that the students’ ability in pronunciation before being taught using EPA was inadequate. The students’ ability in pronunciation after being taught using EPA was good. The value of t-test was higher than t-table, 14.03>1.9990. It means teaching pronunciation using EPA was effective. At last, the paper proposed suggestions for teachers to apply EPA in teaching pronunciation.