Abstract
This qualitative research attempted to review the influence of the Pontianak Melayu dialect on students’ English pronunciation of English speech sounds. The objectives of the study were to explain the influence of Pontianak Melayu dialect on students’ English pronunciation of vowels, consonants, diphthongs, and consonant clusters and to explain the way teachers play their roles to improve students’ pronunciation. This study used a qualitative case study design. The subjects of this study were 17 students from seventh-grade of Junior High School who are originally from the Pontianak. The data were collected by using questionnaires, students’ recordings, observation checklists, and interviews. The results of this study show that the Pontianak Melayu dialect contributed insignificant positive transfer on English vowel sounds [ɔ:], [ʊ], and [ɒ]. It gave significant negative transfer on English consonant sounds [f, v, k, s]. It also gave insignificant negative transfer on English diphthong sound [aɪ]. It gave significant negative transfer on English consonant cluster sounds [fr] and [kl], and significant negative transfer on three consonant clusters. Meanwhile, the teacher did play her role in improving students’ pronunciation. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the Pontianak Melayu dialect did not strongly give positive and negative transfer to the students’ English pronunciation. The easiness might be caused by the similarities between the Pontianak Melayu language and English. The difficulties might be caused by the lack of students’ knowledge about correct pronunciation, lack of pronunciation practice, students’ inability to recognize the words, and spelling interference. In teaching pronunciation processes, the teachers and the students should be supported each other to reach the best achievement. The teachers taught by supporting media such as English songs, western movies or English short stories, etc. Meanwhile, the students practice more and more.
Highlights
English takes part as a means of communication in the countries that use English as the first language and in other countries that use it as the second or foreign language such as in Indonesia
The students' mother tongues have been used as a daily language and they have heard it since they were toddlers, the mother tongue is being clung to as a part of their habits and life
English vowels influenced by Pontianak Melayu dialect
Summary
English takes part as a means of communication in the countries that use English as the first language and in other countries that use it as the second or foreign language such as in Indonesia. The Department of Education and Culture put English as a foreign language to learn by students and teachers in schools and universities. The students whose English is not their first or native language (L1) will face some problems during the processes of second or foreign language acquisition (L2), especially in the pronunciation of the English words. The teachers face problems too, one of them is from the students' cultural background that indirectly affects the way of their L2 productions. To produce and learn a new language again, they will face some difficulties (Murcia, Brington, and Godwin, 2010) to accept something different for them
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