The English Pronunciation of EFL Learners with Different Javanese Language Backgrounds

Abstract

This research involved forty-eight university students majoring in English Language
Teaching. Viewed from their language background, they comprised two groups, namely
(1) Javanese students with Indonesian as their mother tongue or first language (L1),
while Javanese as a second language (L2) and (2) Javanese students with Javanese as
their mother tongue, while Indonesian as a second language. The aim of this survey study
was to compare which group pronounced the English sounds better. This study was also
meant to examine the problematic sounds of English for both groups. The data was
collected through interview and pronunciation test. The interview was conducted to
identify the respondents’ language background. Data from the test was analyzed using the
inferential statistical tool T-Test and descriptive statistics. The main findings of this
research were as follows: (1) despite the fact that students with Javanese as L2 achieved a
greater average score, there was no statistically significant difference in pronunciation
performance between the two groups being compared; (2) sounds /v/, /θ/, /ʒ/, /ə:/, /ɔ:/,
/æ/, /eɪ/, /eə/, /i:/, and /aʊ/ respectively constituted top ten most problematic English
sounds among the Javanese students learning English.