A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF STUDENTS’ MISPRONUNCIATION ON DIPHTHONG AT UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH JEMBER

The way people do spoken communication becomes the first thing noticed by listeners weather the way the speaker produced the words/vocabs is understandable or not. Because the incorrect or incomprehensible pronunciation could lead the listeners to misunderstanding. This study aims to understand which diphthong is frequently mispronounced by students of 4th semester at English study of Universitas Muhammadiyah Jember.
This study design is descriptive qualitative whose data collecting method used test and recording as instrument. The test would be conducted by having students read an English text which was provided by the writer. The recording was being done when student who would perform reading the text would read it impromptu which then acquire any transcription and calculation to clearly get the result of which diphthong is frequently mispronounced.
The result obtained shows that there are four types of diphthong stays in the highest result of error while also having other classifications like medium and low level of mispronunciation. This mispronunciation also classified in points of pronunciation problem on how these mispronunciation on diphthong is done either adding the sound, removing the sound or using the wrong sound.
Understanding the result of this study, the teaching learning of English specifically in pronunciation subject must be considered on how it is taught. Because mispronunciation or errors in pronouncing words in English is common in second language learners. Teaching pronunciation, therefore, is important to be integrated to teaching of other skills in English, especially which involve oral production of language. Students should also be taught strategies of recognizing their errors in pronouncing as well as fixing them.
Key Word: Pronunciation, diphthong, communication