English pronunciation activity through PRONOUNCE / Siti Akmar Abu Samah and Umminajah Salleh

The purpose of this study is to provide some creative strategies in acquiring correct English
language pronunciation. Firstly, this paper shares an understanding on crucial articulation of the
English phoneme /r/ by second language learners (SLL) among undergraduates, as part of its
exploration on the pronunciation of the English words. The focus is also on the SLL’s realization
of the phoneme – which they perceive to be correct – in initial, medial and final position. The
qualitative approach is applied in the investigation, which looks into ways through which
students acquire, among others include such variants of the /r/ phoneme in the course of their
studies at the university. Data are collected by means of semi-structured questions distributed to
forty first-year students pursuing undergraduate studies in a Malaysian university. The survey is
conducted and responses analysed, using qualitative content analysis to identify major themes.
The research finds that listening to dialogues in movies or listening to their favourite singers
speaking, besides surfing websites, have an influence on the students’ pronunciation. Better
understanding of such influences would provide language teaching practitioners some guidance
to facilitate learning outcomes more effectively. This study serves to further explore the
assumption that SLL learning interference has been evolving, which includes the influence of
technology in the students’ daily process of learning. The study shows the importance of
understanding such influences as a means to improve teaching and learning outcomes, in
particular the strategy that is undertaken to improve pronunciation.