CORRECTING PUPILS ERROR IN PRONUNCIATION INVOLVING LONG VOWEL /u:/ (oo) BY

USING PHONIC SONG WITH ACTION

Mardhiyah binti Maidin @ Shamsudin
Rohaida binti A. Rahmat

ABSTRACT
This is an action research in correcting the pupils error in pronunciation involving long vowel /u:/ (oo) by using
phonic song with action. The pupils have been incorrectly pronouncing the words with the long vowel /u:/ (oo)
during the reading aloud session in the classroom. Thus, this research aimed to correct the error of the
pronunciation by using the phonic song together with an action. The research has been conducted at a school in
Tumpat area involving six pupils of Year Two Arif. For this research, 3 data collection method have been used:
1) Pre and Post-Test; 2) video recording and 3) questionnaire. The pupils pronunciations of a list of words have
been recorded and analysed. Analysis of the findings showed that the pupils pronunciation involving long
vowel /u:/ (oo) is improved. The use of song and also the action helped the pupils to memorize the sound of /u:/
(oo). Thus, phonic song with action is very suitable to be applied in the classroom to correct the pupils
pronunciation. In order to increase the pupils interest in the lesson, music can also be added and this will
definitely make the lesson more fun and enjoyable to the pupils.

INTRODUCTION
English language has become crucial nowadays, the dire needs for this lingua-franca is undeniably increasing.
As mentioned by ebestov (2007), English language plays a dominant role in modern world (p. 6). This is
due to the globalisation of the world in which everyone are now able to interact without constraints with anyone
around the world by utilising English as medium of interaction. Mastering English is still a problem to
Malaysian. One of the most prominent problems faced by the Malaysian for this language is in term of its
pronunciation. Without a proper knowledge in the pronunciation, the learners are said to fail in mastering the
new language learnt. This is because other than affecting the competency in communication skills, the
competency of pronunciation is also closely related to the competence of four skills needed in learning a
language which is the speaking, listening, reading and writing (Walker, 2012). Thus, it is very important to
improve the pronunciation in order to improve the pupils skills in reading.
One of the ways to improve pronunciation is through the knowledge of phonemic awareness.
Zygouris-Coe (2001) also stated that phonemic awareness is the understandings that spoken words and
syllables are consist of sequences of phonemes or speech sound, and the ability to manipulate them (p. 4).
Through this awareness and knowledge, the pupils will be able to improve their pronunciation and as a result,
they will be able to interpret the written words better.
Seeing the importance of the phonemic awareness, Ministry of Education has integrated this
component into the reading skill section in the new Document Standards, Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah
Rendah (KSSR) for Year 1 and 2, hoping that the knowledge of sound will improve both the pronunciation and
the reading skills of the pupils at the early age of learning. These components are even taught as early as in the
kindergarten in order to ensure that the children will be able to master the skills in an early age.

FOCUS OF INVESTIGATION/ISSUES OF CONCERN

This research has been done to correct the error in pronunciation of the six pupils from 2 Arif when the long
vowel /u:/ (oo) from unit 4 of Year Two English textbook is involved.

The awareness on the importance of phonics and phonemes in teaching pronunciation and reading has led to the
thorough utilisation of it during the lessons in the classroom. At first, the phonic have been taught through
mimicry of expression and mouth movement in which the pupils are asked to copy or do these two when they
are shown to them. The pronunciation of the sound has also been repeated around ten times throughout the one
hour lesson specifically for memory retention. On the contrary, from a few observations during reading aloud
activities which have been carried out for this unit, it can be seen that almost half of the class are still unable to
pronounce the words correctly when this phoneme is involved.
Even though this sound had already been taught to them, they seemed to have forgotten the sound. It is assumed
that they might have not been giving full attention in the classroom when the lessons are taught and as the
classroom is packed with 40 pupils, it is really hard to make sure that every pupil is focusing on the lesson in the
classroom. A large-sized classroom is actually very unsuitable in a language learning classroom.
According to Blatchford et al. (2006), pupils in larger classes are found to have a more passive role in contact
with the teacher and as the class size increased, the number of interactions with individual pupils decreased, and
this adversely affected pupils progress. Then, added with limited exposure and usage of English in daily lives,
the pronunciation problem is not improving at all. Due to the reason, in carrying this research, only six pupils
have been chosen. A large number of pupils in the class are avoided in order to successfully monitor each and
every pupils behaviour, change in motivation and achievements.
Eventhough the phonic and phoneme has been taught to the pupils in the classroom, they are still repeating the
same error. Because of that, new way of teaching the phonics and phonemes had to be implemented. Hence, in
order to overcome this problem, phonic song with action has been used to correct the pupils error in
pronunciation of long vowel /u:/ (oo).

Literature Review
Roach (2000) stated that there is an enormous amount of variation in how English is pronounced. However, the
mispronunciations of the pupils chosen are clearly errors. Through a few careful observations, the reason for the
error to occur has been identified. The pupils had pronounced the long vowel /u:/ (oo) according to the sound
learnt in Bahasa Malaysia. Thus, the interference of mother tongue has affected the pupils pronunciations
during reading.
The interference of mother tongue over the long vowel /u:/ has been proven by Mohamad Fuad bin Mokhtar
(2009) through his study on ten students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bachok, Kelantan. Through his
finding on the ten students, no participants managed to pronounce the English long vowel /u:/ and other long
vowels correctly. According to Mohamad Fuad Mokhtar (2009):
The Malay language has fewer vowel contrasts than the English language, as the Malay sound system
tends to neutralise long and short vowel contrasts. Every long vowel was neutralized and changed
within the following pairs: ..., /u:/ as in /fu:l/ was replaced with /u/ ,... From the data analysed, it can be
assumed that all English long vowels /i:/, /u:/, /3:/, /:/ and /a:/ are involved with the interference of the
mother tongue. (p. 36).

However, the pupils in this research did not replace the long vowel /u:/ as /u/ but as /o/. This might be due to the
fact that the letter o in oo (/u:/) is pronounce as /o/ in Bahasa Malaysia.
Other than the song, an action has also been integrated in the song. The action has been used in the song
everytime the sound of long vowel /u:/ (oo) is mentioned. This action is one of the proposed actions in the Year
Two English Guidebook for Teachers to be used by teachers when teaching phonics and phonemes. The
decision to integrate an action for the phoneme in the song has been done as it is believed that action will
enhance the pupils memories and act as a trigger in helping them remember the sound of the vowel. There have
been finding about how well action can help in enhancing memory. Some of the researches have been done by
Engelkamp & Cohen (1991), in researching about The enactment effect: enhance memory for subjectperformed tasks leading an early support to the embodied cognition perspective and Christopher R. Madan and
Anthony Singhal with a research entitled Using actions to enhance memory: effects of enactment, gestures, and
exercise on human memory. According to Madan & Singhal (2012):
One particularly interesting facet of the idea that our body can affect cognition is the influence of
actions, gestures, and exercise on memory performance: the hypothesis is that our physical movements,
and even the amount that we exercise, can affect our ability to remember. (p. 1)
Thus, the use of song that subside the affective filter, added with action that enhancing memory is a definite
methods that can be used in correcting the pupils error in pronunciation of long vowel /u:/ for the six pupils of
year 2 Arif in this research.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
1.
2.

To determine the effectiveness of phonic song in improving the pupils pronunciation of long vowel /u:/
(oo).
To identify whether the action taught in the song is able to help the pupils to remember the sound of the
long vowel /u:/ (oo).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.
2.

Can the pupils errors in pronunciation involving long vowel /u:/ (oo) be solved using phonic songs?
Can the action taught help the pupils to remember the sounds of long vowel /u:/ (oo)?

TARGET GROUP/PARTICIPANT
The research involved six pupils; three boys and three girls from a school in Tumpat area in which the third
phase practicum has been done. These six pupils are from class 2 Arif, the first class in standard two.
Eventhough the class is considered as the top out of the four classes, the pupils in the class are ranging from
advanced to very weak pupils. This is due to the location of the school and the family socio-economic
background of the pupils.
These six pupils come from a low and middle socio-economic class where all of the pupils mothers are
housewives and the fathers work ranging from self-employed and small business work. Due of the condition of
the family, added with the current place where they are living (Tumpat area), English is not widely used and
practiced. This is one of the reasons that lead to their poor pronunciation in English. In addition, the only place
where they use the language is at school during the English lessons. Thus, they can be considered as weak in
English subject as a whole. However, from careful observations, these six pupils showed eagerness to learn the
language. With some help and motivation, they will definitely be able to master the language one day

ACTION
The interventions have been carried out six times including for the pre and post-test activity. The interventions
have been done during the pupils recess time in the music room and it only took around 10 minutes for each
meetings.
In order to correct the error of the pupils pronunciation on long vowel /u:/ (oo), phonic song with action has
been used in the intervention plan. The phonic song is created based on the reference of the phonic songs in
Read Easy Phonic Songs VCD by Nik Eliani binti Nik Nawi and her husband Othman Ahamad and the action
are based on the actions proposed in KSSR English Teachers Guidebook for Year 2.

The song and action are as followed:

PHONIC SONGS

ACTIONS

Long vowel /u:/ (oo)

Oody moody oo, oo, oo,
Oody moody oo, oo, oo,
Oody moody oo, oo, oo,
Let us say oo, oo, oo, oo.

(Nik Eliani Nik Nawi & Othman Ahamad,

2010)

Place hands above

head, shake your head and say u.
(Jagdeesh Kaur Gill, Regina Joseph Cyril, Rabindra Dev
Prasad, et. al 2011)
The intervention sessions have been carried out according to the schedule as follow:

Date
24/07/2014

Activities

Pre-Test Activity
The pupils are gathered in the music room.
The pupils are called one by to read a list of words in containing the long vowel /u:/
(oo).
The voice readings are recorded.

03/08/2014

First Session Intervention

The pupils are gathered in the music room.
oo (/u:/) is introduced.
The pupils is asked to pronounce the oo (/u:/)

Pronunciation are corrected

Repeat the pronunciation of oo (/u:/).

The song, Oody the Moody is introduced

Sing the song two times
The action is introduced
Sing the song with the action
Dismissed and told to come back at the same time tomorrow.
Video recording is done during the session.

04/08/2014

Second Session Intervention

Gathered in the music room.
New action is introduced to replace the previous action.
Practice of the new action with the pronunciation few times.
Sing the song with the new action
Dismissed and told to come back at the same time tomorrow.
Video recording is done during the session.

05/08/2014

Third Session Intervention

Gathered in the music room.
Showed oo (/u:/) and asked to pronounce the sound.
Repeat the pronunciation a few times.
Pupils sing the song while teacher write on board.
Sing the song with the new action a few times.
Improvise the way of singing by jumping.
Asked to read a few words written on the white board.
Dismissed and told to come back at the same time tomorrow.
Video recording are done during the session.

06/08/2014

Forth Session Intervention

Gathered in the music room.
Showed oo (/u:/) and asked to pronounce the sound.
Repeat the pronunciation a few times.
Sing the song with the action.
Improvising on the way to sing the song
Sing the song again for a few times
Dismissed and told to come back at the same time tomorrow.
Video recording is done during the session.

07/08/2014

Post-Test Activity
The pupils are gathered in the music room.
The pupils are called one by to read a list of words in containing the long vowel /u:/
(oo).
The readings are recorded.

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

Pre and Post-Test
From the pronunciation test in the Pre-Test, most of the pupils are having problems when pronouncing the
words containing the long vowel /u:/ (oo). Out of the seven words given, only the word zoo is being
pronounced correctly by all of the pupils. However, in the results had increase in the Post-Test. The results of
the Pre and Post-Test are as follows:
6
5
4
Number of Pupils

3
Pre-T
2 est

Post-Test

1
0
boot

food

hoof

moon room

root

zoo

List of Words Used

From figure 7.1.1, it can be seen that the pupils pronunciation in the Pre-Test are very poor. Only zoo has been
pronounced correctly by the all of the pupils. There are none who managed to pronounce the word boot
Figure 7.1.1correctly
shows the
number
of pupils
and only
two person
each that
for theare
words food, hoof, moon, room and root. Meanwhile, the
increase the
of the
correctcorrectly
pronunciation
can Preclearly be seen in the Post-Test through the graph. For the Post-Test,
able to pronounce
words
in the
all six pupils managed to pronounce the word boot, food, hoof and zoo while only five pupils managed to
pronounce the words moon, room, and root in their first try.
INCORRECT
TRANSCRIPTIONS
PRONUNCIATIONS
1
loose
/lu:s/
2
goose
/gu:s/
1
/gos/
3
stool
/stu:l/
4
rooster
/ru:st/
5
foo
/fu:/
6
fool
/fu:l/
Figure 7.1.1 shows
the comparison between the result in1 Pre-Test and the Post-Test
7
hoop
/hu:p/
/hop/
8
batoo
/ba:tu:/@/btu:/
9
baloo
/ba:lu:/ @ /blu:/
10
doopy
/du:pi/
1
/hpi/
11
soop
/su:p/
1
/sop/
12
brood
/bru:d/
Figure 7.1.2 shows the number of pupils incorrect pronunciation and how they are pronounce by the pupils.
13
oody
/u:di/
-

NO.

WORDS

TRANSCRIPTIONS

Meanwhile, another 13 words in the Post-Test that are not used in the Pre-Test are analysed in the figure 7.1.2.
Through the table, it can clearly be seen that only four words; goose, hoop, doopy and soop are
pronounce incorrectly by the pupils in their first try while others are pronounced correctly by all of the pupils.

Questionnaire
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Items
Is the singing session fun?
Do you remember the song Oody the
Moody?
Do you remember the action for oo?
Does the song help you to remember the
sound of oo?
Does the action help you to remember
the sound of oo?
Does the song help you to pronounce
the words correctly?
Does the action help you to pronounce
the words correctly?

Yes
6

No

6
6
6
4

Figure 7.3.1 shows the number of pupils who agree and disagree on the items given.
Figure 7.3.1 shows the analysed data from the questionnaire. From figure 7.3.1, all of the pupils said yes to item
number 1 (Is singing fun?), 2 (Do you remember the song Oody the Moody?), 3 (Do you remember the action
for oo?) and 4 (Does the song help you to remember the sound of oo?). Meanwhile, 4 pupils said yes and 2
pupils said no to item number 5 (Does the action help you to remember the sound of oo?) and 7 (Does the action
help you to pronounce the words correctly?) while 5 pupils said yes and 1 pupils said no to item number 6 (Does
the song help you to pronounce the words correctly?).

Findings
Based on the research findings, it is clearly seen that the pupils error in the pronunciation of words with long
vowel /u:/ are corrected using the phonic song with the action. All of the six pupils are able to correctly
pronounce the sound of long vowel /u:/ (oo) and applied it in their reading. Their improvements can clearly be
seen through the comparison of results in Pre and Post-Test. The graph shows tremendous change in its high
which indicates the increase in their correct pronunciation of the words.
Through this research, it is also shown that the action really help the pupils in remembering the pronunciation of
the long vowel /u:/ (oo). When the pupils are making mistakes in their pronunciation while reading, showing
the action will lead them back to the correct pronunciation of the long vowel /u:/ (oo).
Thus, it can be said that using phonic song with action really help in correcting the error in the pupils
pronunciation of long vowel /u:/ (oo). Other than correcting the error, this method also offers a very fun and
meaningful learning condition to the pupils. Not only that the pupils are learning in a fun way, the nature of the
song itself helps in reducing the anxiety in learning the language and thus allowing them to master the language
with ease.

Suggestion for Further Research

A research is a continuous process and as it progress, many improvements and new ideas can be added to the
research. For this research, the use of music will definitely increase the fun element in the learning. The use of
musical instruments can also be added to the research to make it more interesting and to attract more attention
from the pupils. As this research only stressed on the singing and action for quite some times, the tendency for
the pupils to get bored are high. Thus, the steps or the way to present the song and action need to be improvised
frequently. Only by doing this, the pupils focus will not be distracted from the learning process.

References

Blachford, P., Russell, A., Bassett, P., Penelope, B., Martin, C. (2007). The effect of class size on the
teaching of pupils aged 7-11 years. Journal of School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 18
(2), 147-172. Retrieved from http://www.classsizeresearch.org.uk/Blatchford
Engelkamp, J., Cohen, R, L. (1991). Current issues in memory of action events. Journal of Psycho
Res, 53, 175-182. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/
Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. (2011). KSSR teachers guide book. Putrajaya: Bahagian
Pembangunan Kurikulum Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia
Madan, R, C., Singhal, A. (2012). Using actions to enhance memory : Effort of enactment gestures,
and exercise on human memory. Journal of Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 1-4. Retrieved from
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00507/full
Mohamad Fuad b. Mokhtar . (2009). The interference of mother tongue in the pronunciation of
English sounds among Form 4S3 and 4K1 students of Sekolah Menengnah Kebangsaan Bachok.
Shah Alam: Universiti Teknologi Mara
Sebastova, S. (2007). Some aspects of assessing pronunciation in EFL classes. Czech Republic:
Masaryk University
Walker, R. (2012, October 25). Pronunciation for young learners [Blog message]. Retrieved from
Oxford University Press ELT Blog:
http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2012/10/25/pronunciation-foryoung-learners/
Zygouris, V. (2001). Phonic Awareness. Orlando: University of Central Florida