Students` Capability in Pronouncing English Diphthongs

This study aims to examine the capability of students (who study English language and literature)  in pronouncing English double vowels or diphthongs.  Diphthong or double vowels is the movement or shift from one vowel to another vowel sound. English is very rich with words that contain multiple vowels such as: / aI / in the word try / / traI buy / baI /; / eI  / in the words they / ðeI /, day / deI /, / eə / as in the word hair / heə /, chair /tʃeə/. while the number of double vowels in Indonesian and Balinese as the mother tongue of students who study  English language Literature is very limited. This difference certainly causes problems for students in the pronunciation of English words that contain double vowels. It is inevitable that the interference of the mother tongue plays a role in the pronunciation of the sound. Mistakes in pronunciation will also have an impact on misunderstanding in English oral communication.

An understanding of the sound of English is taught in English phonetics and phonemics courses in the fifth semester at the English Language and  Literature study program, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University. This study will examine the ability of double vowel pronunciation by new students who have not received English Phonetics and Phonemics courses to be compared with students who have taken the course so that it can be seen to what extent these courses can change the performance of students in the pronunciation of multiple vowels.

This research is a qualitative descriptive study supported by quantitative data. The study population was 50 first or second-semester students and 50 sixth or seventh-semester students taken by random. The research instrument was a list of English words containing double vowels and questionnaires. Data collection techniques were carried out through recording and data were analyzed descriptively qualitatively and presented formally and informally

Keywords: capability, pronunciation, English  diphthongs