An Analysis of English Diphthong Pronunciation by the Students of the English Education Study Program of the University of Bengkulu

This research was aimed to know how English students in University of
Bengkulu, English Education Study Program, class A and B, academic year
2016/2017 pronounced English Diphthongs. This research used descriptive
qualitative method. The population in this research was the 79 sixth semester students
of English Education Study Program. The numbers of samples were 20% of the
population. The Students were asked to pronounce 8 diphthongs in English based on
Ramelan’s theory. The result of this research showed that most of English students
pronounced English diphthongs [eɪ ], [oʊ], [aʊ], [ɪə ], [ɛə] and [ʊə] incorrectly. It
showed that the students still did not know about English diphthongs. Meanwhile, the
students were good at pronouncing diphthongs such as [aɪ ] and [ɔɪ ] with more than
58% of correct pronunciation. Key word: English diphthong, Pronunciation