REALIZATION OF PRONOUNCING SILENT LETTERS WORDS BY FIFTH SEMESTER STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM (A Study at Universitas Bengkulu in the Academic Year 2023/2024)

This research aimed to examine students’ pronunciation of silent letters in
English. This research involved 26 fifth-semester students of the English
Education Study Program of the Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education at Universitas Bengkulu in the academic years 2023/2024. This
research was a descriptive quantitative method. The instrument of this
research was the pronunciation test in terms of 52 sentences containing 13
silent letters (e.g., k, gh, th, g, p, l, t, s, w, n, b, h, and d). Each silent letter
consisted of 4 four words and each sentence contained one silent letter.
The data were collected by recording students’ pronunciation. The data
were analyzed by listening to the students’ pronunciation and comparing
them to the correct pronunciation in the digital Oxford dictionary to judge
whether the pronunciation was correct or not. Then, the correct and
incorrect pronunciations were counted quantitatively using a percentage
formula. The results of the analysis were interpreted to know the quality
level of the students’ pronunciation. The results of the research showed
that students pronounced silent letters “w, k, h, and n” in a very good
category. Students pronounced silent letters “gh, th, g, p, l, t, s, and d” in a
good category. Students pronounced the silent letter b was pronounced in
enough category. In conclusion, students’ pronunciation of silent letters
was in a good category because they rarely pronounced the silent letters
erroneously.
Keywords: Pronunciation, Silent Letter