English pronunciation is a fundamental aspect of language learning, yet it remains one of the most challenging skills for non-native speakers to master. This difficulty arises due to several factors, including differences in phonetic systems, variations in accents and dialects, and the influence of one's mother tongue. This research, the researcher is interested to analyze the pronunciation of vowels made the students by examining common mispronunciations and correct pronunciation with identifying specific vowel sounds that pose challenges, The research seeks to provide insights into the difficulties faced by students and suggest strategies for improvement. By analyzing the pronunciation of vowels, researcher can find out to what extent students understand and able to pronounce these sound correctly.
Based on this background, the problem of this study is formulated as: "How do the eighth grade students of MTsN 1 Kutai Kartanegara in academic year 2024/2025 pronounce English vowels?" In line with this, the purpose of this study is “To know how the eighth grade students of MTsN 1 Kutai Kartanegara in academic year 2024/2025 pronounce English Vowels.”
This research used a descriptive qualitative design to analyze the pronunciation of English vowels produced by six eighth grade students of MTsN 1 Kutai Kartanegara. The data were collected through pronunciation test using 15 words containing the five long vowel sounds and recorded for phonetic transcription. The analysis followed Miles and Huberman’s interactive model, involving data collection, data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing, to identify the correct and incorrect pronunciation produced by the students.
The findings of the research indicated that the eighth grade students of MTsN 1 Kutai Kartanegara in academic year 2024/2025 pronounced English vowels mostly correctly. The students generally demonstrated a good understanding and pronounciation of English long vowels, with most students were able to pronounce the vowels /iː/, /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /ɜː/, and /uː/ correctly\ from 15 words tested, most students could pronounce over 12 words correctly, with details : one (1) student pronounced 12 words correctly and five (5) student pronounced 14 words correctly. It meant, most students pronounced English vowels, especially long English vowels, correctly. However, mispronunciation was still found, in the pronunciation of the vowel /ɜː/ (back) in word such as “prefer”, /iː/ (middle) in word such as “bean”,/ɑː/ (middle) in word such as “park”, and /uː/ (front) in word such as “oops”.