EFL students’ pronunciation error on English short vowel sounds

Abstract

The purposes of this research are to identify the most frequent error and to know the significant source of error in pronouncing english short vowel sounds made by efl students. The researcher used qualitative approach and interpretative study in order to answer formulation of the research problem. The participants in this research are five students at the second grade of a vocational islamic boarding school cianjur. Test and interview were used by the researcher in collecting the data. The results of this research showed that the most frequent error in pronouncing english short vowel sounds is the /æ/ sound with the percentage 36.15% and the significant source of error in pronouncing english short vowel sounds is inter-lingual transfer with the percentage 62.65%. By analyzing the pronunciation error of the students, english teacher can know the weaknesses of the students so english teacher can provide the correction. In addition, the students who have the correction can be more aware of their pronunciation so they will not have the same error in the future.