Since English is not our mother tongue most people speak English only for the sake of being understandable by others. No wonder if people often ignore grammar, tenses, pronunciation-some other aspects of what so called as good English.
It is reasonable if people make mistakes in English because they are not its native but it is not a reason to always make it wrong if we can upgrade our English.
The first level of English might be knowing some words. The next level is combining words to words, then make it fluent in speaking, and then they use this last level to communicate.
Usually people are satisfied or proud enough to be at the last level mentioned. Speed is their goal. They do not want to continue to the higher level that actually covers some aspects that lead them to at least better English.
Once, I got a chance to work on a thesis for my S1 degree. It might not what a teacher training education department student should have taken for classroom action research is required, it is beneficial for all English learners though.
Do you know what good English is according to English native? Do you know what native speakers' mind about the common Indonesian English speaking? Do you know what should an English speaker do to be good at English? Do you know why in college we are taught about pronunciation?
The questions above all is answered by my research. And here, I quoted some of which. Hopes it opens your mind to upgrade your English to the next level. Don't feel satisfied with the English you've got.
"It can not be avoided that learning other languages is hard to do since there are some different aspects that do not exist in their English learners’ mother tongue. Hence, it makes sense that English learners make mistakes in pronouncing the target language. In respond to the case that many people make mistakes in pronouncing English words, it is necessary to know what native speakers’ opinions toward Indonesians’ English and what good English are.
Through questionnaires that were given to seven native speakers who have lived in Indonesia for some time (see appendix 1), it is found out that Indonesians’ English are understandable by English natives, however, there are some features need to work by English learners to gain proper pronunciation. ”Good pronunciation is about having accurate segmental and suprasegmental (intonation) skills” (Barret, 2008).
People rarely know that segmental features have crucial parts to make English understandable and to be considered as correct pronunciations. Those crucial features are th, sh, b, p, d, t, f, ph, v, r, final z, and vowel sounds. When people make mistakes in pronouncing them, English native speakers might get confused and misunderstand toward what actual message people want to deliver. In spite of the English is understandable, English native speakers need time to get the meaning.
Another aspect as a requirement of good English is suprasegmental features that include intonation, flow, and word stress. If the stress is incorrect, not only can speech be difficult to understand but the meaning can change. Besides, English learners in Indonesia are also less awareness of proper tenses. Simple grammar is often overlooked in favor of learning more advanced vocabularies, grammar etc. Knowledge of the language can be very advance but often using the basic forms is a problem.
The mistakes mentioned by the English native speakers above are hardly found in the speaking of people who started learning English since young age by using authentic materials. And this circumstance is exposed in this research with a hope that people are motivated to learn English as early as possible, particularly since young age by using authentic sources, so they will be able to speak English properly."
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