Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2024
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P-ISSN: 2723-6595
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Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Sains, Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2024 1039
Introduction to Magic E in Reading English Words CVCe
Ni Luh Desy Suari Dewi, I Gede Neil Prajamukti Wardana
Universitas Dhyana Pura, Indonesia
Email: [email protected]
Correspondence: [email protected]
*
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Magic E; reading English
words; CVCe
English vowels consist of five letters that have different
pronunciations (sounds) in English words. There are 20 vowel
sounds and 24 consonant sounds in English. It is a challenge
for English teachers to teach English learners the concept of
reading English words. English vowels with the symbols a, i, u,
e, and o have different pronunciations when they are
positioned between consonants in the word CVC and when the
word CVC is added by the letter e in the word CVCe. Therefore,
this paper analyzed the influence of the letter e (which is
referred to as magic e) in the pronunciation of English vowel
sounds. This research is qualitative research with
documentation study methods to analyze and explain how the
vowel sounds are pronounced in CVC and CVCe words so that
English reading teaching steps are obtained that are easy to
understand. The results showed that English vowels were
pronounced as short vowel sounds in CVC words and
pronounced as long vowel sounds in CVCe words. The steps to
teach magic e that can be applied are to repeat the short vowel
sound material, introduce the concept of sounds and letters,
introduce the concept of short and long vowel sounds, read
two words similar in the concept of CVC and CVCe, and practice
reading the word CVCe regularly.
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
1. Introduction
Reading is one of the ways to develop children's language skills. Young children can learn to
read from the age of four (Suggate, Schaughency, & Reese, 2013). The National Reading Panel (NRP,
2000) says the most important skill a child has when going to school is to start learning to read. It is
in line to the fact that children who sit at the playgroup and kindergarten levels have already started
to read. In learning English, the students have already been introduced to English phonics. Phonics is
a reading method where "Teachers teach children the sound of letters and put the sounds together to
form words" (Seefeldt & Wasik, 2008). It is in line with Santrock's statement (2002) which states that
the "Phonics method is a technique for learning to read which emphasizes the sounds (pronunciation)
produced by the letters. Reading by using phonics method is a process for students to learn about
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English sounds (English phonics). It is a fundamental basis of students in reading English words.
Zaitun’s analysis (2023) concluded that the phonics method can improve children's ability to read
English vocabulary at the beginning for Kindergarten B students at Penguin Family Islamic School
Bekasi.
There are 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds in English. Siminto, (2013, p. 61) states
that consonant sounds are sounds produced by blocking airflow at one place in the airways above the
glottis (the gap between the two sound membranes in the larynx). Vowels are sounds produced in the
sound system by experiencing little resistance to the outgoing airflow, and usually, the sound is loud
(O’Grady & Archibald, 2016, p. 20). In the process of reading English words, the first vocabulary
patterns learned are CVC patterns. After that, but students also have to learn advanced word patterns
that have CVCe patterns (consonant vowel consonant + "e"), such as tape, bite, and cute. In the CVCe
word pattern, the letter "e" is not actually pronounced, so it is often called the silent e or magic e. The
letter "e" at the end of a word usually becomes the vowel "say it's named", which means to be a vowel
that is pronounced the same as the vowel name in the English alphabet (English spelling). For
example, the letter a is called /ei/, the letter i is called /ai/, the letter e is called /i:/, and so on. Letters
that are pronounced the same as their name or spelling in this alphabet are referred to as long vowel
sounds. This is in line with the theory described by Tambunsaribu, (2019, pp. 24–34), the vowels a, i,
u, e, and o, which are pronounced as /æ/, /ɪ/, /ʌ/, /e/, and /ɒ/ will sound like the spellings, namely
/eɪ/ /aɪ/ /juː/ /i:/ and /əʊ/ in the CVCe words. In this case, the use of the letter e at the end of the
word causes short vowel sounds to turn into long vowel sounds.
If we compare the pronunciation of the sounds of CVC and CVCe, it will have a striking difference
in the pronunciation of vowels (vowel sound). When the letter 'e' is placed at the end of a word, it
becomes silent and changes the way the word is pronounced. The vowel sound "e" in English is known
as the silent sound "e" or magic sound "e". Some teachers call this the "silent e" rule. Some call it the
"magic e" rule. The letter 'e' gives all its power to other vowels and makes those vowels use their long
sounds (“say its name”). https://www.understood.org/en/articles/phonics-rules-for-reading-and-
spelling.
Differences in the pronunciation of English vowel sounds make it difficult to teach the reading
process. Especially, when the the vowel sounds are put in the CVC pattern and CVCe pattern.
Therefore, teachers will find difficulties in making the students understand how to say the vowel
sounds in English words. Based on this problem, the concept of teaching English vowel sounds should
be known by the teachers. It also helps the students easily understand how to read in English. The
study related to the reading process has been discussed by Zuchdi and Budiasih (1996). Based on
their study, it revealed that the reading ability obtained in early reading would greatly affect the
ability to read further. The other study is from Phajane (2014). He states that in early childhood,
reading focuses on the synthetic phonics approach, where words are separated into the smallest part
of the unit, namely sounds (phonemes). Children are taught letters (graphemes) and represent them
into phonemes and also learn to mix them into words. In English reading stages, students will start
with the stages of reading CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words such as tap, bit, and cut. This is in
line with the results of the study by Suari Dewi (2023), who explained that the stages of recognizing
English phonics in the CVC reading learning process are sounding letters, spelling, and mixing sounds
into meaningful words. The other study related to the reading process is from Retnomurti,
Hendrawaty, and Nurhayati (2019), they stated that the phonics reading strategy is a way of teaching
multisensory reading and writing of letters, then using the sound synthesis method to read words.
Based on the previous studies, it is known how important reading ability is for students. It also
shows the process of reading from letters and phonemes to English words. Besides, the stages of
reading CVC words have been also discussed. However, the discussion about the differences in
pronunciation between vowel sounds in CVC and CVCe words were not discussed in the previous
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study. Therefore, this study focuses on the functions possessed by magic e in the CVCe vocabulary to
notice its effect to English vowels pronunciation. This study aims to know the function of magic e in
CVCe words. In addition, this study also discusses the steps of teaching magic e in the process of
reading English CVCe words. This study is expected to give solutions to the teachers in introducing
English vowel sounds in the reading process by using the phonics method.
2. Materials and Methods
This study is a qualitative research method that explains social meanings and processes by
using interviews, observations, and document study. The kind of qualitative in this research was the
document method, by observing several words with CVC (sit, hop, hat) and CVCe (site, hope, hate)
patterns to find out the function of magic e in English words. The words in CVC patterns such as: bit,
hat, and cut compared to CVCe patterns such as: bite, hate, and cute to see the differences of vowel
sound pronunciation. Data analysis was carried out by describing the function of magic e in the
process of reading English CVCe words after comparing them to CVC words and finding out the steps
of teaching magic e in the process of reading English CVCe words
3. Result and Discussion
The function of magic e in the process of reading the English word CVCe
In the early stages of English vowel sound recognition, these vowel sounds are pronounced as
short sounds. Short vowel sounds are simple vowel segments contained in the core of a syllable
(McCully, 2009, p. 223). Vowels sounded as short sounds can be seen as follows:
a) The vowel a is sounded /æ/ as in the word cat /cæt/
b) The vowel i is sounded /ɪ/ as in the word sit /sɪt/
c) The vowel o is sounded /ɒ/ as in the word hop /hɑp/
d) The vowel u is sounded /ʌ/ as in the word hug /hʌg/
e) The vowel e is sounded /e/ as in the word pet /pet/
In the form of CVC words, vowel sounds tend to be pronounced as short vowel sounds. However,
when we add the magic e in the CVC word, it will become CVCe words that change the pronunciation
of short vowel sounds into long vowel sounds. A long vowel sound is two or three vowel sounds
appearing side by side in one syllable (McCully, 2009, p. 220).
The change of short vowel sounds into long vowel sounds can be described in the CVC and CVCe
words table, which is designed as a learning medium as follows:
Table 1 The letter a from the short vowel sound /æ/ becomes the long vowel sound /eɪ/
Words CVC
Pronunciation
Words CVCe
Cat
/kæt/
Lake
Hat
/hæt/
Hate
Bag
/bæg/
Gate
In the table above, it can be seen that the letter a, which is a short vowel sound /æ/ in the word
CVC, changes pronunciation to be longer in the word CVCe, which becomes a long vowel sound /eɪ/
when added magic e at the end of the word. The short vowel sound /æ/ is a simple vowel segment
found in the core syllables hat, cat, and bag. A long vowel sound is two or three vowel sounds
appearing side by side in one syllable. From the table above, it can be seen that the long vowel /eɪ/ is
the vowel sound /e/ and /ɪ/ that appear side by side in the syllables lake, hate, and gate.
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Table 2 The letter i from the short vowel sound /ɪ/ becomes the long vowel sound /aɪ/
Words CVC
Pronunciation
Words CVCe
Bit
/bɪt/
Bite
Dig
/dɪg/
Kite
Sit
/sɪt/
Site
In the table above, it can be seen that the letter i, which is a short vowel sound /ɪ/ in the word
CVC, changes pronunciation to be longer in the word CVCe, which becomes a long vowel sound /aɪ/
when added magic e at the end of the word. The short vowel sound /ɪ/ is a simple vowel segment
found in the core syllables bit, dig, and sit. A long vowel sound is two or three vowel sounds appearing
side by side in one syllable. From the table above, it can be seen that the long vowel /aɪ/ is the vowel
sound /a/ and /ɪ/ that appear side by side in bite, kite, and site syllables.
Table 3 The letter o from the short vowel sound /ɒ/ becomes the long vowel sound /əʊ/
Words CVC
Pronunciation
Words CVCe
Mop
/mɒp/
Bone
Hop
/hɒt/
Hope
Top
/tɒp/
Rope
In the table above, it can be seen that the letter o which is a short vowel sound /ɒ/ in the word
CVC changes pronunciation to be longer in the word CVCe , which becomes a long vowel sound /əʊ/
when added magic e at the end of the word. The short vowel sound /ɒ/ is a simple vowel segment
found in the core syllables mop, hot and top. A long vowel sound is two or three vowel sounds
appearing side by side in one syllable. From the table above, it can be seen that the long vowel /əʊ/
is the vowel /ə/and /ʊ/ that appear side by side in the syllables bone, rose and rope.
Table 4 The letter u from the short vowel sound /ʌ/ becomes the long vowel sound /juː/
Words CVC
Pengucapan
Words CVCe
Cub
/cʌb/
Cube
Nut
/nʌt/
Mute
Rub
/rʌb/
Cute
In the table above, it can be seen that the letter u which is a short vowel sound /ʌ/ in the word
CVC has changed pronunciation to be longer in the word CVCe, which is a sound like the spelling /ju:/
or called a long vowel when added magic e at the end of the word. The short vowel sound /ʌ/ is a
simple vowel segment found in the core syllables cub, nut and rub. A long vowel sound is two or three
vowel sounds appearing side by side in one syllable. From the table above it can be seen that the long
vowel /ju:/ is a long sound because the vowel /ju:/ has a longer pronunciation duration and is like
formed by the vowels /ɪ/ and /u:/ in cube, mute and cute syllables.
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Table 5 The letter e from the short vowel sound e /e/ becomes a long vowel sound /i:/
Kata CVC
Pengucapan
Kata CVCe
Bed
/bed/
Here
Red
/red/
Pete
Jet
/jet/
Delete
In the table above, it can be seen that the letter e, which is a short vowel sound /e/ in the word
CVC, has changed the pronunciation to be longer in the word CVCe, which becomes a long vowel sound
/i:/ when magic e is added to the end of the word. The short vowel sound /e/ is a simple vowel
segment found in the core of bed, red, and jet syllables. A long vowel sound is two or three vowel
sounds appearing side by side in one syllable. From the table above it can be seen that the long vowel
/i:/ is a long sound because the vowel /i:/ has a longer pronunciation duration in the syllables here,
pete and delete.
Steps of teaching magic e in the process of reading English CVCe words
After identifying the function of magic e in English words, then compiled the teaching steps in
the process of reading English CVCe words. The steps that can be applied are as follows:
1) Repeating the material of short vowel sounds a, i, u, e, o
Students are invited to recall how to pronounce short English vowel sounds that have been
learned before
Table 6 Table of English short vowel sounds
2) Introducing the concept of sounds and letters
If we observe the comparison of the pronunciation of short and long vowel sounds from the
letters a, i, u, e, o follows:
Table 7 Table of concepts of sounds and letters
Letter
Sounding
Letter
Sounding
a
/æ/
a _ e
/eɪ/
i
/ɪ/
i _ e
/aɪ/
u
/ʌ /
u _ e
/uː/
e
/e/
e _ e
/iː/
o
/ɒ/
o _ e
/oʊ/
From the comparison table above, we can see that long vowel sounds are pronounced the
same as the name of the vowel in English. So, the next stage is to introduce the names of vowels
in English. In this stage, students should often be introduced to the concepts of "sound" and
Letter
Sounding
a
/æ/
i
/ɪ/
u
/ʌ /
e
/e/
o
/ɒ/
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"letter", where sounds are the pronunciations of the English letters /æ/, /ɪ/, /ʌ/, /e/ and /ɒ/
while letters are the names of the English letters /eɪ/, /aɪ/, /uː/, /iː/ and /oʊ/.
3) Introducing the concept of short and long vowel sounds
Students are shown cards of vowels a, i, u, e, and o, and students say the sounds. Students are
shown a card containing vowels with magic e, namely: a _ e, I _ e, u _ e, e _ e, o _ e, and students
say the name of the letter.
4) Read two words similar in the concepts of CVC and CVCe
tap – tape
kit – kite
hug – huge
pet – Pete
hop – hope
In this stage, students are given two words that are similar to one word is the word CVC and the
other word is the word CVCe. By reading two words similar in the concepts of CVC and CVCe,
students are expected to be able to distinguish the pronunciation of short and long vowel sounds.
5) Practice reading CVCe words regularly
Students are given more practice in reading CVCe words. In this stage, students are given CVCe
words and then invited to read sentences containing the CVCe words.
4. Conclusion
The results showed that magic e changed the pronunciation of English vowel sounds from short
vowel sounds to long vowel sounds. English vowels are pronounced as short vowel sounds in CVC
words and pronounced as long vowel sounds in CVCe words. In the process of teaching English reading,
after students get to know the concept of reading the word CVC, students can be introduced to the
pattern of reading the word CVCe by applying the five steps of teaching magic e, namely: repeating the
material of short vowel sounds, introducing the concept of sounds and letters, introducing the concept
of short and long vowel sounds, reading two words that are similar in the concepts of CVC and CVCe,
and practice reading the word CVCe regularly. It is in line with the statement from Phajane (2014). He
stated that in early childhood, reading focuses on the synthetic phonics approach, where words are
separated into the smallest part of the unit, namely sounds (phonemes). Children are taught letters
(graphemes) and represent them into phonemes and also learn to mix them into words.
Future research is expected to focus more on research on the reading process using phonics
methods with different patterns to the CVC and CVCe. Therefore, it helps English teachers to find the
right concepts and learning steps for students in reading English words by using the phonics method.
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