An analysis on the students’ errors in using degrees of comparison of adjectives: a case study at eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor

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Putri Bogor)

Proposed By:

YUNITA MIRNANDA

208014000015

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS

’

TRAINING

SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

JAKARTA

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v ABSTRACT

Mirnanda, Yunita, 2014, An Analysis on Students’ Errors in Using Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives (A Case Study at Eighth Grade Students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor), Skripsi, English Education Department, the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta.

Advisors : 1. Dr. Ratna Sari Dewi, M.Pd.

2.Neneng Sunengsih, M.Pd.

Key Words : Error Analysis, Degrees of Comparison

This research is aimed at analyzing errors made by the eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah in using degrees of comparison. Particularly, it is aimed at identifying the most frequent errors in using degrees of comparison both in the form and the usage and obtaining the causes why the students made such error.

This research used descriptive analysis method to describe students’ errors and the causes of errors. The data were taken from the test and interview, and the data sources of this research were 23 students of eight grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah.

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vi ABSTRAK

Mirnanda, Yunita, 2014, An Analysis on Students’ Errors in Using Degrees of

Comparison of Adjectives (A Case Study at Eighth Grade Students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor), Skripsi, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Ilmu Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, Universitas Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta.

Advisors :1. Dr. Ratna Sari Dewi, M.Pd.

2. Neneng Sunengsih, M.Pd.

Key Words : Analisa Kesalahan, Tingkat Perbandingan

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa kesalahan-kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh siswa kelas delapan pada SMP Muhammadiyah dalam penggunaan

degrees of comparison. Khususnya, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi kesalahan yang paling banyak dilakukan dalam menggunakan

degrees of comparison baik bentuk maupun kegunaannya, dan memperoleh sebab-sebab mengapa para siswa melakukan kesalahan-kesalahan tersebut.

Penelitian ini menggunakan metode analisis deskriptif untuk mendeskripsikan kesalahan siswa dan sebab-sebab dari kesalahan-kesalahan itu. Data ini di ambil dari tes dan wawancara, dan sumber data dari penelitian in adalah 23 murid kelas delapan SMP Muhammadiyah.

Dari proses error analysis diperoleh hasil bahwa peserta didik melakukan empat jenis kesalahan yaitu omission, addtion, misformation/misselection dan

misorder. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa kesalahan misformation yang paling sering dilakukan siswa dalam penggunaan degrees of comparison adalah

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world who has blessed the writer in completing this ”skripsi” entitled “An Analysis on Students’ Errors in Using Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives

(A Case Study at Eighth Grade Students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor)”. Peace and Blessing be upon the Prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, his companion, and his followers.

In this opportunity, the writer would like to express her greates gratitude to her beloved families, especially her parents –Amir Oemar and Saiyah Amir– who have given the greates love, prayer, and moral encouragement. It also will be expressed to the whole of her families for their biggest love and kindness to support her in finishing this “skripsi”. Also, she would like to address her greatest

thanks to her advisors Dr. Ratna Sari Dewi, M.Pd. and Neneng Sunengsih, M.Pd.

for their time, valuable guidance, helps, corrections, and suggestions during completing this “skripsi”.

The writer realized that without support, help, and motivation from people around her, she could not finish this “skripsi”. Therefore, she would like to give her deepest appeciation for:

1. All lecturers in English Education Department who always give their motivation and valuable knowledge and also unforgettable experience during her study at Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’ Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

2. Drs. Syauki, M.Pd. the chairman of English Education Department and Zaharil Anasy, M.Hum. the secretary of English Education Department.

3. Dra. Nurlena, MA, Ph.D. the Dean of Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teachers’

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4. The principal of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri, Anis Setyamurni S.Pd, the English teacher, and the eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah who allowed and helped the writer to do the research in their school.

5. All friends who have always been great friends and always given their support especially classmates in English Education Department Class A for academic 2008.

Hopefully, this “skripsi” can be useful to the readers, particularly to the researcher. Furthermore, the writer realized that this “skripsi” is far from being perfect. It is pleasure for her to recieve constructive critics and suggestions from anyone who read her “skripsi" for valuable improvement.

Jakarta, 12 September 2014

The writer

Yunita Mirnanda

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LIST OF APPENDICES

1. Test Instrument... 66

2. Interview Instrument for Teacher... 68

3. Interview Instrument for Student ... 69

4. The Result of Student’s Test ... 70

5. The Result of English Teacher Interview... 116

6. The Result of Student’s Interview... 117

7. Surat Pengesahan Proposal Skripsi ... 140

8. Surat Bimbingan Skripsi ... 141

9. Surat Permohonan Izin Penelitian ... 143

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1 A. The Background of the Study

In globalization era, English is very important of international communication, because English is one of the international languages of the world. The importance of English language in this era cannot be denied. Many aspects of our lives cannot be separated from the influence of English because it

has many roles in technology, socio-cultural, economy, art, science, education, and so forth. So, mastering English is necessary and become a challenge for every people.

Based on school based curriculum, the general propose of English study at eighth grade of Junior High School is to develop communicative competence in English both oral and written. Communicative competence involves the mastery of English language skills, they are listening, reading, speaking and writing. In listening skill, the students are expected to be able to understand the meaning of oral communication. Besides, in reading skill, they are expected to be able to understand many kinds of English texts. Moreover, in speaking skill, the students are expected to be able to express their thought comprehensively. Also, in writing skill, they are expected to write their ideas meaningfully.

In writing skills, to write the ideas meaningfully, the students have to understand how to produce a text communicatively and accurately. However, recently many studies found that students often make inaccurate writings, so it causes ambiguity, misunderstanding, and in comprehensible meaning to the reader. Nevertheless, to write an accurate writing, the student have to master language, one of them is grammar, it can be concluded that grammar is useful in

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Nevertheless, grammar has a large limitation, and degree of comparison is included in it. Degrees of comparison are used to compare one thing or one person to another. There are three degrees in comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative. The errors often occur when students try to translate their native language, Indonesian in this case, into English. Notice these setences:

- “Dia cantik” becomes “She beautiful.”

- “Saya harus bisa berbicara dengan bahasa Inggris” becomes “I must can speak with English.”

Those sentences are grammatically incorrect. Both of them are influenced by the students’ native language. It happens because they compare the two language grammatically. The error of the first sentence is the omission of to be “is”. The students are still influenced by their native and translate it into English directly without paying any attention to use “is”. It should be revised to become “She is beautiful”. The error of the second sentence is double modal auxiliary. It

happens because students translate it word-by-word. It should be revised to become “I must be ableto speak English”.

The above reasons stimulate the writer to analyze such errors produced by students. To be more specific, the writer practically identifies the errors that the students made on degrees of comparison of adjective.

This idea is also supported by the writer’s experience in teaching such topic in her PPKT (Praktek Profesi Keguruan Terpadu) in one of the junior high schools in Tangerang. The writer taught degrees of comparison of adjectives material to the eighth grade students as a repetition since it had been taught when they were at the seventh grade. The writer was interview the English teacher when the teacher gave a test about degrees, some students made mistakes on writing and understanding degrees of comparison, especially in using comparative and

superlative degree. Notice these common errors that the students did in formative test:

1. Rani is more lazy than Clara.

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4. Ferdy’s guitar playing is gooderthan Rony’s.

The sentences above are influenced by the target language. The errors are called as overgeneralization. The errors no. 1 and 2 occur when students thinks that every adjectives with two syllables should be put prefix more and suffix than.

Other cases in no. 3 and 4, the students think that adjectives with one syllable have the comparative form by adding suffix –er than. They do not know that the words bad and good are the irregular adjectives which have special form of comparison. Those errors should be revised into

1. Rani is lazier than Clara.

2. Tomorrow will be busier than today. 3. Jhon’s handwriting is worse than Rizal’s. 4. Ferdy’s guitar playing is betterthan Rony’s.

Besides in Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) or School Based Curriculum, it is said that one of the based competence of teaching English for eighth year students of Junior High School in Indonesia is expressing the meaning of simple short transactional (to get things done) and interpersonal dialogue accurately, fluently and grammatically.1 It means learners are expected to use English grammatically by following English structures which are known by native speakers.

Realizing that the main goal of teaching a target language is to understand the target language well and one of the most basic and powerful of human cognitive process is the ability to comprehend and express the fact that two things are similar or different2, it is very important to analyze and categorize the errors in order to give the proper treatment for students to minimize their errors. Then, they can express and understand the comparison between two or more people, things and so on in their communication effectively.

Based on the explanation above, the writer intends to conduct analyze students’ errors in learning degrees of comparison. Therefore, she chooses a title

1

Depdiknas,Kurikulum Sekolah Menengah Pertama-Bertaraf International (SMP-SBI), (Jakarta: Depdiknas, 2006), p. 13.

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“An Analysis on The Students’ Errors in Using Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives (A Case Study at Eighth Grade Students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor)”.

B. The Limitation of the Problem

The limitation of this study focuses on analyzing students’ errors in using degrees of comparison of adjectives and to make it deeper, the writer limits this study on comparative and superlative in simple comparison sentences. Then, this

study focuses on analyzing intralingual problem to determine and classify the types and the sources of errors in the substance and grammar level which occur in the students’ answer of test.

C. The Formulation of the Problem

Based on the limitation of the problem above, the writer plans to analyze the students’ error in degrees of comparison. Therefore, to avoid this research become either too narrow or too abroad, the writer makes some general questions to guide her. The general questions of this research are:

1. What types of errors do students make in using degrees of comparison of adjectives?

2. What sources of errors do students make in using degrees of comparison of adjectives?

D. The Objective of The Study

According to the statement of the problem above, the objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To analyze and to classify the types of errors which students made in using degrees of comparison of adjectives.

2. To find out the source of errors which students made in using degrees

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E. The Significance of The Study

The results of this study are expected to provide useful information for English teachers, students and further researcher.

1. English Teachers

The result of this study for English teachers to get clearly information about the types and sources of students’ errors in using degrees of comparison, so they will give proper treatment to decrease students’ errors in using degree of comparisons.

2. Students

The students will get proper treatment in decreasing their errors in using degree of comparisons, so they can express degree of comparisons effectively and correctly in their communication whether spoken or written.

3. Further Researchers

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Erdogan explains in the 60’s, some linguists claimed errors were caused by the interference of mother tongue1. It means the treatment of errors at the time, contrastive analysis in this case, only suspect that the persistence of mother tongue as the cause. As Erdogan continues, with the view of error analysis, it was not

only the interference of mother tongue as the cause of errors, but also the learning strategies of the target language.

1. The Definition of Error

In order to analyze learner’s language in a proper perspective, it is important to distinct between mistakes and errors. Errors and mistakes are the two synonyms, that a little bit have same meaning, but in learning language, these words have different in meaning. There are various definitions of errors and mistakes that have been presented by linguists. However, basically those definitions have same meaning while the difference lies only on the way they formulate it.

Richard said mistake is made by a learner when writing or speaking is caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or other aspect of performance.2 Then, Brown said that mistakes refer to deviations due to performance error that it is a deviance to utilize a known system correctly, and it is caused by temporary lapses of memory, confusion, slips of the tongue and so on and it can be self-corrected.3

From the explanation above, the writer can infer that mistake is a

deviance occur because the learner tend be careless in applying the knowledge or

1

Vecide Erdogan, Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education, Vol. 1, Issue 2, December 2005, p. 262.

2

Jack C. Richards, Error Analysis: Perpective oc Second Language Axquisition, (London: Longman Group, Ltd., 1985), p. 95.

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the rules that he/she actually knows and this deviance can be corrected by himself/herself either by giving sufficient prompt or without giving prompt from the teacher. In other words, an error is made by a learner because of lacking ability of the target language. The writer can give conclusion about the distinction between error and mistake, the first way is by checking the consistency of learner’s task or performance. If she/he sometimes uses the correct form and sometimes the wrong one, it is a mistake. However, if she/he always uses the incorrect form, it is an error. The second is by letting learner to try to correct his

own deviant. If she/he is unable to correct it, the deviation is error, but is she/he is successful, it is a mistake.

2. The Sources or Causes of Errors

One aim of analyzing students’ errors is to know what cause which influence students’ errors. So, before analyzing it, the writer should know the cause of errors. However, there are two terms in discussing this; they are „sources of error’ by Brown and „causes of error’ by Richard. Then, it does not need to confuse about these terms because basically these terms have same meaning while the difference lies only on the way they formulate it.

a. The Sources of Error

Errors in learning and performing target language cannot be avoided. One of sources of errors is the rules of students’ language are different to the target language. Brown mentions that errors are caused by some following factors it interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, context of learning, and communication

strategies: 4

1) Interlingual transfer is the interference of the first language. Since the target language system is still unfamiliar, so that the first language becomes the only previous linguistic system that the learner can refer. 2) Intralingual transfer is the source of errors caused by the influence of

target language rules.

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3) Context of learning is the source of errors caused by the learners’ misinterpretation of the teacher’s explanation and textbook or an inappropriate pattern contextualization.

4) Communication strategies were related to learning style. Learners usually try an effort to cross their message, but sometimes it can be error.

Richards also mentions some causes of developmental errors is overgeneralization, ignorance of rule restrictions, incomplete application of rules,

and false concepts hypothesized:5

1) Overgeneralization it happens when the students apply the previous rule that they learned before to another pattern that has a different rule.

2) Ignorance of Rule Restrictions It is still closely related to generalization, which students fail to apply rules to where they do not apply.

3) Incomplete Application of Rules is the structures occur as the representation of development of the rules required to make acceptable utterances.

4) False Concepts Hypothesized is the faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language causes developmental errors.

James also gives the four major categories of errors and the sources, which are interlingual, intralingual, induced error, and compound and ambiguous:6

1) Interlingual, errors are caused by mother tongue interference. The persistence of the first language influences the learners in using the target language.

2) Intralingual, errors are caused by target language. Some rules of the target language make the learners fail to distinct each other’s.

5

Jack C. Richards, A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis, International Center for Research on Bilingualism, Laval University, 1970, pp. 8-14.

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3) Induced Error, errors are caused by material-induced error, teacher-talk induced error, exercise-based induced error, errors induced by pedagogical priorities, look-up errors.

4) Compound and ambiguous, a lexical and phonological causes.

It has been assumed that errors as being caused only by the interference of the first language. However, some linguists above have explained that the target language and other sources may cause errors as well.

3. The Definition of Error Analysis

In learning language process, making error is unavoidable for a learner because error is natural part of language learning. Student cannot learn a language without first systematically committing errors, and a study of students’ errors is part of the systematic study of the students’ language.

According to Dulay, studying students’ errors serves two major purposes is providing data that can be used to make the nature of the language learning process and giving some hints to the teachers and curriculum developers which types of error that prevent the learners to communicate effectively. 7

It is important to investigate the errors that students made in order to enable the learners to communicate effectively and to prevent the learners to make the same errors.

Brown claims, “learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes, misjudgments, miscalculations, and erroneous assumptions form an important of aspect learning virtually any skill or acquiring information8

”. It means that errors or mistakes are inevitable. In learning language, errors and mistakes are considered as the part of process in acquiring the target language.

It is clearly different from Contrastive Analysis (CA) that making

comparison between the first language and the target language. Error Analysis

7

Heidi Dulay, et al, Language Two, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 138. 8

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focuses the errors by making comparison between the target language and the target language itself.

As Dulay states “the Error Analysis (EA) movement can be characterized as an attempt to account for learners’ errors that could not be explained or predicted by Contrastive Analysis (CA) or behaviorist theory, and to bring the field of applied linguistic into step with the current climate of theoretical

opinion9

”. Error Analysis has shown up to criticize what Contrastive Analysis.

Corder claims that Error Analysis (EA) has two functions; theoretical and

practical. 10

a. The theoretical aspect of error analysis is the methodology applied to investigate the process of teaching learning.

b. The practical aspect of error analysis has a function in building the remedial action.

Rephrasing what Corder mentions above, Error Analysis (EA) has given a contribution to language teaching learning at both theoretical and practical aspects, and it enables teachers to find out the sources of error and to deal against them.

4. The Procedures of Analyzing Errors

In analyzing learners’ errors the writer should do the procedures in conducting an error analysis. Ellis provides five steps which are originally proposed by Corder, they are: collecting of a sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors, and evaluation of errors.11 The following section will clarify these five steps.

9

Dulay, Op.Cit., p. 141. 10

S. P. Corder, Error Analysis and Interlanguage, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981), p. 45.

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a. Collecting of a Sample of Learner Language

Collecting a sample of learner language provides the data for the error analysis. The researcher needs to be aware that the nature of the sample being researched may influence the nature and distribution of the errors observed. The nature and quantity of errors is likely to vary depending on whether the data consist of natural, spontaneous language use or careful, elicited language use. However, students often do not produce much spontaneous data, which guide Corder distinguished two kinds of elicitation. Clinical elicitation involves getting

the informant to produce data of any sort, composition. Experimental elicitation involves the use of special instruments designed to elicit data containing the linguist features which the writer wishes to investigate.12

Furthermore, based on those explanations, the writer uses the experimental elicitation language data to analyze students’ errors. In order words, the writer uses students’ writing, especially in using degrees of comparison, to investigate or analyze students’ errors.

b. Identification of Errors

The identification of errors involves a comparison of what the student has produced with what he/she intended to express. In other words, we compare his/her erroneous utterance with what a native speaker would produce in the same context. We identify errors by comparing original utterances with what Corder calls reconstructed utterances, that is, correct utterances having the meaning intended by the student.13

The reconstructed utterance is based on our interpretation of what the students was trying to say. The problem is that we do not know what construction the learner intended. For that reason, Corder suggests solution depending on

whether we have access to the students or not. Firstly, if the students present we can ask them what they intended to say to make authoritative reconstruction, it called authoritative interpretation. Then, if the students are not available for

12

Op. Cit., p. 37 13

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consultant, we have to attempt an interpretation of their utterances base on its form and its linguistic and situational context.14

Since the point of this study is analyzing the students’ errors on the form and the usage of degrees of comparison, it is not difficult to interpret what the students want to express in their writing. So, the writer focuses on the transformations of the adjectives in making comparative or superlative degree.

Moreover, many issues arise in identifying students’ errors, one of them is whether a distinction should be made between errors and mistake. In fact, the

writer has explained the definitions about errors and mistakes in the previous session; although, she will give more explanations about the differences between them. Errors arise as a result of lack of knowledge, besides mistakes arise as a result of memory limitations, competing plans, and lack of automaticity. Corder argues that errors analysis should be restricted to the study of errors, and mistakes should be eliminated from the analysis.15

c. Description of Errors

In analyzing learners’ errors, some linguist make some classifications of errors. Here are four categories Dulay, Burt, and Krashen classified omission, addition, misformation and misordering.16

1) Omission

Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed utterance. Dulay, Burt, and Krashen state that eventhough any morpheme or word in a sentence is potential to be a candidate for omission, second language students omit grammatical morphemes much more frequently than content morphemes. Content morphemes play a minor role in conveying the meaning of a sentence. They include noun and verbs auxiliaries (is, will, can) and

preposition (in, on, under). Based on that explanation, if grammatical morpheme is omitted, one could guess what the speaker had in mind.

14

Ibid., pp. 37-38 15

Ellis, Op. cit., p. 48 16

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2) Addition

Addition errors are the opposite of omission. They are characterized by the presence of an item which must not appear in a well-formed utterance. There are three subtypes of addition:

a. Double markings

It occurred when two items are marked for the same feature

b. Regularization

It happened when foreign language learners use the regular form

instead of irregular form of a word, for example they use eated instead of ate or sheeps for sheep.

c. Simple addition

If an addition error is neither a double marking nor regularization

3) Misformation

Misformation errors are characterized by the use of the wrong form of the morpheme or structure. In misformation errors the learner supplies something. Although it is incorrect. Similar with addition, misformation also has some subtypes: regularization errors, archi-forms, alternating forms. Regularization errors are those in which a regular marker is used in place of an irregular one, as in runned for ran or gooses for geese. Another subtype in archi-form, it happened when learners select one member of a class of forms to represent others in the class. Dulay, Burt, and Krashen called the selected form by the learner an archi-form, for example a learner temporarily select just one of the English demonstratives adjectives this, that, these, and those to do the work for several of them (that dog, that dogs). The last subtype is altering form, it define as „fairly

free alternation of various members of a class with each other’, in case of pronoun, the learners may use masculine for feminine (or vice versa), as in he for

she.

4) Misordering

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In another source, James proposed the same four categories with Dulay, Burt, and Krashen do, but he relabels some of them, and so retains the following categories: omission, overinclusion for addition, misselection for misformation,

and misordering.

In this research, the writer uses the Heidi Dulay et al, theory to classify the errors students committed in using degrees of comparison, this theory known as

surface strategy taxonomy. Learners may omit necessary items or add unnecessary ones: they may misform items or misorder them. However, the writer only uses misformation, the reason that the writer merely concentrates on the form and the usage of comparative and superlative degree. For example, in the sentence:

(a) Rizal runs more fast than Lidia (b) Rizal runs fastest than Lidia

In sentence (a), the students selected the wrong form; the words “more fast” should be change into “faster”. In this case, the student applies the wrong form of comparative, so it called misformation error focus on the form of comparative degree. Moreover, in the sentence (b), he/she selected the wrong comparison; the sentence should be form as comparative not superlative degree. In the second case the student used the incorrect comparison, so it called misformation error focus on the usage of degrees of comparison.

Based on those reasons, the test as an instrument of this research is set up to focus only on the transformations of the adjectives; whether the students or learners used the right comparison and the right form.

d. Explanation of Errors

Ellis maintains that explaining the cause of errors is the most important for a research as it involves an attempt to establish the process responsible for second

language acquisition.17 By identifying the cause of errors, we can figure out why the errors happened in the target language learning, and more understand of how the process of target language acquisition. Moreover, some linguists differentiate the causes of errors; firstly, Hubbard et al. distinguishes the sources of error into

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three parts. They are mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, and teaching process.18

1) Mother Tongue Interference

The sound system (phonology) and the grammar of the first language impose the students on the new language and this leads to a „foreign’ pronunciation, faulty grammatical pattern and, frequently, the wrong choice of vocabulary.19

2) Overgeneralization

The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect various stages in the language development of the students. It claims that the student processes new language data in her/his mind and produce rules for its production based on the evidence.

3) The Teaching Process

The teaching process also can contribute to the students’ errors. According to those who support behaviorism theory, error is evidence of failure, of ineffective teaching or lack of control. If materials well chosen, graded, and presented with meticulous care, there should never be any error.

Furthermore, Richard characterized three sources of errors, they are interference errors, intralingual errors and developmental errors.20

1) Interference Errors occur as a result of „the use of elements from one

language while speaking another’. It is also said that students who learn English as a second language, and when first language and English come into contact with each other there are often confusions which provoke errors in a learner’s use of English. Brown called this term as interlingual transfer; he said that in the stage, before the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the

18

Hubbard, er.al., A training Course for TEFL, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 140.

19

Ibid., p. 141-143 20

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only linguistic system which the learner can draw. For example, the learner said “the book of Jack” instead of “Jack’s book”.21

2) Intralingual Errors are those which reflect the general characteristic of rule learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules, and failure to learn conditions under which rules apply.

3) Developmental Errors occur when the learner attempt to build up hypothesis about the target language on the basis of limited experience of it in the classroom or text book. Brown called this term as “context of learning” instead of developmental errors.

Errors occurred for many reason, still in explaining learners’ errors the writer uses Brown terms; interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, and context of learning. In interlingual errors, a student may make error because he/she assumes that the target language and his native language are similar, in fact, they are different. Another obvious cause is an incomplete knowledge of the target language and the complexity of target language. the error occurs because of the difficulty of processing forms that are not yet fully mastered, which is known as intralingual errors and context of learning is also the cause of errors. In this case, the book or the method being used in teaching learning process do not suit the students, so it may cause the students cannot understand the material being learn and the students less motivated.

e. Evaluation of Errors

Error evaluation involves a consideration of the effect that errors have on the person (s) addressed. This effect can be measured either of the addressee’s comprehension of the students meaning or in terms of the addressee’s affective response to the errors. However, Ellis states that if the addressees are native speakers, they appear to be more concern with the effect that an error has on their comprehension, while if the addressees is non-native speakers, they are more

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influenced by their ideas of what constitute the „basic’ rules of the target language.22

Moreover, error evaluation also involves determining the seriousness of different errors which one receives instruction. In case, the addressee is a non-native speaker teacher, he/she should give the correction of errors according to nature and significance of errors, priority should be given to errors which may affect communication and cause misunderstanding. Harmer in Erdogan suggests three steps to be followed by the teacher when errors happened. The teacher first

listens to the students, then identifies the problem, and puts it right in the most efficient way. Except for correcting written work, the teacher should not correct the errors directly but instead, should put marks representing there is something wrong with that sentence.23

B. The General Concept of Degrees of Comparison of Adjectives

1. The Definition of Adjectives

Adjective is one of the part of speech which has an important role in our utterance. The role of adjective is to modify or describe a noun and pronoun. Then, adjective make nouns and pronouns will be interesting, vivid and specific. Therefore, without an adjective either our speech or our writing would be lifeless. Then we use adjective before noun and after a few verbs especially be.24 See the following examples then compare them.

a. Rangga is boy.

b. Rangga is a handsome boy.

After reading or listening the two examples above, the reader or listener will know and feel that sentence (b) is more interesting than sentence (a), it is because the sentence (b) is using an adjective that makes it more interesting, more vivid

and more specific.

22

Ellis, Op.cit., pp. 56-57 23

Vacida Erdogan, Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education; Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, (2005), pp. 267-268

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However, adjective is not only talking about the word that describe the properties of nouns and pronouns such as tall, ugly, rich, beautiful, handsome and so forth, but also it talks about something wider than them. There are many types of adjectives that should be mastered by the learner in order to make his/her speech and writing will interesting, specific and vivid. Here, the writer will attempt to give briefly explanation about the types of adjectives.

In College English and Communication, Stewart, Zimmer and Camp state that there are seven types of adjectives. They are:25

a. Articles: a, an, and the;

b. Possessive adjectives such as my, your, his, her, our, their and its. c. Limiting adjectives

Limiting adjective is and adjective that tell “how many”. “how much”, or “in what order”. In another source, limiting adjectives is called as quantitative adjectives. They are some, any, no, little/few, many, much, one, twenty, and so forth.

d. Proper adjectives

Proper adjectives include words derived from proper nouns because proper noun often used as proper adjectives such as Indonesian, American, Jakarta, English, and so forth. For example:

Proper Nouns Proper Adjective

American American Culture

e. Descriptive adjectives

Descriptive adjectives are adjectives that used to describe or tell “what kind of”, such as big, tall, fat, unique, and etc. for examples:

She is a smart girl Ricky is a big boy

f. Demonstrative adjectives such as this, that, these and those. g. Compound adjectives

Compound adjectives are two or more adjectives that are joined to modify on noun or pronoun. For example:

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Long-black hair, small black plastic bag

Another discussion of adjectives is comparing adjectives which are known as degrees of comparison of adjectives. Degrees of comparison of adjectives are one of important and interesting part to be learnt. Explanation about degrees of comparison will be discussed briefly below.

2. Degrees of Comparison

The writer would like to explain what comparison is before exploring degrees

of comparison. Comparison is used to contrast one thing or person with another. Following Azar, she states that the comparison degree of an adjective and adverbs describes the relational value of one thing with something in another sentence.26

a. The Definition of Degrees of Comparison

Comparison is the method by which an adjective or adverb expresses a greeter or less degree of the same quality. There are three degrees of comparison, as follows: the positive degrees, the comparative degrees, and superlative degrees. The example:

1) My brother runs as quickly as my friend 2) Lidia is as tall as risky

3) Annisa is as diligent as Zahra

Positive degrees refers to the quality of one person or thing. It is simply the adjective form. Positive is also used to compare two nouns or verbs that are equal or almost equal (equality). We use as + adjective / adverb +as.

1) Dava’s house is wider than Yuni’s

2) This magazine is more interesting than that one 3) Hazri is more diligent than Rafa

The comparative degrees form compares the quality of one person or thing with another person or thing.

1) My house is the biggest on the street

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2) Zazkia and Mira are the most popular girls in their school 3) Mirnanda is the youngest in her family

The superlative degrees it is used to stress the highest degree of a quality, or more than two objects compared.

The writer can be concluded the comparison is to show or to point out the three degrees quality of someone, something and others. The Degrees of Comparison in English grammar are made with the Adjective and Adverb words to show how big or small, high or low, more or less, many or few, etc., of the

qualities, numbers and positions of the nouns (persons, things and place) in comparison to the others mentioned in the other part of a sentence or expression.

b. The Usage of Degrees of Comparison

1) With the positive form of the adjective, we use as …as in the affirmative and not as/not so …as in the negative:27

a) A boy of sixteen is often as tall as his father 2) With comparative we use than:

The comparative is always followed by than before the object of the comparison: better than this; greater than that.

3) When than … is omitted, it is very common in colloquial English to use a superlative instead of a comparative:

This is the best way could be said when there are only two ways. 4) Comparative of three or more people/thing is expressed by the

superlative with the … in/of:

a) This is the oldest theater in America

b) The youngest of the family was the most successful

5) Parallel increase is expressed by the + comparative … the + comparative:

House agent: do you want to a big house?

Ann: Yes, the bigger the better

Tom: but the smaller it is, the less it will cost to heat.

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6) Gradual increase or decrease is expressed by the comparative joined by and:

a) The weather is getting colder and colder b) He become less and less interested

7) Comparison of actions with gerunds or infinitives a) Riding a horse is not as easy as riding a motor cycle b) It is nicer/more fun to go with someone than to go alone. 8) Comparisons with like (preposition) and alike:

a) Jhon is very like Toni b) Toni and Tom very alike

c. The Form of Degrees of Comparison

1) Form of adjective comparisons

The adjective change their form to express different of quality one of them is comparative degree. There are some groups or exceptions of comparative form. In comparison of adjective there are two forms, they are irregular and regular forms.

a) Regular forms of comparison

(1) Adjectives of one syllable (regular comparison)28

Form the comparative and superlative of one syllable adjective by adding –er, see in the table 2.1 bellow:

Table 2.1

Adjectives of One Syllable Add –er and –est

Adjective Comparative Superlative

small smaller smallest

old older oldest

When the positive ends in mute final e, is dropped before adding just add – r and –st, see in the table 2.2 bellow:

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Table 2.2

Adjectives of One Syllable Ends with an e Just Add -r

large larger larger

strange stranger strangest

When the positive is a monosyllable ending in a single consonant (except

w, x, and z) preceded by a single vowel, the final consonant is double before _er

or –est see in the table 2.3 bellow:29

Table 2.3

Adjective with Double the Last Consonant and Add -er

big bigger biggest

red redder reddest

When the positive ends in le, the mute e before the suffix is dropped. See in the table 2.4 bellow:

Table 2.4

Adjective Ends with le Just Add -r

able abler ablest

noble nobler noblest

When the positive ends in y preceded by a consonant, the y is changed to i

before the suffix. Shy and sly may retain the y, see in the table 2.5 bellow:30

29

Nasrun Mahmud, English for Muslim University Students 6th Edition, (Jakarta: Siwibakti Darma Press, 2010), p. 75.

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Table 2.5

Adjective One Syllable End in y is Changes to i

dry drier driest

silly sillier silliest

(a) More, most with short adjectives

(1) With one syllable past participle adjectives use more such as:31

Table 2.6

More, most with short adjectives

bored more bored most bored

creased more creased most creased

pleased more pleased most pleased

worn more worn most worn

Example:

After I had ironed my shirt it looked more creasedthan before. (not …creaseder)

(2) With fun, real, right and wrong.

Table 2.7

More, most with fun, real, right and wrong

fun more fun most fun

real more real most real

right more right most right

wrong more wrong most wrong

Example:

I expected the film to be rather dull, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. (not wronger).

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b) Adjectives of two Syllables

Two syllables adjectives from their comparative and superlative in two different ways:32

(1) Adjectives ending in ed, ing, re, ful, ous and those with the stress on the first syllable usually take more and the most, see in the table 2.8 bellow:

Table 2.8

Adjectives Ending in -ed, -ing, -re, -ful, -ous use more and most

charming more charming most charming

famous more famous most famous

hopeful more hopeful most hopeful

learned more learned most learned

obscure more obscure most obscure

(2) Adjective ending in er, y, le ow and those with the strees on the second

syllable add er and est to the positive degree, see in the table 2.9 bellow:

Table 2.9

Some Adjectives of Two Syllable Add -er and –est

clever cleverer cleverest

narrow narrower narrowest

pretty prettier prettiest

polite politer politest

simple simpler simplest

(3) If the two syllable adjective ends with -y, change the y to i add -er for the comparative form, see in the table 2.10 bellow:

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Table 2.10

Adjectives ending in ‘y’ Use -ier and -est

happy happier happiest

angry angrier angriest

easy easier easiest

lucky luckier luckiest

dry drier driest

But in British English shy, sly, spry, wry normally keep the –y: shy, shyer, shyest, etc. (in American English it is generally changed to –i).33 Furthermore, another two syllables adjectives can use both –er, -est or more, most to form comparative or superlative sentences.

(4) Two syllables adjective that follow two rule. These adjectives can be used with er and est or more and most, see in the table 2.11 bellow:34

Table 2.11

Two Syllables Adjective That Follow Two Rules

clever cleverer cleverest

more clever most cleverest

gentle gentler gentlest

more gentle most gentle

friendly friendlier friendliest

more friendly most friendly

simple simpler simplest

more simple most simplest

33

Knud Schibsbye, A Modern English Grammar, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 129

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But exceptions to these rules occur, such as eager, proper, etc. which take more or most before them.35 All of these rules can cause confusion in using comparison. A good rule to keep in mind, however, is that more, most may actually be used with all two syllables adjectives except for those ending in –y and –i just mentioned above. In addition, it is significant to memorize that two forms of comparison never occur together; a form like more dirtier would be ungrammatical.36

c) Adjectives of three or more syllables

Adjectives with more than two syllables from their comparative and superlative by putting more and most in front of the adjective see in the table 2.12 bellow:

Table 2.12

Adjectives of Three or More Syllable Use More and Most

beautiful more beautiful most beautiful

dangerous more dangerous most dangerous

exciting more exciting most exciting

2) Irregular forms of degrees of comparison

Some adjective have irregular comparative and superlative form, see in the table 2.13 bellow:37

Table 2.13

Irregular Comparison

good (well) better best

bad worse worst

35

George O, Curme, English Grammar, (New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1947), pp.220-221

36

Frank, op.cit., p. 119

37

Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman, The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL

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little less least

much, many more most

far farther, further farthest

late later last, latest

old older, elder older, oldest

In informal usage, further is often used instead of farther to compare distance, and in all contexts older is frequently used to refer to a sibling of greater age.38

In addition, the comparatives former, inner, nether, outer, upper, (utter)

cannot be said to correspond to any positive forms, and three are no corresponding regular superlatives. These comparatives are used only to express contrast, not degree: a former engagement (as against later), an inner/outer wall, the nether lip (nether was formerly the opposite of upper), upper lip (as against under, lower

lip).39

3) Forms of adverb comparison

With adverb of two or more syllables we form the comparative and superlative by putting more and most before the positive form, just as adjectives have comparison, adverbs follow the same general rules for comparisons as

adjective.

Adverb that have the same form as adjectives and others have comparatives

and superlatives with -er and -est. The most common are: fast, early, late, hard, long, near, high, low, soon, well, (better, best), badly (worse, worst), and informal English easy, slow, loud and quick. and in linguistic.40

The example:

Can you drive any faster? Can you come earlier?

We’ve all got terriable voices, but I sing worst of all

38

Ibid.

39

Schibsbye, op.cit., p. 134 40

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By adding -er or -est to an adverb containing one syllable, by using more or most (or less or least) with an adverb ending in -ly or containing more than one syllable, and by completely changing the form of the adverb see in the table 2.14 bellow:

Table 2.14

Adverb Add -er or -est

Positive Comparative Superlative

fast faster fastest

late later latest

soon sooner soonest

slowly more slowly more slowly

less slowly least slowly

quietly more quietly more quietly

less quietly least quietly

well better best

badly worse worst

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f. The Previous Related Study

This research is relevant to two previous researchers. They are Lulus Fatmawati41 and Methania Aris Shusantie42. In her research The Analysis on

Students’Difficulties in Learning Degrees of Comparisons at Second Grade Students of SMP Dua Mei Ciputat (2010), Lulus Fatmawati found that most students still got difficulties in making and forming the comparative and superlative forms. There were 76.11% students who still had difficulties in making and forming comparative degree and 65% students who had difficulties in

making and forming superlative degree.

Furthermore, Methania Aris Shusantie in her research An Analysis on The

Students’ Mastery of Degrees of Comparison (2011) which conducted at the second grade students of SMPN 3 Tangerang Selatan found that there were only 16.66% students who had mastered in making and forming comparative degree, 33.77% students who had mastered in making and forming superlative degree.

Based on the previous researches above, it is known that comparative and superlative degrees still become the most difficult material in degrees of comparison. Thus, in this research, the writer intends to analyze what source and type of errors that made by learners in applying comparative and superlative. By understanding the source and the types of students’ errors, the writer expects that she could give beneficial suggestions to solve students’ problem in understanding comparative and superlative degrees of comparison, so the difficulty of understanding these material would be reduced.

41

Lulus Fatmawati, “The Analysis on Students’Difficulties in Learning Degrees of Comparisons at Second Grade Students of SMP Dua Mei Ciputat, skripsi at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, Jakarta 2010, unpublished.

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30 1. The Time and Location

In writing this Skripsi, the research started from 20th May up to 30nd June 2014, it was conducted at the eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri, which is located on Perum. Putri Indah Estate Kav. 49/50 Gunung Putri Bogor 16962 Jawa Barat.

2. The Technique of Sample Taking

The subjects in this research are the English teacher and the eighth grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri which is divided into two classes A, B. The writer only took a class from all classes as the subject of the writer was choses class 8A which contains 25 students.

B. The Research Design

1. The Research Methodology and Design

The writer used the descriptive qualitative as the method to analyze the errors of the use of degrees of comparison of adjectives occur at present. The writer described the students’ errors in testing degrees of comparison of adjectives by using percentages of students’ errors. The writer came to the school in order to get data. The data required is the information of the students’ answer sheets on the use of degrees of comparison of adjectives which were given by the researcher.

2. The Instrument of The Study

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sentences about Degrees of comparison of adjectives, there are four kinds of questions and the test consisted of 30 items.

3. The Technique of Data Collecting

The technique of collecting data is one of the important things in this research. In this research, the writer took some steps:

a. Written test

In this research, the writer took the data of the second grade students of SMP

Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri. They consist of two classes; class VIII-A consist of 25 students and class VIII-B consist of 30 students. So they are 55 students in number. The writer took the data source from VIII-A that consist 25 students.

The writer gave the English test about degrees of comparison of adjectives form to the class VIII-A. The test consists of filling in the blank with the right comparisons form (completion item) and making the sentences involving comparison of adjectives. This test consisted of 29 items consisted of comparative degrees and superlative degrees.

Table 3.1

The Test Item Scheme

No Degrees Of Comparison Form Item Number

1. Positive Degree Regular 2, 20

Irregular _

2. Comparative Degree Regular 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19,

Irregular 1, 8

3. Superlative Degree Regular 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 16

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b. Interview

The data of this study was collected by using interview technique. The writer used this technique as supplement of the data to get the information why the students have low understanding of degrees of comparison of adjectives. An interview is a purposeful conversation, usually between two people but sometimes involving more, that is directed by someone in order to get information from other.

In this research, the interview was used as supporting data. Before giving test, the writer asked the teacher considering students’ problem in using degrees of comparison. Furthermore, after giving test, the writer asked the students about their difficulties in learning degrees of comparison.

Table 3.2

The Interview Item Scheme

No Indicator Tested Area From

Number

Item Type

1 To find out the students’ errors areas

Kinds of difficulties 6,7,8 Interview

2 To find out whether the students’ errors caused by intralingual transfer

Intralingual transfer 1,2,3 Interview

3 To find out whether the students’ errors caused by interlingual transfer

Interlingual transfer 4,5 Interview

4 To find out whether the students’ errors caused by context of learning

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c. The Technique of Data Analysis

From the data, the writer uses the descriptive analysis technique to verify the frequency of the errors in the students’ answers and algorithm for error analysis as the procedure of analysis (see Chapter II page 13). Some tables was set up the percentage of the errors based on the category of adjectives. Therefore, the formula used in the research is:

P : Percentage

F : Frequency of errors

N : Number of observed sample1

5. The Validity of Test

The validity of the test means to determine if they measure what is intended to measure. In this research, the writer prepared the test that is not difficult and not

too easy. She set the test that relates to the curriculum that the teacher uses to teach English grammar that has been given to the students when they were in 2013/2014 eighth year students. The materials for the test were taken and developed from the handbook of eighth year students of SMP, not only that the test also approved by our advisors. Based on the explanation about the test, the writer considered that the test is valid.

1

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34

The writer conducted a test to eight grade students of SMP Muhammadiyah Gunung Putri Bogor. The writer gave 29 items numbers test to students which are focused on the use of degrees of comparison of adjectives. The writer then identified the students’ errors by using procedures of error analysis, and the result

is be presented in the table. Analyzing the interview result was done after identifying the most frequent error made by students in the usage and the form of degree of comparison. Here are the descriptions of students’ test and interview:

1. The Result of Test

The writer has given the test about degrees of comparison of adjectives to 25 students of SMP Muhammadiyah on 2th of June 2014. Actually the number of the students in this class is 25, but 2 of them were absent. So, the sample of this research are 23 students.

The test consist of 29 items which only focus on comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives and they are broken down into two forms; there are completing item (Part I), which asked students to fill the blanks with the right comparison whether positive, comparative or superlative, and making sentences (Part II), which asked students to make sentences in using degrees of comparison from the image use 3 adjective.

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Table 4.1

The Distribution of Tests Items

Degrees of Comparison Positive Comparative Superlative

Regular Adjectives

2, 20, 21, 24, 27 4, 5, 6, 9, 13,

15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25, 28

3, 7, 10, 11,

12, 16, 23, 26, 29

Irregular Adjectives _ 1, 8 14

After conducting the test, the writer analyzed the data from the students’ test to find out the errors that students made in his/her answer by circling each erroneous item.

After identifying the data, the writer analyzed the errors and classified them based on the Surface Taxonomy Categories to know whether these errors involve in omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.

The students made errors in four types; Omission, Addition, Misformation, and Misordering. The total of all errors is 131 errors made in using degrees of comparison from 23 students. There are 20 errors in Omission, 8 errors in Addition, 94 errors in Misformation, and 9 errors in Misordering.

2. The Result of Interview

This technique is used to collect the data that can be used as supporting data. The writer did interview after giving the test to the students. First, before giving test, she interviewed the teacher after she observed her in delivering her teaching. She conducted it on Thursday, 29th of May 2014 at 10.00 – 10.30a.m. The writer asked seven (7) questions which are divided into three categories. The first category talked about the degrees of comparison of adjectives which was given to the eighth grade students.

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delivers this material degrees of comparison of adjectives. She stated that if the teacher used contextual teaching or situational teaching learning method. The second category talked about the errors that were committed by students in learning degrees of comparison of adjectives (see appendix no 2-3). The third category, talked about the difficult level of degrees of comparison of adjectives which faced by students in learning it (see appendix no 4-5). The last category talked about the strategy that was used by teacher in delivering this material degrees of comparison of adjectives to students.

According to the teacher answer in interview, the most difficult degree in degree of comparison of adjective in differentiating between superlative and comparative degree, and also irregular pattern, she often found that students made an error in applying this form.

After interviewing the teacher, she also interviewed the students which conducted after they did the test. All students were interviewed; she took 23 (twenty three) students for this research. She chose 7 students from the highest score, 6 students from upper score and 10 students from lowest score. She conducted on Tuesday, 10nd and 14nd of June 2014. The writer asked the students some question about problem in learning degrees of comparison in general which consisted of ten (10) questions. These questions were divided into five categories.

The first category talked about students interesting in learning English (see appendix question no 1). The second category talked about students’ experience in learning degrees of comparison of adjectives (see appendix question no 2). The third category talked about students’ difficulties in learning degrees of comparison of adjectives (see appendix question no 3-5). The fourth category talked about students’ difficulties in doing the test (see appendix question no 6-8). The fifth category talked about the material and teacher performance in delivering

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research. The writer only analyzed data from the test and data from interview to support final result of this research.

B. Data Analysis

In this section, the writer analyzed the errors that made by the students based on their types. She divided them into four types start from the lowest frequency. Also the writer analyzed the interview that she took after the test done.

Here is the analysis:

Table 4.2

The Description of Addition Errors in Using Degrees of Comparison

No Number

Student 3 Intralingual

2 Student 5

3 Student 10 Lidia is more