xv ABSTRACT
Maria Evita Sari. 2017. The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Domain. Yogyakarta: Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Vocabulary is an essential segment to achieve English mastery. Therefore, students are expected to have deep knowledge on vocabulary. The knowledge of vocabulary consists of implicit and explicit knowledge. However, students might face difficulty to have the knowledge due to the variation of vocabulary components. The components are like morphemes, compounds, idioms, and other components.
One of the components which become the focus in this research is morphemes because previous research found that students are difficult in derivational process in word formation. Derivational process includes prefixation, infixation, and suffixation. This research focuses more of suffixation since suffixes may change the words stress patterns and syntactic categories. This might make the students experience more difficulties in learning the derivational process. Suffix consists of four types; nominal, adjectival, verbal, and adverbial suffixes. This research focuses on adjectival suffixes since it helps the students to describing things in their daily life, journals, or other English products. In describing them, students need to master vocabulary in several types including high-frequency, low-frequency, academic and technical words. This research focuses on academic words since it is often used by the students in producing spoken and written texts.
The samples of this research were English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) students of Sanata Dharma University from semester 2, 4, and 6. ELESP students were chosen because they are trained to be English teachers who are supposed to have explicit and implicit knowledge in English adjectival suffixes so they later can explain it to the students. Moreover, they usually use the academic words in their English products. Thus, this research aimed to address two research questions: (1) what the ELESP students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words is like, and (2) whether or not there a significant difference in the knowledge of the English adjectival suffixes in the academic words among the three levels of ELESP.
p-value of .003, and semester 2 and semester 6 students with the p-p-value .007. Therefore, there was no significant difference between semester 4 and 6 students since the p-value is .342.
The result showed that the adjectival suffixes mastered by the students orderly by percentage are (1) –al, (2) –ing, (3) –ive, (4) –ic, (5) –able, (6) –ed, (7) –ant, (8) –ary. The mistake students mostly made is non-existent words. The students also used inappropriate adjectival suffixes, non-adjectival suffixes, base words, prefix, and other words’ base words to answer the questions in the test. Moreover, some of them left the sentences blank and also made wrong spellings. This research gives implications for English lecturers, ELESP students, and further researchers. Since this research has limitation, it is suggested to future researchers and English lecturers to conduct similar research on all word classes to complete the result of this research. The ELESP students are also suggested to continue learning English adjectival suffixes to enhance their vocabulary mastery.
xvii ABSTRAK
Maria Evita Sari. 2017. The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Domain. Yogyakarta: Program Pasca Sarjana Kajian Bahasa inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Perbendaharaan kata merupakan bagian yang penting dalam menguasai Bahasa Inggris. Oleh sebab itu, mahasiswa harus memiliki pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata yang mendalam untuk menguasai Bahasa Inggris. Pengetahuan tersebut terdiri dari pengetahuan explisit and implisit. Namun, mahasiswa mengalami kesulitan untuk memiliki pengetahuan tersebut karena banyaknya variasi dalam komponen perbendaharaan kata. Komponen tersebut seperti morfem, kata majemuk, idiom, dan komponen lainnya. Salah satu komponen yang menjadi focus dalam penelitian ini adalah morfem karena riset-riset sebelumnya menunjukkan bahwa para siswa sulit dalam proses derivatif dalam pembentukan kata. Proses derivatif terdiri dari awalan, sisipan, dan akhiran. Penelitian ini focus kepada akhiran karena akhiran bisa mengubah pola penekanan kata dan kategori sintaktis. Hal ini membuat mahasiswa kesulitan dalam belajar process derivatif. Akhiran terdiri dari empat jenis; akhiran nominal, adjektival, verbal, dan adverbial. Penelitian ini fokus kepada akhiran adjektival karena akhiran ini membantu mahasiswa dalam mendeskripsikan benda- benda dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, jurnal atau produk Bahasa Inggris mereka lainnya. Dalam mendeskripsikan hal- hal tersebut, mahasiswa harus menguasai beberapa jenis perbendaharaan kata seperti kosakata frekuensi tinggi, frekuensi rendah, akademik, and teknis. Penelitian ini fokus kepada kosakata akademik karena kosakata tersebut sering dipakai mahasiswa dalam berbicara dan menulis dalam Bahasa Inggris.
Peserta dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa semester 2, 4, dan 6 Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris (PBI) Universitas Sanata Dharma. Mahasiswa PBI dipilih karena mereka dilatih untuk menjadi guru Bahasa Inggris yang memiliki pengetahuan ekplisit dan implisit agar nantinya mereka dapat menjelaskannya kepada siswa- siswa mereka. Apalagi, mereka terbiasa menggunakan kata- kata akademik dalam produk Bahasa Inggrisnya. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan menjawab dua pertanyaan;, dan (2) seperti apakah pengetahuan akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris dalam kata-kata akademik oleh mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI, dan (1) ada tidaknya perbedaan yang signifikan dalam pengetahuan akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris dalam kata-kata akademik pada mahasiswa PBI dari 3 semester.
perbedaan yang signifikan di antara 3 semester karena nilai p .004 dimana nilai tersebut lebih rendah dari .05. Untuk mengetahui di mana letak perbedaannya, Tes Mann- Whitney U dilakukan. Tes ini menunjukkan bahwa adanya perbedaan signifikan antara semester 2 and semester 4 students nilai p .003, dan semester 2 dan semester 6 dengan nilai p .007. Oleh karena itu, tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara semester 4 dan 6 karena nilai p nya .342.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris yang dikuasai mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI berurutan secara persentase adalah (1) –al, (2) –ing, (3) –ive, (4) –ic, (5) –able, (6) –ed, (7) –ant, (8) –ary. Kesalahan- kesalahan yang dibuat mahasiswa kebanyakan masuk ke dalam grup kata yang tidak ada dalam Bahasa Inggris. Para mahasiswa juga menggunakan akhiran adjektival yang tidak tepat, akhiran bukan adjektival, kata dasar, awalan, dan kata dasar dari kata lain untuk menjawab pertanyaan dalam tes. Terlebih, beberapa dari mereka tidak mengisi jawaban apapun dan juga membuat kesalahan ejaan kata. Penelitian ini memberikan implikasi untuk dosen- dosen Bahasa Inggris, mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI, dan peneliti- peneliti selanjutnya. Karena penelitian ini memiliki keterbatasan, disarankan untuk peneliti- peneliti selanjutnya dan dosen- dosen PBI untuk melakukan penelitian yang sama pada semua kelas kata untuk melengkapi penelitian ini. Mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI juga disarankan untuk terus belajar akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris untuk meningkatkan penguasaan kosakatanya.
THE ELESP STUDENTS’
KNOWLEDGE
OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES
IN THE ACADEMIC DOMAIN
A Thesis
Presented to the Graduate Program in English Language Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M. Hum.) in English Language Studies
by
MARIA EVITA SARI 156332030
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
THE ELESP STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE
OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES
IN THE ACADEMIC DOMAIN
A Thesis
Presented to the Graduate Program in English Language Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Magister Humaniora (M. Hum.) in English Language Studies
by
MARIA EVITA SARI 156332030
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii A THESIS
THE ELESP STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE
OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES
IN THE ACADEMIC DOMAIN
by
Maria Evita Sari Student Number: 156332030
Approved by
Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M. A
iii
A THESIS
THE ELESP STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF
ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES
IN THE ACADEMIC DOMAIN
by Maria Evita Sari Student Number: 156332030
Defended before the Thesis Committee and Declared Acceptable
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson : F. X. Mukarto, Ph.D. _______________________ Secretary : Dr. B. B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. _______________________
Members : Dr. J. Bismoko _______________________
: Dr. E. Sunarto, M.Hum. _______________________
Yogyakarta, 14 July 2017 The Graduate School Director Sanata Dharma University
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful for the support, guidance, and help which have been given by everyone for me so I can finish my Thesis in His time. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Jesus Christ who always lifts me up when I am down and plans every single good thing for me.
Next, I dedicate this achievement for my admirable parents, Bapak Damianus Sumadi and Ibu M.G.K Minah. I am eternally grateful for their uncountable things, unconditional love, and unstoppable prayers. I also thank my siblings, Mas Gregorius Aditya Wibisono, Mbak Maria Immaculata Susiwidya Hesti , and Dek Valentina Mega Putri who always cheer me up every time I feel weak and sad. For my dearest fiancé Florianus Bryan Aji, I am thankful for your love, support and food whenever I need it.
permission to conduct my research there. Moreover, thank you for ELESP students who participated in this research wholeheartedly.
Finally, I thank my friends in English Language Studies batch 2015, especially Mbak Ata, Yosa, Vian, Gistha, and Mbak Rina. Moreover, many thanks for the help of Mas Adit and Mas Patrick Direen, the support and advice from Sari, Ega, and my friends in Kost Andika (Lusy, Indah, Adys, and Inten). I also thank many people who have prayed for me and helped me in many ways. May God always bless us endlessly.
viii
2.1.3.6 Suffix –ive... 23
3.3.1 Scoring the Samples’ Test ... 36
3.3.4 Classifying the Students’ Answers ... 37
3.3.2 Investigating Whether or Not There was a Significant Difference among the Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes ... 38
3.3.3 Investigating Where the Differences Existed ... 41
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 4.1Research Findings ... 41
4.1.1 The Findings to Answer the First Research Question ... 42
4.1.2 The Findings to Answer the Second Research Question ... 45
4.2Discussion ... 46
4.2.1 The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Words ... 46
4.2.1.2 The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Words Based on Their Incorrect
Answers ... 62
4.2.2 The Differences in the Knowledge of the English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Words among the Three Level of ELESP... 69
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1Conclusion ...75
5.2Implications ... 77
5.3Suggestions ... 78
REFERENCES ... 80
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 The Components of Knowing a Word ... 12
Table 2.2 The Phonological Properties of Some Suffixes. ... 19
Table 3.1 The Students’ Correct Answers for Eight Suffixes ... 37
Table 3.2 The Students’ Incorrect Answers ... 38
Table 3.3 The Result of Tests of Normality ... 39
Table 4.3 The Students’ Correct Answers for Eight Suffixes ... 42
Table 4.4 The Students’ Incorrect Answers ... 43
Table 4.5 The Result of Kruskal-Wallis Test One-way ANOVA by Ranks ... 45
Table 4.6 The Result of the Mann-Whitney U Test for Level 2 and 4 ... 70
Table 4.7 The Result of the Mann-Whitney U Test for Level 2 and 6 ... 70
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 The Morpheme of un- (Plag, 2003: 21) ... 16
Figure 2.2 Schema of Derived Word unhappy (Plag, 2003: 21) ... 16
Figure 2.3 Theoretical framework of this research ... 31
Figure 4.1 Developmental Pattern of English Adjectival Suffixes Knowledge by ELESP Students ... 44
Figure 4.1 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -al ... 47
Figure 4.2 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ing ... 49
Figure 4.3 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ive ... 50
Figure 4.4 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ic ... 52
Figure 4.5 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -able ... 54
Figure 4.6 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ed ... 55
Figure 4.7 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ant ... 57
xiii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Illustration 2.1 The Example of a Test Item Based on Nagy, et al. (1993) ... 10
Illustration 2.2 The Examples of Suffix -able ... 22
Illustration 2.3 The Examples of Suffix -al ... 22
Illustration 2.4 The Examples of Suffix -ant ... 23
Illustration 2.5 The Examples of Suffix -ive ... 24
Illustration 2.6 The Examples of Suffix -ary ... 24
Illustration 3.1 The Examples of Test Items ... 36
xiv
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A STUDENTS’ SCORES ... 84
APPENDIX B WORD LIST ... 87
APPENDIX C A TEST OF ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES ... 89
APPENDIX D STUDENTS’ ANSWER EXAMPLES ... 93
APPENDIX E STUDENTS’ ANSWERS ... 101
APPENDIX F THE PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS’ ANSWERS FOR EACH SUFFIX ... 114
xv ABSTRACT
Maria Evita Sari. 2017. The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Domain. Yogyakarta: Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Vocabulary is an essential segment to achieve English mastery. Therefore, students are expected to have deep knowledge on vocabulary. The knowledge of vocabulary consists of implicit and explicit knowledge. However, students might face difficulty to have the knowledge due to the variation of vocabulary components. The components are like morphemes, compounds, idioms, and other components.
One of the components which become the focus in this research is morphemes because previous research found that students are difficult in derivational process in word formation. Derivational process includes prefixation, infixation, and suffixation. This research focuses more of suffixation since suffixes may change the words stress patterns and syntactic categories. This might make the students experience more difficulties in learning the derivational process. Suffix consists of four types; nominal, adjectival, verbal, and adverbial suffixes. This research focuses on adjectival suffixes since it helps the students to describing things in their daily life, journals, or other English products. In describing them, students need to master vocabulary in several types including high-frequency, low-frequency, academic and technical words. This research focuses on academic words since it is often used by the students in producing spoken and written texts.
The samples of this research were English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) students of Sanata Dharma University from semester 2, 4, and 6. ELESP students were chosen because they are trained to be English teachers who are supposed to have explicit and implicit knowledge in English adjectival suffixes so they later can explain it to the students. Moreover, they usually use the academic words in their English products. Thus, this research aimed to address two research questions: (1) what the ELESP students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words is like, and (2) whether or not there a significant difference in the knowledge of the English adjectival suffixes in the academic words among the three levels of ELESP.
p-value of .003, and semester 2 and semester 6 students with the p-p-value .007. Therefore, there was no significant difference between semester 4 and 6 students since the p-value is .342.
The result showed that the adjectival suffixes mastered by the students orderly by percentage are (1) –al, (2) –ing, (3) –ive, (4) –ic, (5) –able, (6) –ed, (7)
–ant, (8) –ary. The mistake students mostly made is non-existent words. The students also used inappropriate adjectival suffixes, non-adjectival suffixes, base words, prefix, and other words’ base words to answer the questions in the test. Moreover, some of them left the sentences blank and also made wrong spellings. This research gives implications for English lecturers, ELESP students, and further researchers. Since this research has limitation, it is suggested to future researchers and English lecturers to conduct similar research on all word classes to complete the result of this research. The ELESP students are also suggested to continue learning English adjectival suffixes to enhance their vocabulary mastery.
xvii ABSTRAK
Maria Evita Sari. 2017. The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes in the Academic Domain. Yogyakarta: Program Pasca Sarjana Kajian Bahasa inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Perbendaharaan kata merupakan bagian yang penting dalam menguasai Bahasa Inggris. Oleh sebab itu, mahasiswa harus memiliki pengetahuan perbendaharaan kata yang mendalam untuk menguasai Bahasa Inggris. Pengetahuan tersebut terdiri dari pengetahuan explisit and implisit. Namun, mahasiswa mengalami kesulitan untuk memiliki pengetahuan tersebut karena banyaknya variasi dalam komponen perbendaharaan kata. Komponen tersebut seperti morfem, kata majemuk, idiom, dan komponen lainnya. Salah satu komponen yang menjadi focus dalam penelitian ini adalah morfem karena riset-riset sebelumnya menunjukkan bahwa para siswa sulit dalam proses derivatif dalam pembentukan kata. Proses derivatif terdiri dari awalan, sisipan, dan akhiran. Penelitian ini focus kepada akhiran karena akhiran bisa mengubah pola penekanan kata dan kategori sintaktis. Hal ini membuat mahasiswa kesulitan dalam belajar process derivatif. Akhiran terdiri dari empat jenis; akhiran nominal, adjektival, verbal, dan adverbial. Penelitian ini fokus kepada akhiran adjektival karena akhiran ini membantu mahasiswa dalam mendeskripsikan benda- benda dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, jurnal atau produk Bahasa Inggris mereka lainnya. Dalam mendeskripsikan hal- hal tersebut, mahasiswa harus menguasai beberapa jenis perbendaharaan kata seperti kosakata frekuensi tinggi, frekuensi rendah, akademik, and teknis. Penelitian ini fokus kepada kosakata akademik karena kosakata tersebut sering dipakai mahasiswa dalam berbicara dan menulis dalam Bahasa Inggris.
Peserta dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa semester 2, 4, dan 6 Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris (PBI) Universitas Sanata Dharma. Mahasiswa PBI dipilih karena mereka dilatih untuk menjadi guru Bahasa Inggris yang memiliki pengetahuan ekplisit dan implisit agar nantinya mereka dapat menjelaskannya kepada siswa- siswa mereka. Apalagi, mereka terbiasa menggunakan kata- kata akademik dalam produk Bahasa Inggrisnya. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan menjawab dua pertanyaan;, dan (2) seperti apakah pengetahuan akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris dalam kata-kata akademik oleh mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI, dan (1) ada tidaknya perbedaan yang signifikan dalam pengetahuan akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris dalam kata-kata akademik pada mahasiswa PBI dari 3 semester.
perbedaan yang signifikan di antara 3 semester karena nilai p .004 dimana nilai tersebut lebih rendah dari .05. Untuk mengetahui di mana letak perbedaannya, Tes Mann- Whitney U dilakukan. Tes ini menunjukkan bahwa adanya perbedaan signifikan antara semester 2 and semester 4 students nilai p .003, dan semester 2 dan semester 6 dengan nilai p .007. Oleh karena itu, tidak ada perbedaan yang signifikan antara semester 4 dan 6 karena nilai p nya .342.
Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris yang dikuasai mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI berurutan secara persentase adalah (1)
–al, (2) –ing, (3) –ive, (4) –ic, (5) –able, (6) –ed, (7) –ant, (8) –ary. Kesalahan- kesalahan yang dibuat mahasiswa kebanyakan masuk ke dalam grup kata yang tidak ada dalam Bahasa Inggris. Para mahasiswa juga menggunakan akhiran adjektival yang tidak tepat, akhiran bukan adjektival, kata dasar, awalan, dan kata dasar dari kata lain untuk menjawab pertanyaan dalam tes. Terlebih, beberapa dari mereka tidak mengisi jawaban apapun dan juga membuat kesalahan ejaan kata. Penelitian ini memberikan implikasi untuk dosen- dosen Bahasa Inggris, mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI, dan peneliti- peneliti selanjutnya. Karena penelitian ini memiliki keterbatasan, disarankan untuk peneliti- peneliti selanjutnya dan dosen- dosen PBI untuk melakukan penelitian yang sama pada semua kelas kata untuk melengkapi penelitian ini. Mahasiswa- mahasiswa PBI juga disarankan untuk terus belajar akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris untuk meningkatkan penguasaan kosakatanya.
1 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of four parts. The first part is the background of this research which discusses the importance of ELESP students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes, the short framework and the current studies on English adjectival suffixes. The research questions are presented in the next part. The third part is research objectives which consist of research goals. The last part is research benefits which clarify the theoretical and practical contribution of this research.
1.1Research Background
Vocabulary is one of the fundamental parts in mastering English. Pignot and Shahov (2012) state that vocabulary is a major focus of linguistic research in the last three decades. Meara (1995: 11) as cited in Pignot and Shahov (2012: 1) states that it “has mushroomed enormously”. Furthermore, Hudson (2007) as cited
in Kim (2013) says that vocabulary is the key in language and its learning process since language is constructed from words.
vocabulary knowledge is needed in relation to the students’ mastery of English
skills.
knowledge intentionally in explicit learning but they are not aware of the knowledge learned in implicit learning.
Vocabulary itself is composed by many kinds of forms, for instance morphemes (e.g. free morpheme love, bound morpheme s in loves, and free and bound morpheme combinations like derivation beauty becomes beautiful and inflection s in ‘She likes him’), compounds (e.g. crossroad, passport, and basketball), idioms (e.g. kick the bucket, and get ducks in a row), and other components (Takač, 2008). These compositions make English rich of vocabulary which might cause non-native English learners sometimes difficult to learn English vocabulary. Based on Laufer (1997) as cited in Kim (2013), factors that make vocabulary learning difficult are pronunciation, suprasegmental features, orthography, length, morphology, grammar, and semantic features. The difficulties then influence the students’ explicit and implicit knowledge of
vocabulary
two classifications of derivation; affixation (prefixation, suffixation, infixation), and non-affixation (conversation, truncation, blending).
McCarthy, et al. (2010) mention further about a study of more than 100 non-native university-level users of English. It is found that knowing one word-form in a word family did not guarantee that learners would also know other word-forms. They also mention that knowing the word forget did not guarantee that learners would also know forgetful, and unforgettably. McCarthy, et al. (2010) then underline that adjective and adverb derivatives are more difficult to learn than other word class.
combination of suffixes in derivation process. The last research is written by Plag and Baayen (2009) entitled Suffix ordering and morphological processing. The research is trying to find out the order of suffix from all word classes and its relation to productivity in morphological processing. Hence, most of the researches focus on explicit and implicit knowledge of all word class suffixes (verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and modifiers) and the words measured are not specific from academic word list. Moreover, based on the studies mentioned, the participants are not non-native learners from Indonesia even though English is widely learned in Indonesia.
Embarking from the previous research discussed above, this research takes the focus on explicit and implicit knowledge of English suffixes. Suffixes are the main focus because it might change the words stress patterns and syntactic categories which might make the students face more difficulties in learning the derivational process.
There are four types of suffixes; nominal, adjectival, verbal, and adverbial. However, this research focuses on adjectival suffixes since it is beneficial the students in describing things in their daily life, journals, or other English products. English adjectival suffixes consist of fourteen suffixes; -able, -–ing, -ed, –able, -ant, -ive, -ful, -less, -al, –ish, -ary -ic, -ly,–ous, and –esque (Carstairs and McCarthy, 2002; Plag, 2003). However, the researcher only takes eight of them since only eight suffixes exist in Academic Word List.
of this research are 90 English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) of Sanata Dharma University who have passed Vocabulary 1 subject. The students are non-native English majoring English and coming from Indonesia who are trained to be translators or other particular fields deal with English. Moreover, they are trained to be English teachers so they need to have explicit and implicit knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in order to explain them to their students. They get English exposure since they learn English and all the subjects in their study program are delivered in English. They also have to produce English in written and spoken texts based on the study program requirement. Thus, the researcher chooses the words from the Academic Word List (AWL). Based on Schmitt and Zimmerman (2002), the words in AWL occur in various academic contexts which can support vocabulary for reading texts on academic topics. Thus, having knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words is very essential.
1.2Research Questions
The research aims at answering two research questions as follow:
1. What is ELESP students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words?
2. Is there a significant difference in the knowledge of the English adjectival suffixes in the academic words among the three levels of ELESP?
1.3Research Objectives
academic words is like. The data is presented in form of descriptive of the students’ answers of the test with theories of the answers inserted.
The second objective is to investigate whether or not there is a significant difference in the knowledge of the English adjectival suffixes in the academic words among the three levels of ELESP. This data would be presented in statistic data using Kruskal-Wallis one way ANOVA.
1.4Research Benefits
This research benefits both theoretically and practically for English Language Studies. Theoretically, this research gives English learners insight that learning English adjectival suffixes is not only learning the forms but also learning the meanings and the changing of the new words spellings. This research also gives theoretical benefit in enriching the implicit and explicit knowledge in English language learning which can be a reference for further research.
8 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are two major sections in this part. The first section is theoretical review which clarifies the concepts of this study by presenting the theories related to this study. Another one is theoretical framework which elaborates the theories with this study.
2.1Theoretical Review
This part is about the theories used in conducting this research. They consist of foreign language acqusition, vocabulary, morphemes, adjectival suffix. 2.1.1 Vocabulary
In this part, the theories discussed consist of vocabulary concept, knowledge and types. Vocabulary concept is about the composition of vocabulary, the meaning of having vocabulary knowledge, and explicit and implicit knowledge. Implicit knowledge is learned unconsciously. On the contrary, explicit knowledge is learned consciously. In vocabulary types, two main types of vocabulary proposed by Nation (2001) are presented.
2.1.1.1 Vocabulary Concept
English learners need to be able to understand the context in order to use the words correctly. Then, the learners could expand and master the vocabulary. Furthermore, vocabulary expansion and elaboration extend across a lifetime (Hiebert and Kamil, 2005). Thus, learners could have deep knowledge on vocabulary.
Nation (2001) states that learners who master vocabulary are those who know the words, recognize the spelling, know the meaning, and be able to use the words. He also adds that knowing a word means knowing the composition of the words including knowing affixes and a stem that may occur in other words.
Regarding to vocabulary knowledge, tests are needed to measure the knowledge. One of the ways to measure the learners’ vocabulary is by testing them. “A vocabulary test is used to measure whether the high-frequency words have been learned and the progress of the learners in learning low-frequency words” (Nation, 2001, p. 21). Nation (2001, p. 340) proposes four aspects to test words building knowledge as follows.
Second, the learners need to be able to recognize what the affixes mean
The test could be in presented in words as follows. hapinness ______________
careless ______________ reconsider ______________
Nation (2001) also mentions that to make the test easier, choices could be provided. Second, Tyler and Nagy (1989) as cited in Nation (2001) propose the following item type in order to avoid the need for explicit knowledge. Thus, the following item type measures implicit knowledge.
You can ______________ the effect by turning off the lights. Choices: intensify, intensification, intensity, intensive
Nagy, Diakidoy and Anderson (1993) as cited in Nation (2001) developed another item type to avoid the weaknesses in the previous item which is presented as follows.
Illustration 2.1 The Example of a Test Item Based on Nagy, et al. (1993) Which sentences uses the word powderize correctly?
a. First they had to find a powderize rock. b. First they had to powderize the rock.
Third, the learners need to be aware of the changes of written and spoken form that occur when an affix is added to a word. The first way is that the learners are given a list of stems + affixes which the learners must combine. Hence, the explicit knowledge is measured. The example is as follow.
happy + ness = ______________
Another example is the question about the explicit testing of a spelling rule. What happens when you add a suffix beginning with a vowel to a word ending in y?
Answer: change the y to I and add the suffix.
Forth, the learners need to know which classes of stems can take certain affixes. Tyler and Nagy (1989) as cited in Nation (2001) proposes a test of productive word building knowledge by giving the learners a list of items consisting of well-formed and ill formed items which the learners have to respond to by indicating Yes or No. knowledge proposed by Ellis (2006). Based on her explanation as cited in Sonbul and Schmitt (2013:122) there are two kinds of knowledge; explicit and implicit as the explanation follows.
difficulty in using the L2 . . . In contrast, implicit knowledge is procedural, is held unconsciously, and can only be verbalized if it is made explicit. It is accessed rapidly and easily and thus is available for use in rapid, fluent communication. (R. Ellis, 2006: 95, emphasis in original)
Based on the definition, explicit knowledge is learned intentionally and implicit knowledge is learned more unintentionally.
According to Nation (2000), the categories of words’ knowledge are form
(spoken, written and word parts), meaning (form and meaning, concept and referents, and associations), and use (grammatical functions, collocations, and constraints on use like register, frequency and the like). The components are presented as follows.
Table 2.1 The Components of Knowing a Word
Form How is the word written and spelled? word parts
R P
What parts are recognizable in this word? What word parts are needed to express the meaning?
What meaning does this word form signal? What word form can be used to express this meaning? What items can the concepts refer to? associations
R P
What other words does this make us think of? What other words could we use instead of this one?
In what patterns does the word occur? In what patterns must we use this word? collocations
R P
What words or types of words occur with this one?
What words or types of words must we use with this one?
Where, when, and how often would we expect to meet this word?
Additionally, Tyler and Nagy (1989) as cited in Lardiere (2006: 73) state that there are three kinds of derivational morphology knowledge, namely relational, syntactic, and selectional knowledge. Relational knowledge is the knowledge (or perception) that two words are morphologically related to each other; that is, they share a common lexical base (e.g., argue~argumentas opposed to off~offer or depart~department). Syntactic knowledge is the knowledge that derivational suffixes mark words for syntactic category in English (e.g., X-izeV; X-ationN). Selectional knowledge is knowledge of the selectional restrictions on the concatenation of stems and affixes—for example, that the English nominalizing suffix -ness attaches to adjectives but not verbs (e.g., quietness vs. *playness).
2.1.1.2Vocabulary Types
There are several experts who propose types of vocabulary. In this research, there are two experts explain the types. The first expert is Nation (2011). He explains that there are two kinds of vocabulary; the types by frequency and domain. The vocabulary types by frequency are high-frequency words, low-frequency words. The domain of the vocabulary classifies vocabulary in to academic words, and technical words. The second experts are Hiebert and Kamil (2005(). They explain that there are two more types of vocabulary; productive and receptive vocabulary. The following is the explanation of each type.
the highest to the lowest one based on BNC. Daller, Milton, and Treffers-Daller (2007) mention that the list provides a recent, relevant, well-constructed and accessible list. Web and Chang (2012) mention that English teachers and learners have to draw attention to high-frequency words because they are important to master. They add that lacking knowledge of the high frequency words will limit the users to communicate effectively. The high- frequency words include function words such as a, some, two, because, and to, and content words like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
The next type of the frequency type is low-frequency words. Nation (2001) says that the boundary between high-frequency words and low-frequency words are arbitrary. The words in the boundary of high-frequency words list could fall in to low-frequency one based on the nature of the list corpus and vice versa. He also states that proper names are usually in low-frequency words. However, some low-frequency words are the words that are rarely used by the users, even the native speakers, for instance eponymous, gibbous, plummet, and ploy. Web and Chang (2012) add the examples of low-frequency words such as afflatus, cantabile, dongle, fascicle, gravid, iguanodon, and nemegtomaia. The words may be marked as very formal, vulgar, old-fashioned, belonging in particular dialect or field, or maybe they are foreign words. Teachers and learners should also learn the low-frequency words. They can learn from words context, dictionaries, and vocabulary cards.
academic words occur widely in academic texts. The typical words occur are policy, phase, adjusted, and sustained. He adds that The Academic Word List (AWL) by Coxhead 1998 is the best list of academic words. However, Coxhead (2000) proposes a new academic word list which is the revised version of the previous academic word list. Schmitt and Zimmerman (2002) state that the AWL contains words which usually occur in academic contexts and support learners in learning vocabulary for reading on academic topics.
Another type is technical words. Nation (2001: 12) states that technical words are the words that “are very closely related to the topic and subject area”,
for instances indigenous, regeneration, podocarp, beech, rimu (a New Zealand tree), and timber. From subject to subject area, technical words vary and different. For each dictionary of economics, geography or electronics, there are about 1.000 entries (Nation, 2001).
Hiebert and Kamil (2005) add that there are two more vocabulary types. The first type is productive vocabulary. This vocabulary is a set of words which is frequently used by learners. The words in this type are familiar and well-known to the learners. Conversely, receptive or recognition vocabulary is a set of words which becomes the second type of vocabulary. The words are assigned by the learners when they listen of read. Thus, the words are less well known and less frequently in use.
2.1.2 Morphemes
expresses meaning on the other hand. The morpheme also shows the form (morph) and meaning which are represented in the following figure.
Figure 2.1 The Morpheme of un- (Plag, 2003: 21)
Plag (2003) also mentions that there will be at least one morpheme is combined with another morpheme which creates a derived word. A derived word is “a new complex sign” which represent the meaning of two morphemes
combined. The following figure displays the derived word unhappy.
Figure 2.2 Schema of Derived Word unhappy (Plag, 2003: 21)
stem of the words. The root, base or stem of the words are the central meaningful element of the word. Because of the influences of Latin terminology, the un- is called as a prefix, and -ity is called as a suffix. The prefix and suffix are covered by the term affix which is going to be explained in Affixation part.
The second type of morpheme is a free morpheme. A free morpheme is defined as a morpheme which can occur in isolation because it can function as a dependent word (Szymanek, 1989). The examples of free morphemes are in greenhouse, apartment building, team manager, truck driver, blackboard, pickpocket. Based on the examples, greenhouse consists of two free morphemes; green and house. Each free morpheme can be a dependent word.
Akmajian, et al (2010: 591) say that morphophonemic transcription is “a writing system in which words are uniformly written, regardless of their actual pronunciation”. It means that the words formation is rule governed based on the
morphology and phonology. Kiparsky as cited in Spencer and Swicky (2001: 2) state that “morphophonemic alternations are actually triggered by morphological
operations of affixation. As an affix is added (or a cycle of affixation with a level
is completed), the battery of lexical phonological rules applies”. Matthews
(2006:146) supports the idea by stating that morphophonemic processes are
“transitional between morphology and phonology”. Therefore, morphophonemic
suffix is the writing system of a word based on morphological and phonological
2.1.3 Adjectival Suffixes
Based on Plag (2003), an affix is a bound morpheme which attaches to a root, base or stem. However, Plag (2003) explains that it is sometimes difficult to indicate whether something is a bound or a free morpheme and consider whether something is an affix or a base. Therefore, only a linguistic analysis will reveal those problems.
There are two general properties of English affixation namely prefix and suffix (Plag, 2003). First, a prefix is a morpheme that attaches before the base. The following words are given by Plag (2003).
contextualize decontextualize
organize reorganize
modern postmodern
modify premodify
argument counterargument
Based on the examples, prefixes de-, re-, post-, pre-, and counter- does not change the pronunciation or the shapes of base words. Most of the prefixes also do not change syntactic category and do not influence the stress pattern of the words (Plag, 2003).
Table 2.2 The Phonological Properties of Some Suffixes.
-(at)ion alternation -ness religiousness
-y candidacy -less televisionless
-al environmental -ful eventful
-ic parasitic -hood companionhood
-ize hypothesize -ship editorship
-ous monstrous -ly headmasterly
-ive productive -ish inrovertish
-ese Japanese -dom chritiandom
Plag (2003) says that there are four kinds of suffixes nominal, verbal, adverbial, and adjectival suffixes. This research focuses on adjectival suffixes only. Plag (2003) classifies two major groups of derivational adjectival suffixes namely relational and qualitative adjective. First, relational adjective relates the noun of the adjective qualifies to the base word of the derived adjective. For example, algebraic mind means ‘a mind having to do with algebra, referring to algebra, characterized by algebra,’ colonial officer means ‘officer having to do with the colonies,’ and so on. Second, qualitative adjectives whose role is to express more specific concepts. According to Plag (2003), relational adjectives sometimes can adopt qualitative meanings for instance the word grammatical which have two meanings; a relational meaning ‘having to do with grammar’ in she is a grammatical genius, and a qualitative meaning ‘conforming to the rules of
grammar as in This is a grammatical sentence. We find the relational adjectives in attributive position but the qualitative adjectives in predicative position.
(2003) adds four types -ary -ic, -ly,–ous, and –esque,. Thus, there are fourteen types of adjectival suffixes in total which is described in detail in the following explanation.
2.1.3.1 Suffix –ing
(1995), and Nunnan (1994) as cited in Nofal (2012) add that most of the English participial adjectives are derived from verbs and few are derived from nouns such as appetite in appetizing food and neighbour in neighbouring village.
2.1.3.2Suffix –ed
Plag (2003) says that the meaning of suffix –ed is ‘having X, being provided with X’ as seen in broad-minded, pig-headed, wooded, empty-headed, pig-headed, air-minded, headed, air-minded, fair-minded. Suffix –ed is mostly attaches to compound or phrases.
In this research, the suffix –ed is as the participial adjectives like –ing. Thus, it can be can be derived from transitive verbs which show emotions (interesting-interested), and from transitive verbs of action with their intransitive equivalent (increasing-increased). The –ed form is also common to be derived from nouns which is called as denominal; a cleft in a clefted sentence, and a talent in a talented girl (Nofal, 2012).
2.1.3.3Suffix –able
Plag (2003) says that suffix –able posseses some meanings. He adds that for the verb base, the meanings are ‘is capable of being Xed’ like in breakable, deterrable, readable, changeable and ‘liable or disposed to X’ like in agreeable, perishable, variable; changeable. According to Carstairs and McCharty (2002), the adjectival suffix –able is only derived from verbs yet Plag (2003) states that suffix –able can attach to nouns to form adjectives which can produce meaning ‘characterized by X’ as in fashionable, knowledgeable, reasonable and ‘capable
words, suffix –able changes in to –ible like in comprehensible, discernible, flexible, reversible. Suffix –able and its allomorph –ible mostly does not change the base word writing system in the new words as presented as follow.
Illustration 2.2 The Examples of Suffix -able
2.1.3.4Suffix –al
According to Carstairs and McCharty (2002) the examples of the words with this suffix are original, normal, personal, and national which have nouns as the base words. The meaning of the words with suffix –al is ‘having the form of X’ or ‘having the character of X’ as in accidental and universal. Plag (2003) states
that most of the base for suffix –al is Latinate like in colonial, cultural, federal, institutional, modal. He adds that there are two variants of this suffix; ial and -ual. The variation can be seen in the following examples.
Illustration 2.3 The Examples of Suffix -al
Based on the examples, with the bases ending with [s] or [t], suffix –ial triggers the changing of the ending in to [ʃ] like in a, b, and c. Whereas, suffix –ual does
2.1.3.5Suffix –ant
Carstairs and McCharty (2002) state that the base words of this suffix are usually verbs. They also give some examples of the suffix like repellent, expectant, and conversant which carry meaning ‘tending to be X’. They are presented as follows.
Illustration 2.4 The Examples of Suffix -ant
Based on the examples, the allomorph of –ant is –ent. Both of them may change the writing system in the new words. The words repel becomes repell, and converse becomes convers in the new words yet there is no change in expectant.
2.1.3.6Suffix –ive
According to Carstairs and McCarthy (2002), suffix –ive means ‘tending to X’ as in repulsive, explosive, and speculative. Suffix –ive is formed mostly
from Latinate verbs and bound roots with ending [t] or [s] like in connective, explosive, fricative, offensive, passive, preventive, primitive, receptive, speculative (Plag, 2003). Sometimes, suffix –ive changes the writing system of the bases. The alternations include the ending sound [d] or [t] becomes [s] like in a and b, the ending sound [ive] becomes [εpt] like in c, and the ending sound [djus] becomes
[dΛkt] like in d. Suffix –ive has a variant –ative like in argumentative,
quantitative, and representative. The explanation is concluded in the following illustration.
Illustration 2.5 The Examples of Suffix -ive 2.1.3.7Suffix -ary
Szymanek (1989) states that adjectives with suffix –ary are characterized by irregular and unpredictable semantics which are found mostly in lexicalized nouns with suffix –ion and –ment like in expansionary, revolutionary, reactionary and the like. He mentions the meaning of suffix –ary connotes ‘the idea of tendency or purpose’. According to Plag (2003), this suffix usually attaches to noun like complementary, evolutionary, fragmentary, legendary, precautionary whose meaning is ‘relating to X’. Suffix –ary does not change the writing system
of the bases as follow.
Illustration 2.6 The Examples of Suffix -ary
The variation of suffix –ary is –ory. Marchand (1969:338) in Szymanek (1989:237) says that “the usual semantic implication of adjectives in –ory is ‘destined to, serving for, tending to ___’ what is denoted by the (Latin or English)
verb”. Suffix –ory is also related to certain types of nouns in –(at)ion. The
following words are the examples.
articulate articulation articulatory compensate compensation compensatory
confirm confirmation confirmatory
admit admission admissory
a. conclusive = conclude + ive b. explosive = exploit + ive c. receiptive = receive + ive d. productive = produce + ive
Thus, based on the examples, suffix –ory triggers the changes in base words writing system.
2.1.3.8Suffix -ic
This suffix also attaches to foreign bases including noun and bound base (Plag, 2003) and carries ‘having the nature of X’ and ‘caused by X’. The examples are electric, economic, and historic. This suffix has a variant –ical based on the meaning possessed ‘having the nature of’. The suffix –ical is often added to a word whose ending is –ic as in electrical, economical, and historical. However, the meaning of suffix –ic and –ical are sometimes different as in the word economic means ‘profitable’ but the meaning of economical is ‘money-saving’ (Plag, 2003).
2.1.3.9Suffix –ful
Carstairs and McCarthy (2002) mention that suffix –ful usually attaches to nouns as in joyful, hopeful, helpful, and meaningful. However, based on Plag (2003), this suffix attaches to abstract nouns whose meaning ‘having X, being characterized by X’ like in beautiful, insightful, purposeful, tactful and verbs like in forgetful, mournful, resentful. Based on the examples, suffix –ful does not change the new words writing system.
2.1.3.10 Suffix –less
This suffix carries meaning ‘without X’ like in expressionless, hopeless,
out that English has slothful but not slothless and penniless but not penniful. Therefore, it shows that “even when the meaning of potential word may be easily
guessable, the existence of the word is not guaranteed” (Carstairs & McCarthy,
2002: 54). They also add more examples like joyless, helpless, and meaningless which have nouns as the based and whose antonyms are joyful, helpful, and meaningful.
2.1.3.11 Suffix –ish
This suffix attaches on adjective like clearish, freeish, sharpish (Plag, 2003), and greenish, smallish (Carstairs and McCarthy, 2002), numeral like fourteenish, threehundredfortyish, adverbs like soonish, uppish, and noun like in James-Deanish, monsterish, summerish, townish, vampirish, childish and carries meaning ‘of the character of X, like X’. It also attaches on syntactic phrases like
stick-in-the-muddish, out-of-the-wayish, silly-little-me-lateagain-ish which means ‘some what X, vaguely X’.
2.1.3.12 Suffix –ly
Plag (2003) mention that suffix –ly can be attached on nouns like brotherly, daughterly, fatherly, womanly which means ‘in the manner of X or like
an X’. It also denotes temporal concepts like in half-hourly, daily, monthly or directions easterly, southwesterly.
2.1.3.13 Suffix –ous
bounds base. The variants of this suffix are –eous like in erroneous, homogeneous, -ious like gracious, prestigious, and -uous like ambiguous, continuous.
2.1.3.14 Suffix –esque
The suffix carries meaning ‘in the manner or style of X’ like
Chaplinesque, Hemingwayesque, picturesque, Kafkaesque (Plag, 2003). Sometimes, a hyphen is used to between the base word of the new word and the suffix -esque. Kaunisto (2013) says that this aims to present each element of the words. He mentions the example of Satriani-esque which consists of the last name of a talented guitarist Satriani and suffix –esque. He adds that this new word means “a style of playing guitar very fast”.
2.2 Review of Previous Studies
semester 4 to semester 6. Thus, the higher the semester is does not guarantee the higher their pragmatic competence and word stress acquisition are.
Regarding to English derivation knowledge, there are four studies conducted by experts. First, Schmitt and Zimmerman (2002) conduct a research entitled Derivative word forms: What do learners know whose participants are 106 graduate and undergraduate nonnative-English-speaking students. Their research focuses on examining the participants’ ability to produce appropriate derivatives in the four major word classes (i.e., noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) for 16 prompt words. The second research focuses on the derivation of the primary lexical categories of nouns, verbs and modifiers of Patty, a native speaker of Mandarin and Hokkien Chinese who immigrated to the United States at the age of 22 and acquired L2 English as an adult. This research is conducted by Lardiere (2006) entitled Knowledge of derivational morphology in a second language idiolect by. Third, Hay and Plag (2004) focus their research on the combination of suffixes in derivation process entitled What constrains possible suffix combinations? On the interaction of grammatical and processing restrictions in derivational morphology. They gather the data from British National Corpus, the CELEX lexical database, the OED and the internet. The last research is entitled Suffix ordering and morphological processing by Plag and Baayen (2009). It focuses on the order of suffix from all word classes and its relation to productivity in morphological processing.
knowledge. However, the first research’s participants are non-native-English students but the second research’s participant is a native-English student. The first research investigates participants’ derivation knowledge on nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs but the second research focus on participants’ derivation
knowledge on nouns, verbs and modifiers. Thus both research investigates participants’ derivation knowledge on nouns and verbs. Based on the research,
there is no research focus on derivation knowledge on adjectives only and there is no research’s participants whose participants are non-native-English from
2.3Theoretical Framework
32 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents research methodology of the study to answer the research questions. There are four parts included namely type of study, data collection, and data analysis.
3.1Type of Study
This research aims to investigate what the ELESP students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in academic words is like, and whether or not there is a significant difference in the knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in academic words among the three levels of ELESP students. Therefore, this research is a developmental research. The developmental research is results developmental pattern which answer the research questions. Developmental pattern has relation to a continued improvement of language acquisition (Ellis, 2008).
There are two types of methods in developmental research; longitudinal and cross sectional studies (Neuman, 2006). He says that longitudinal studies are more powerful than cross sectional one. However, he adds that it consumes more time, more costly, and more complicated.
improvement in certain courses or program can be conducted to fulfill the community needs. However, cross sectional studies cannot analyze the causal relationship and chart each learner differences (Ellis, 2008 as cited in Widirahmaya, 2015). Considering the time consuming, this research was conducted as a cross sectional study. In this research, there were three different levels of students compared; semester 2, 4, and 6.
3.2Data Collection
This part involves type, source, instruments, and number of data which are explained as follows.
3.2.1 Type of Data
In this study, the data to analyze covered the samples’ answers on English Adjectival Suffixes Test, and the scores on English Adjectival Suffixes Test. The samples’ answers on the test covered linguistics analysis of the academic words suffixes which deal with morphology and phonology.
3.2.2 Source of Data
products in both spoken and written than other students since they are lead to work in English fields like teachers, journalists, presenters, writers, and so on so forth. Thus, they are exposed to the academic words and its family in which the derivatives words occur in the form of suffixation as a part of affixation. One of the suffixes is adjectival suffixes. Therefore, it is essential for the students to have knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words. This study was conducted in March to April 2017 in English Language Education Study Program Department of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta.
3.2.3 Research Instrument
In order to answer the research questions, the researcher collected the data through conducting an English adjectival suffixes test in the academic words. The test was designed by the researcher since there was no English adjectival suffix test validated and existed. This test aimed at measuring students’ knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words. Therefore, the test covered implicit and explicit knowledge which had been explained in the previous chapters.
This study used the New Academic Word List by Coxhead (2000). In the test, there were 24 words to be the representative of eight adjectival suffixes (-ing, -ed, -ant, -able, -ive,–al, -ic, and -ary) in which three words for each suffix. The frequency of the words were high (Sublist 1 and 2), medium (Sublist 5 and 6), and low (Sublist 9 and 10). There were several steps taken in designing the test.
of the word list. The Sublist 1 displayed the most frequent words which occur in the list and the least frequent words was shown by Sublist 10. Thus, the medium one was Sublist 5 and 6. In checking whether or not the words can be attached to certain suffix, the researcher also used Oxford Learner’s Dictionary and
Webster’s New Explorer Encyclopedic Dictionary. Then, six words form high (two words), medium (two words), and low (two words) were chosen for each suffix. Thus, there were 48 words in the test since there are eight suffixes tested; -ing, -ed, -ant, -able, -ive,–al, -ic, and -ary. The suffixes were chosen since the words with the suffixes have two high, medium and low frequency words.
The next step was making a test which measures students’ English adjectival suffixes explicit and implicit knowledge. The samples were given sentences and stem words for each number of the test. They had to write down the appropriate adjectives for each number.
samples. The test distributed contained 24 numbers considering the time limitation which have given to the students’ lecturers. The 24 numbers consisted of three words from each suffix. The three words were from high, medium, and low frequency based on Academic Word List. The following was the test illustration. For the complete version, see Appendix C.
Illustration 3.1 The Examples of Test Items
3.3Data Analysis
In analyzing the data, the researcher took three following steps. 3.3.1 Scoring the Samples’ Test
The first step of data analysis was scoring the samples’ test. In scoring the test, the correct answer of each number was scored 1 and the wrong one was scored 0. Thus, the total number of the test was 24 so the highest score was 24 and the lowest one would be 0.
1. Don’t miss tonight’s ___________________________ episode.
(conclude)
___________________ + ____________
2. As the plants become ___________________________, they will need frequent water. (establish)
___________________ + ____________
3. John is always very ___________________________. Why don’t you talk the problem over with him? (approach)
___________________ + ____________
4. It’s impossible to understand the nuances of an isolated word without some ___________________________ clues. (context)
___________________ + ____________
5. She is not very ___________________________ in the way she treats her children. (consist)
___________________ + ____________
... 24. We watched scenes of the ___________________________ rescue on the news. (drama)
3.3.4 Classifying the Students’ Answers
Further, to answer the first research question, the researcher classified the answers that the students make for each suffix. There were two classifications; students’ correct answers and students’ incorrect answers. Students’ correct
answers included all students’ correct answers for all suffixes in the test. Besides, students’ incorrect answers consisted of 8 groups named wrong spellings
(mistakes in letters in the adjectives), inappropriate adjectival suffixes (other adjectival suffixes which are not appropriate to the context), non-adjectival suffixes (nominal, adverbial, and verbal suffixes), prefixes (morphemes attached preceding the base words), non-existent words (the words which do not exist in English), base words (roots of the words), other base word (the base words of other words), and no answer (the students do not answer the numbers).
Additionally, the researcher classifies the answers based on the semesters where the students belong to. Thus, there are three semester to compare for each big groups (students’ correct answers and students’ incorrect answers). The result
for these groups are further discusses in different part in Chapter 4. The following tables represent the table in discussion part in Chapter 4.
Table 3.1 The Students’ Correct Answers for Eight Suffixes
Suffixes Sem 2 Sem 4 Sem 6 Total
stud. % stud. % stud. % stud. % -al
Table 3.2 The Students’ Incorrect Answers
3.3.2 Investigating Whether or Not There was a Significant Difference among the Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes
In normality test, Pallant (2016:74) says that
“Normal is used to describe a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve, which has the greatest frequency of scores in the middle with smaller frequencies towards the extremes. ... Normality can be assessed to some extent by obtaining skewness and kurtosis value”. She (2016) also adds that an indication of the symmetry of the distribution can be provided by skewness. On the other hand, the information about the ‘peakedness’
is provided by kurtosis. Razali and Wah (2011) mentions that the p-value of the Saphiro-Wilk test is above 0.05 so the data are normally distributed. The folloring table presents the result of normality test.
Table 3.3 The Result of Tests of Normality
Tests of Normality values for level 2 and 4 are .099 and .320. It means that the Sig. values are greater than .05. This conveys that level 2 and 4 data are normally distributed. However, the Sig. value of level 6 is .019 which clearly denotes that the data violates the normality requirement. For this reason, the data of level 6 are not normally distributed. In consequence, the test for nonparametric data is conducted.
the researcher continues to conduct the next statistical test to answer the second research question.
In statistical procedures, there are two main groups of test; Parametric Tests and Nonparametric Tests (Larson-Hall, 2010; Pallant, 2016). Kraska-Miller (2014) explains that parametric requires the several important assumptions. In parametric test, the data have to be normally distributed and the population is equal in variances (Kraska-Miller, 2014; Pallant, 2016). Thus, if there is violation of the assumption, the researcher has to use nonparametric test. Kraska-Miller (2014) mentions that in nonparametric test, the data do not need to be normally distributed.
In this research, it was found that the data were not normally distributed. Therefore, the researcher used nonparametric test to answer the research questions. Because the researcher aimed to investigate the knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic words among three levels of ELESP, the researcher used One-Way ANOVA of Kruskal-Wallis Test. This test is usually to test differences in three of more groups for nonparametric test (Kraska-Miller, 2014; Pallant, 2016). The hypotheses applied in Kruskal-Wallis test in Nonparametric Tests are
The null hypothesis is stated as: H0: The populations mean are equal.
The alternative hypothesis is stated as:
HA: At least one of the group means is different from the other groups.
