There are some irregular adjectives in degrees of comparison. Here are irregular adjectives:
Table 2.7 Irregular Adjectives
Positive Degree Comparative Degree
Superlative Degree
Good Bad
Far Little
Much Many
Old Better
Worse Farther
Further Less
More Elder
Best Worst
Farthest Furthest
Least Most
Eldest
The rules for contructing the comparative and superlative degrees of adverb are the adverb has an inflectional form only for comparison. Short
adverbs mostly one-syllable adverbs that have the same form as adjectives are compared by the addition of
–er, -est. As usual, only adverb
of manner and adverb of distance and direction.
39
A few short adverbs have an irregular comparison:
40
Table 2.8 Irregular Adverbs
Positive Comparative
Superlative
Well Better
Best Badly
Worse Worst
Far Farther
Farthest Further
Furthest Much
More Most
Little Less
Least
39
Ibid, p. 157.
40
Ibid, p. 157.
d.
The Objectives of Degrees of Comparison 1.
To know different levels of quality, quantity or relation from adjectives or adverb words.
2. To identify of features similarity.
3. To act the process of comparing persons, things or places.
e. Types of Degrees of Comparison
There are two types of Degrees of Comparison:
41
1. Adjectives comparison
2. Adverbs comparison
However, in this research, the writer will focus on the explanation of adjectives and adverbs comparison in comparative and superlative degree.
From theories above, the writer takes one of theories which are proposed by some linguists. He takes the definition of error according to Vacide Erdogan.
Error is the use of linguistic item in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the language regards it as showing faulty or incomplete learning. It occurs because the
learner doesn’t know what is correct, and thus it cannot be self-corrected.
42
Error can show what the learner has learnt whether they understand material that teacher
gives or not. To know errors which are made by the students, the teacher must do error
analysis. According to Dulay, error analysis is a branch of applied linguistics where teacher can observe, analyze and classify errors that students made to
reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learners’ errors.
43
In doing error analysis, a researcher uses steps of error analysis. There are some steps of error analysis according to Fisiak. They are collection of data,
identification of errors, classification into error types, statement of relative frequency of error types, identification of the areas of difficulty in the target
language, and therapyh or remedial.
44
41
Parrot, op.cit, p. 79.
42
Erdogan, op. cit, p. 263.
43
Brown, op. cit, p. 259.
44
Fisiak, op. cit, p. 222.
After finding the result what types of errors which are made by students, the writer wants to know why students make errors. In analyzing causes of
students’ error, the writer took a theory of causes of error from Peter Hubbard, et.al. There
are three major causes of error according to Hubbard, et all. They are mother-
tongue interference, over-generalization, and errors are encouraged by teaching material or method.
45
In this research, the writer wants to know what kinds of errors which are made by students in comparative and superlative degree. Therefore, the writer will
explain about degrees of comparison itself. According to Frank and Parrot, Degrees of comparison consist of two
types. They are made by adjective and adverb.
46
In English, a lot of important meanings are expressed by changes in the adjective and adverb itself. For example
add
–er and –est or more and most.
In determining kinds of tests which are used as instrument, the writer has to consider them based on theory of language testing. Because the writer will
measure students’ ability in grammar, there is a hint or guide how to construct test of grammar and usage in language testing book.
There are some of the most common types of objective items used to test awareness of the grammatical features of the language, such as: multiple choices
items, error recognition items, rearrangement items, completion items, transformation items, items involving the changing of words, ‗broken sentence’
items, pairing and matching items, combination items, and addition items. From explanation above, the writer can choose some of types of objective
items to construct test of grammar. In this research, the writer makes two types of tests. They are fill in the blank and essay, and interview.
45
Hubbard, et all. A Training Course for TEFL, Walton Street:Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 140
—142.
46
Frank, op cit, pp. 118 —157.
C. Previous of Related Studies
There are two previous studies that the writer takes about error analysis. They are
The Analysis on Students’ Difficulties in Learning Degrees of Comparison and
An Analysis on Students’ Mastery of Degrees of Comparison. The first previous study is about The Analysis on
Students’ Difficulties in Learning Degrees of Comparison, a case study in second grade of SMP Dua Mei
Ciputat Tangerang Selatan Lulus Fatmawati, 2010. The study focused on what difficulties is made by the students in learning Degrees of Comparison especially
in comparative and superlative degrees. The subjects of this research are the second grade students of SMP Dua Mei Ciputat Tangerang Selatan which consists
of 0ne class which is 36 students and it is located on Jl.H. Abdul Gani No. 135 Cempaka Putih Kecamatan Ciputat Timur Kota Tangerang Selatan.
The technique of data collecting was done by giving a test and conducting an observation. The type of test that the writer used is multiple choices and it
consists of 30 items which is 10 questions for comparative degrees, 10 questions for superlative degrees, and 10 questions for comparative and superlative degrees.
In this research, errors which are analyzed are about comparative degrees, Superlative degrees, comparative and superlative degrees. From the result of
analysis, the percentage of error is in using comparative degrees 76.11, and the percentage of error is in using superlative degrees 65. And the percentage of
error in using comparative and superlative degrees 87.77. Finally, the students have highest difficulty is in using comparative and superlative degrees. So, the
students still confuse to diffirentiate comparative and superlative degrees. The second previous study is about
An Analysis on Students’ Mastery of Degrees of Comparison, a case study in second grade of SMPN 03 South of
Tangerang Ciputat Methania Aris Shusantie, 2011. The study focused on what difficulties the students in learning Degrees of Comparison especially in
comparative and superlative degrees. The subjects of this research are the second grade students of SMPN 03 South of Tangerang consists of one class which is 36
students and it is located on Jl.Ir.H. Juanda Ciputat Tangerang Selatan.
The technique of data collecting was done by giving a test and conducting an observation. The type of test that the writer used is multiple choices and it
consists of 20 items which is 5 questions for comparative degrees, 5 questions for superlative degrees, and 10 questions for essay translate to english comparative
and superlative degrees. In this research, errors which are analyzed are about comparative degrees, Superlative degrees, comparative and superlative degrees.
From the result of analysis, the percentage of error is in using comparative degrees 16.66, and the percentage of error is in using superlative degrees
33.77. And the percentage of error in using comparative and superlative degrees 49.57. Finally, the students have highest difficulty in using
comparative and superlative degrees. The writer concluded that there are 5 reasons that the students find
difficulties in mastering degrees of comparison; they are confused to put suffix-er for comparative and
–st-est for superlative or prefix more for comparative and most for superlative, they forgot to add the article in the superlative form and
confused to omit or misplaced the use of be, they forgot to add then after adjective for comparative form, they do not know that is ended in
–y to –i and add –er-est, and some students confused to differentiate the usage of comparative and
superlative degrees.
24
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Time and Location
This research took place at MTs Al-Islamiyah which is located on Jl. Kebayoran Lama 242 Kp. Kecil Kebon Jeruk, West of Jakarta. This research
started from March 27th until April 24th ,2014.
B. Method of Study
The writer used the qualitative as the method in this research because he presented the data collected focus on pictures rather than numbers. Based
on Bogdan said that In a case study design is the data collected take the form of words or pictures rather than numbers. The written results of the research
contain quotations from the data to illustrate and substantiate the presentation. The data include interview transcript, fieldnotes, photgraphs, videotapes,
personal documents, memos, and other official records.
1
The writer also used qualitative data analysis. Bogdan also said that Qualitative data is descriptive, Descriptive data are particularly important
because qualitative methods enable researchers to study what people take for granted.
2
Therefore, The writer makes organizing data into categories and identifying patterns in types of error and sources of error. Types of error are
Addition, omission, misformation, and misorder. In other hand, sources of error are interlingual, intralingual, contextual learning, and communication
strategies.
C. Data and Data Source
The writer came to the school to get the data. The writer also did the observation to the class which class is taken the research. After that, the
writer choosed and made the test for students. The data of the research were
1
Bogdan. Robert C Biklen Sari K , Qualitative Research for Education An Introduction to Theory and Methods Fifth Edition, New York:Pearson Education, 2006, pp. 3
—7.
2
Ibid, p. 5 —6.
the students’ error in using degrees of comparison comparative and superlative degrees; the data sources were taken from test and interview. The
data from test were used to know kinds of errors made by students of MTs Al-Islamiyah in using degrees of comparison. The data from interview were
used to know why students made errors in using degrees of comparison.
D. The Technique of Data Collection
To collect data, the writer gave the test and interview to students of MTs Al-Islamiyah West of Jakarta.
1. Test
This test was used to know kinds of errors made by students of MTs Al-Islamiyah in using degrees of comparison. The writer gave a test
which focused on the use of comparative and superlative degrees, and this test consists of 20 items are fill in the blank questions, and 10 items are
essay. Throughout 20 items about degrees of comparison asking about 10 items comparative degrees and 10 items asking about superlative degrees
in fill in the blank, and 5 items asking about comparative degrees and 5 items asking about superlative degrees in essay. The writer put the items at
random. The distribution of the test items is described in table 3.1 of this chapter.
2. Interview
Interview was used to know why students of MTs Al-Islamiyah in using degrees of comparison. The writer did an interview which focused
on why students of MTs Al-Islamiyah make errors in using degrees of comparison comparative and superlative degrees, and it consists of 4
items. The instrument sheet can be seen in appendix.
E. Instrument
The writer did the abservation into the class. Then, the writer saw what did the students have the difficult to do the exercise about degrees of
comparison. Therefore, the writer could take the conclusion about the class from abservation. The conclusion is about how far did the student study about
