Background of the Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Language is a tool of communication between two persons or more. And communication is a social incident, the incident that happens while people interact with others. 1 When we stop to think about it, we realize that language is involved to some extent in almost everything we do. All people need to communicate with each other. Whatever they do, by using verbal language, speaking or writing, the important thing is that all people need to receive and give any kinds of information. Language is an essential aspect of human life. It has big role for every individual in making a good relationship with other people, so everyone needs a language to share his ideas, opinions, or feelings to each other. Besides, it is used in many different kinds of social situations for many different purposes, such as writing, speaking, and some combination of these, dictation or reading. Language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact . 2 It shows that language is a tool of communication which can be expressed not only through verbal or oral communication but also through non-verbal communication. English is the most significant subject that people learn in the world now days. It becomes the most effective tool to communicate and interact among nations. To get communication with other people in English fluently people need to learn. 1 Jalaluddin Rahmat, Psikologi Pendidikan, Bandung: Rosda Karya, 1988, p. 27. 2 H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, New York: Longman Group Ltd, 2000 Third Edition, p.4 Learning is the situation where people not only consume a subject but also do recreation. Besides, it shows or helps someone to learn how to do something, provides with knowledge, causes to know and understand. While teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning. 3 Learning English is a hard work for most people it also involves a considerable commitment of time and effort, it is because English is a foreign language which has different characteristics from our own language, and it means we have to learn many new aspects of the language. English has played an important role in some parts of peoples life; either it is used verbally or literally. Related to that case, Julian Edge in her book states, English as the International language serves many people as a bridge into the worlds of higher education, science, international trade, politics, tourism or any other venture which interest them. 4 Most of people will not be able to understand those without understanding English because lots of books are written in English. And they need English to support their goals in life, especially in education. English as a foreign language is a very important subject in curriculum of Indonesian schools and in some schools English has been taught to the students from the first grade of the Elementary school. People realize how important it is to learn English language and they hope that they can use it whenever they need. To improve people‟s abilities in English, in Indonesia, it has been considered that English as the first foreign language which should be learned first from other languages. There are four basic language skills to be developed in learning English. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Besides the four skills, the learners have to master the grammar properly. It is integral part of the language we use in everyday communication, although we are probably not conscious of grammar in our 3 H. Douglas Brown, Principles..., p.7 4 Julian Edge, Essentials of English Language teaching:3 rd Edition, London :Longman, 2003, p. 25 own language use. According to Scott Thornbury “Grammar is partly the study of what forms or structures are possible in a language. Traditionally, grammar has been concerned almost exclusively with analysis at the level of the sentence. Thus a grammar is the description of the rules that govern how a language‟s sentences are formed.” 5 According to Penny Ur “Grammar may be roughly defined as the way a language manipulates and combines words or bits of words in order to form longer units of meaning.” 6 Grammar is a major influence in syllabus design, grammar is supposed to be taught appropriately because it is the basic element of language. Without the proper knowledge of grammar, the learners will find many problems to make sentences to express their ideas for communication activities. An important part of grammar is how words can or cannot be combined in sentences. By using the grammar, the students will feel confident to use it in communication. In order to be effective, efficient, and enjoyable in English learning, and also to learn the grammar easier, the teacher has to find ways to teach the grammar to make it interesting for the students. With the students feeling of being interested in grammar, it is easier for the teacher to transfer his knowledge to the students. Meanwhile, students who learn English find a number of problems, especially with the grammar as the language that can be and appear confusing. Some students think of grammar as the boring subject. When they learn English, they try to avoid the grammar of that language. It is confusing and hard to be understood. At the beginning, the students find something hard when they have to study about degrees of comparison of adjective. They find that the form of degrees of comparison of adjective that we use to compare thing, person, or places through the level of quality, quantity, or relation and it is formed from adjective. They make mistakes because of 5 Scott Thornbury, How to Teach Grammar, Malaysia: Longman,1999, p.1. 6 Penny Ur, Grammar Practice Activities: a practical guide for teachers, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p.4. the lack of knowledge of forming comparison degrees of adjective and the influence of mother tongue. There is not transforming adjective in Bahasa Indonesia. The teaching technique is assumed as the factor that causes the students‟ grammar low. The technique used by teacher has often been said to be the cause of success or failure in language learning for it is ultimately the technique that determines „the what‟ and „the how‟ of language instructions 7 It is not easy to teach a language without using suitable technique because each technique has advantages and disadvantages. Teaching English, especially grammar is like teaching other social science, which needs suitable techniques in order to get the successful learning. So, why it should be done the research. Usually, the technique used in the teaching learning English grammar process is monotonous where the students just memorize the formula and memorize the expressing style by using dialogue based on the text book without giving opportunity to express the meaning, it makes them feel bored and they do not feel enjoyable to learn it. It can be assumed that grammar is the most boring subject in English lesson. A good teacher is supposed to have initiative in creating the most effective and efficient way to help the students to understand the lesson. He has to be able to prepare the lesson in such a way so that he can both motivate the students and release barriers such as fear and anxiety by creating a good and interesting class atmosphere. This may be a way for the students to acquire the language easily. Many language teachers are as concerned to help their students develop as people and in their ability to relate to others as they are to help them develop their ability to use the foreign language. In this sense, language teachers have a role as communication teachers and indeed, as teachers in the broadest sense. It is important to have as a wide range of resources as possible in the classroom so that the students can have a rich base and stimulus for this development. The resources include 7 William F. Mackey, Language Teaching Analysis.London: Longman,Green and Co. Ltd, 1966, p.138 pictures. Pictures are not just an aspect of method but through their representation of place, object and people essential parts of the overall experiences. 8 In order to solve learning English grammar which makes the students bored is by using pictures. Because using pictures is easy to get and easy to understand. The use of pictures is helpful when students have limited experience and when they are just beginning to develop a stock of words. Therefore, some of the teachers use this approach to get the purpose of teaching-learning process and make the class alive. To prove it, the writer wants to make an experimental study, by using pictures in reinforcing degrees of comparison of adjective. From the background above, the writer is interested in searching about the effectiveness of using pictures in reinforcing degrees of comparison of adjective.

B. Statement of Problems