Predicative Position Discussion Students` understanding of-ing and -ed participial adjective in English language education study program Sanata Dharma.
                                                                                19 Grammar is one of the most important components in English study and it
should  be  thoroughly  understood  because it  is  fundamental  in  learning  English. According to Fromkin and Rodman 1998 p.13:
“
The grammar, then, is what we know. It represents our linguistics competence. To  understand  the  nature of  this  internalized  unconscious  set  of  rules,  which  is
part  of  every  grammar  of  every  language,  every  human  being  who  speaks  a language knows it is grammar”.
One  of  grammar  subject  which  has  to  be  mastered  by  English  learner  is participial adjective which often used in daily conversation. In the Webster’s New
Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged 1983, English participial adjective is an  adjective  with  –ed or  –ing ending  suffix.  Most  suffixes  do  not  change  the
meaning of the base; rather, they change grammatical function of the base word. English  grammar  could  be taught and  mastered by  explicit  and  implicit
teaching.  In  explicit  teaching,  grammar  taught  directly  by  explanation  of  the grammar rule clearly. The lecturer will explain structure aspect of grammar while
students will use logical thinking. Meanwhile, in implicit teaching the student will learn unconsciously without awareness to learn English grammar.
As  for  Sanata  Dharma  ELESP  students,  English  grammar  is  taught  in Semester 2. Students are taught systematically by lecturer from structure and the
rules.  Lecturers  usually  give  examples  on  grammar  and  explain  the  ‘how-to’ pattern  with  lack  of  practice.  However, most  students  have  difficulty in  learning
and applying grammar, particularly on participial adjective. From  the  finding  research, students  were  still confused  to  differentiate
participial adjective.  Researcher  found  that  almost  half  of  participants  fall  into “Poor” and “Very Poor” category despite they have studied and passed participial
20 adjective  subject  in  Semester  2.  Students  cannot  mention  participial  adjective
accurately  either,  as  in  questionnaire,  most  students  answered  questions incorrectly.  This reflects  that  students’  understanding  on  this  subject  is  still  low
and  they  are  lack  of understanding  and  knowledge  on  characteristic  of  the  noun and not any specific act Quirk, 1985, p. 246. They also do not possess adequate
knowledge in describing cause of feeling Azar, 1992, p. 298. The students’ low understanding in this subject was then proved and more
explained in further interview which gain additional information. Researcher took five students as samples for interview. The questions in interview are:
1. Do you understand about participial adjective? 2. Do you know the differences between –ing and –ed participial
adjective? 3. Do you understand the function of –ing and –ed participial
adjective? 4. Do you find difficulty in understanding participial adjective?
5. What is your difficulty in understanding participial adjective? 6. How do you learn about participial adjective?
From  all  questions guidelines  above,  all  of  these  five  students  tried explaining about adjective participial but none of them explained it correctly and
accurately.  Theoretically,  they  do  understand  about  adjective  only,  but  not participial adjective thoroughly. When students answer the questionnaire or other
participial adjective-related  questions,  some  of  them  answer  it  by  guessing.  One of correspondent explained that shehe is still confused in choosing whether to use
–ing or –ed and what does it function. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21 This  research eventually proved  that  students’  lack  of  understanding
participial adjective is mainly because of teaching method. Lecturers approach to teach  grammar  is  often  explicit which  focus  on  grammar  structure  with  lack  of
exercise.  Thus,  students  only  learn  grammar  in  the  meeting  of  the  course  in  the classroom. The interview also  shows  that most  students  only  learn  English
grammar by listening to lecturer’s explanation. They do not repeat or practice the material outside the classroom.
To  master  English  grammar,  the  teaching  method  should  apply both explicit  and  implicit  teaching.  Students  need  to  learn  grammar  structure  and
pattern  in  classroom  but  they  have  to  apply  it  so  will  become  habit.  Not  only students will  learn  by  explanation,  but  they  will  also  learn  by  daily  practice. It
then  stimulates  students  to  be  more  understandable  on  basic  knowledge  of grammar and  to  unconsciously improve  their  ability  with  minimal  use  of logical
thinking as well. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
This chapter consists of two parts. The first is the conclusion of this study. The second part contains recommendations toward learning grammar especially
adjective participle.