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

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)

Proposed By:

YUNITA MIRNANDA
208014000015

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHERS’ TRAINING
SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
JAKARTA
2014

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.
The result of the error analysis process showed that students committed
error into four types: omission, addition, misformation/misselection and misorder.
The findings showed that the most frequent error made by the students in the
usage of degrees of comparison is misformation in differentiating whether the
sentence is comparative or superlative degree with 94 errors or 71.75% of the total
of errors. Moreover, 15.25% errors fell into omission, 6.9% errors fell into
addition and misorder 6.1%. This errors were committed because most students
generalized the rule and also showed that the cause of error is intralingual
transfer.

v

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-kesalahan siswa dan sebab-sebab dari kesalahankesalahan 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
misformation dalam membedakan penggunaan comparative atau superlative
degree dalam kalimat dengan kesalahan 94 kesalahan atau 71.75%. Selanjutnya,
kesalahan omission sebesar 15.25%, addition sebesar 6.9% dan misorder sebesar
6.1%. kesalahan-kesalah tersebut terjadi karena peserta didik mengeneralisasikan
aturan (rule degrees of comparison of adjective) dan penemuan juga menunjukkan
bahwa penyebab dari terjadinya kesalahan-kesalahan itu adalah intralingual
transfer.

vi

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’
Training of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

vii

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

208014000015

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ..............................................................................................................

i

APPROVAL ......................................................................................................

ii

ENDORSEMENT ............................................................................................. iii
SURAT PERNYATAAN KARYA SENDIRI ................................................. iv
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................

v

ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................. ix
CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

:

:

INTRODUCTION
A. The Background of the study ....................................

1

B. The Limitation of the Problem .................................

4

C. The Formulation of the Problem ...............................

4

D. The Objective of the Study .......................................

4

E. The Significance of the Study ...................................

5

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. The General Concept of Error Analysis ....................

6

1. The Definition of Errors ......................................

6

2. The Sources of Errors ..........................................

7

3. The Definition of Error Analysis ........................

9

4. The Procedures of Analyzing Errors ................... 10
B. The General Concept of Degrees of Comparison of
Adjectives .................................................................. 17
1. The Definition of Adjectives ............................... 17
2. The Definition of Degrees of Comparison .......... 19
3. The Usage of Degrees of Comparison ................ 20
4. The Form of Degrees of Comparison.................. 21
C. The Previous Related Study ...................................... 29

ix

CHAPTER III

:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. The Place and Time of the Research Methodology
1. The Time and Location ....................................... 30
2. The Technique of Sample Taking ....................... 30
B. The Research Design
1. The Research Methodology and Design ............. 30
2. The Instrument of the Study................................ 30
3. The Technique of Data Collecting ...................... 31
4. The Technique of Data Analysis ......................... 33
5. The Validity of Test ............................................ 33

CHAPTER IV

:

RESEARCH FINDINGS
A. The Description of the Data ...................................... 34
1. The Result of Test ............................................... 34
2. The Result of Interview ....................................... 35
B. The Data Analysis ..................................................... 37
C. Discussion ................................................................ 55
1. The Types of Error ............................................... 55
2. The Sources of Error ............................................ 58

CHAPTER V

:

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion ................................................................ 61
B. Suggestion ................................................................. 61

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 63
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………… 65

x

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
10. Surat Keterangan Selesai Penelitian.............................................................. 144

xi

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

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
constructing accurate sentences to avoid misunderstanding, incomprehensible
message and ambiguity.

1

2

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 able to 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.
2. Tomorrow will be more busy than today.
3. Jhon’s handwriting is badder than Rizal’s.

3

4. Ferdy’s guitar playing is gooder than 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 better than 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.
2
Ron Cowan, The Teacher’s Grammar of English: A Course Book and Reference
Guide,(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 34.

4

“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
of comparison of adjectives.

5

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
Other researchers who are interested in analyzing of students’ errors at
Junior High School can get the basis information from this study, so they
can do their research in deeper, further, and better technique.

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. The General Concept of Error Analysis
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 selfcorrected.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.
3
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 5th edition, (New
York: Pearson Education, 2006), p. 257.

6

7

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.

4

Brown. Op.Cit., p. 263.

8

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.
6
Carl James, Errors in Language and Use: Exploring Error Analysis,(London: Longman,
1998), pp. 179-200.

9

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
8

Heidi Dulay, et al, Language Two, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 138.
Brown, Op. Cit., p. 257.

10

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.
S. P. Corder, Error Analysis and Interlanguage, (New York: Oxford University Press,
1981), p. 45.
11
Rod Ellis, The Study of Second Language Acquisition, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2008), p. 46.
10

11

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
13

Op. Cit., p. 37
Ibid

12

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
Ellis, Op. cit., p. 48
16
Dulay, Op. cit, pp. 154-162
15

13

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 archiform, 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
Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a

morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance. For example, in the sentence
“he is all the time late”.

14

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
17

Ellis, Op.cit., p. 53

15

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),

19

Ibid., p. 141-143
Richard, Op.cit., p. 174

p. 140.
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

21

Brown, Op.cit., p. 177

17

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 nonnative 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
Vacida Erdogan, Mersin University Journal of the Faculty of Education; Contribution
of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, (2005), pp. 267-268
24
Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use, (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987), p. 192.
23

18

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:
25

Ibid. pp. 150-151.

19

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
26

Betty Schramfer Azar, A Reference Grammar Understanding and Using English
Grammar, (1993), pp. 331-332.

20

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
With the positive form of the adjective, we use as …as in the affirmative

1)

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.
When than … is omitted, it is very common in colloquial English to use

3)

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

Parallel increase is expressed by the + comparative … the +

5)

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.
27

Ibid, pp.38-39.

21

6)

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

7)

a)

The weather is getting colder and colder

b)

He become less and less interested

Comparison of actions with gerunds or infinitives

8)

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.

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:
28

p.113

Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005),

22

Table 2.2
Adjectives of One Syllable Ends with an e Just Add -r
Adjective

Comparative

Superlative

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
Adjective

Comparative

Superlative

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
Adjective

Comparative

Superlative

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.
30
Ibid, p. 77.

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