The ELESP students` knowledge of English adjectival suffixes in the academic domain.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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.
In order to answer the research questions, the researcher conducted a
developmental research with a cross sectional study as the technique. The study
was conducted to 90 ELESP students in which 30 students for each semester. The
instrument of this study is an English adjectival suffixes test composed by the
researcher. The students’ scores of the test were further analyzed using KruskalWallis One Way ANOVA Test since the scores failed to accomplish normality
test requirement. This test aimed to answer the first research question in which it

indicated that there was significant difference among the semesters since the pvalue is .004 which is lower than 0.05. To investigate where the difference
existed, the Mann- Whitney U Test was conducted. The test proved that there was
a significant difference between semester 2 and semester 4 students with the pxv

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xvi

value of .003, and semester 2 and semester 6 students with the 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.
Keywords: English adjectival suffixes, knowledge, ELESP students, derivation
process

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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 risetriset 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.
Dalam menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut, peneliti mengadakan
penelitian perkembangan pengetahuan siswa dengan metode penelitian crosssectional. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada 90 mahasiswa PBI dimana 30
mahasiswa untuk tiap semesternya. Instrumen dalam penelitian ini adalah test
akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris yang dibuat oleh peneliti. Nilai-nilai mahasiswa
dianalisa menggunakan Tes Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA karena nilai-nilai
tersebut gagal untuk memenuhi syarat tes normalitas. Test ini bertujuan untuk
menjawab pertanyaan penelitian yang pertama yang mengindikasi bahwa adanya
xvii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xviii

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. Kesalahankesalahan 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.
Kata kunci: akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris, pengetahuan, mahasiswa PBI,
proses derivatif

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
YOGYAKARTA
2017

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
YOGYAKARTA
2017

i

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
Thesis Advisor

Yogyakarta, 14 July 2017

ii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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

Dr. Gregorius Budi Subanar, SJ.

iii

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

STATEMENT

tM

fu i

,
are rnine. I undsr t$s fuIt
This is to certiS

eXt

took somcbody elsc's ideas,

Yogyakartq I 3 July 20I?

W
MariaEvita Sari

p*rrc,

ffi' ORIGINALITY

,M

ser$encea, unless qtherwise stated,

ificludisg degree eaneellation if I
or scffi€nces, without proper reference.

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama

: Maria Evita Sari

NIM

:156332030

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
THE ELESP STUDENTS' KNOWLEDGE OF
ENGLISH ADJECTIVAL SUFFIXES IN THE ACADEMIC DOMAIN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada Perpusatakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan,
mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan
data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau

media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin dari saya
maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya
sebagai penulis.

Demikian pemyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada Tanggal 13

l,ali2017

Yan! menyatakan

Maria Evita Sari

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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.
Thirdly, I would like to give appreciation for some influential people in
Sanata Dharma University. Especially, I truly appreciate Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko,
M. A for his motivation, help, and support so that I believe I can finish my thesis.
This thesis will not finish without his enormous guidance. I also deeply
acknowledge and value the great help of Dr. FX. Mukarto, Ph.D and Dr. Emanuel
Sunarto, M. Hum who helped me in developing the test used in this research and
reviewed my Thesis. My gratitude also goes to all English Language Studies
lecturers who help me to develop my skills and write my Thesis, and ELESP
lecturers who support me and let me conduct the test in their classes. I also thank
English Language Education Study Program (ELESP) Department which gave me

vi

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
vii

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.
Maria Evita Sari

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE........................................................................................................ i
APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................................. ii
THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE .......................................................... iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ................................................................... iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS .............................................................. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. viii
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................ xii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xiii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................... xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... xivv
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................ xv
ABSTRAK ........................................................................................................ xviii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background ........................................................................................1
1.2 Research Questions ........................................................................................... 6
1.3 Research Objectives .......................................................................................... 6
1.4 Research Benefits ..............................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Review ........................................................................................... 8
2.1.1 Vocabulary ............................................................................................ 8
2.1.1.1 Vocabulary Concept ................................................................ 8
2.1.1.2 Vocabulary Types .................................................................. 13
2.1.2 Morphemes .......................................................................................... 15
2.1.3 Adjectival Suffixes .............................................................................. 18
2.1.3.1 Suffix –ing ............................................................................. 20
2.1.3.2 Suffix –ed .............................................................................. 21
2.1.3.3 Suffix –able ........................................................................... 21
2.1.3.4 Suffix –al ............................................................................... 22
2.1.3.5 Suffix –ant ............................................................................. 23

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ix

2.1.3.6 Suffix –ive.............................................................................. 23
2.1.3.7 Suffix -ary............................................................................. 24
2.1.3.8 Suffix -ic ................................................................................ 25
2.1.3.9 Suffix –ful .............................................................................. 25
2.1.3.10 Suffix –less ............................................................................ 25
2.1.3.11 Suffix –ish.............................................................................. 26
2.1.3.12 Suffix –ly ............................................................................... 26
2.1.3.13 Suffix –ous............................................................................. 26
2.1.3.14 Suffix –esque ......................................................................... 27
2.2 Review of Previous Studies ............................................................................ 27
2.3 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................... 30
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Type of Study .................................................................................................. 32
3.2 Data Collection ................................................................................................33
3.2.1 Type of Data ........................................................................................ 33
3.2.2 Source of Data ..................................................................................... 33
3.2.3 Research Instrument ............................................................................ 34
3.3 Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 36
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
4.1 Research 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
4.2 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 46
4.2.1 The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival Suffixes
in the Academic Words ....................................................................... 46
4.2.1.1 The ELESP Students’ Knowledge of English Adjectival
Suffixes in the Academic Words Based on Their Correct
Answers ................................................................................. 46

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
x

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
5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................75
5.2 Implications .....................................................................................................77
5.3 Suggestions ..................................................................................................... 78
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 80
APPENDICES .....................................................................................................
833

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
Table 4.8 The Result of the Mann-Whitney U Test for Level 4 and 6 ................. 71

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
Figure 4.8 The Students’ Knowledge of Suffix -ary............................................. 58

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
Illustration 4.1 The Types of Graphs for All Suffixes .......................................... 61

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PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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
APPENDIX G THE RESULT OF STATISTICAL TESTS ............................. 117

xiv

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

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.
In order to answer the research questions, the researcher conducted a
developmental research with a cross sectional study as the technique. The study
was conducted to 90 ELESP students in which 30 students for each semester. The
instrument of this study is an English adjectival suffixes test composed by the
researcher. The students’ scores of the test were further analyzed using KruskalWallis One Way ANOVA Test since the scores failed to accomplish normality
test requirement. This test aimed to answer the first research question in which it
indicated that there was significant difference among the semesters since the pvalue is .004 which is lower than 0.05. To investigate where the difference
existed, the Mann- Whitney U Test was conducted. The test proved that there was
a significant difference between semester 2 and semester 4 students with the pxv

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xvi

value of .003, and semester 2 and semester 6 students with the 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.
Keywords: English adjectival suffixes, knowledge, ELESP students, derivation
process

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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 risetriset 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.
Dalam menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut, peneliti mengadakan
penelitian perkembangan pengetahuan siswa dengan metode penelitian crosssectional. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada 90 mahasiswa PBI dimana 30
mahasiswa untuk tiap semesternya. Instrumen dalam penelitian ini adalah test
akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris yang dibuat oleh peneliti. Nilai-nilai mahasiswa
dianalisa menggunakan Tes Kruskal-Wallis One-way ANOVA karena nilai-nilai
tersebut gagal untuk memenuhi syarat tes normalitas. Test ini bertujuan untuk
menjawab pertanyaan penelitian yang pertama yang mengindikasi bahwa adanya
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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. Kesalahankesalahan 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.
Kata kunci: akhiran adjektival Bahasa Inggris, pengetahuan, mahasiswa PBI,
proses derivatif

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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.
1.1 Research 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.
In relation to vocabulary research, the studies conducted by Laufer and
Goldstein (2004), Nassaji (2006), Lervåg and Aukrust (2010), Mokhtar et al
(2010), and Tanabe (2016) focus more on vocabulary knowledge which show that
vocabulary knowledge appears to be prominent topic since it is associated with
English skills; reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Therefore, research in

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vocabulary knowledge is needed in relation to the students’ mastery of English
skills.
Several experts define vocabulary knowledge to many types as what
Nation (2001, as cited by Schmitt and Zimmerman, 2002) states that vocabulary
knowledge has several components; knowledge of a word’s spelling and meaning,
collocations, register traits, and grammatical and morphological knowledge.
Those components are related to each other, thus more general terms are used in
newer study by Laufer and Goldstein (2004). They note that vocabulary
knowledge covers passive (receptive) and active (productive) knowledge.
However, the terms are frequently interchangeably so vocabulary knowledge is
divided into four degrees of knowledge; active recall, passive recall, active
recognition, and pasive recognition. Moreover, according to Rebuschat and
Williams (2009), vocabulary knowledge employs explicit and implicit learning
which means that the knowledge includes explicit and implicit knowledge. They
explain that implicit knowledge takes role in spoken and written texts
comprehension and production. On the other hand, explicit knowledge monitors
utterances for mistakes. Furthermore, Bialystok (1981), Hulstijn (2007), and
Paradis (1994) as cited in Sonbul and Schmitt (2013) say that the central
difference of explicit and implicit knowledge are in the presence or absence and
awareness. Ellis (2006) as cited in Sonbul and Schmitt (2013) states that explicit
knowledge is a knowledge which the learners learn more consciously whereas
implicit knowledge is learned unconsciously. It is supported by Reber (1967) as
cited in Rebuschat and Williams (2011) who says that the learners learn the

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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
In relation to the factors of vocabulary learning, this research focuses in
morphology field since the newest research of Kim (2013) finds that the learners
have difficulties in learning roots and standard rules for prefixes and suffixes in
English words system which belong to morphology study. In morphology study,
derivation forms become one of the problems found (McCarthy, O’Keefe, &
Walsh, 2010). Therefore, in this research, morphology study focuses in derivation
forms. Derivation is one of word-formation products. Plag (2003) explains
numerous characteristics of derivation; (a) encoding lexical meaning, (b) is not
syntactically relevant, and (c) often changing the part of speech. He also clarifies

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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 wordform 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.
Recognizing the difficulties faced by non- native English learners in
learning derivation, several researches on derivation knowledge were conducted.
The first research is Derivative word forms: What do learners know? by Schmitt
and Zimmerman (2002). Their study examines the participants’ ability to produce
appropriate derivatives in the four major word classes (i.e., noun, verb, adjective,
and adverb) for 16 academic words. The participants of this study are 106
graduate and undergraduate nonnative-English-speaking students. The second
research is Knowledge of derivational morphology in a second language idiolect
by Lardiere (2006). This journal 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. The third research is What constrains possible
suffix combinations? On the interaction of grammatical and processing
restrictions in derivational morphology by Hay and Plag (2004). It focuses on the

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5

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.
The implicit and explicit knowledge of the suffixes is measured through a
test designed by the researcher to answer the research questions. The participants

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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.
1.2 Research 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?
1.3 Research Objectives
This research purposes to achieve two objectives. The first objective is to
know what the students’ knowledge of the English adjectival suffixes in the

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7

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.
1.4 Research 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.
Practically, this research can provide guidelines for English lecturers to
teach English adjectival suffixes and ELESP students to help them in learning
English adjectival suffixes. This research will also help the students to be more
aware in selecting the appropriate adjectival suffixes so they can perform better in
listening, reading, speaking and writing comprehension. Moreover, this research
will influence English lecturers to improve their technique in teaching English
adjectival suffixes in the academic words in order to help the students improve
their adjectival suffixes knowledge.

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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.
2.1 Theoretical 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
As previously explained that there are several forms of vocabulary
composition which might make students face difficulties in learning vocabulary.
Moreover, vocabulary produces complex and multiple meanings frequently
(Hiebert and Kamil, 2005). They add that these complex and multiple meanings
have to be understood based on the text or paragraph context. Therefore, the

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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.
First, the learners need to be able to recognize word parts in words. This
aspect can measure explicit knowledge. The learners are given words that they
break up. The example is unhappiness un/happi/ness. The learners can also be
tested by labelling the affixes in order to test the knowledge of the part meanings
like not 6 un/happi/ness 6 noun. The learners can also classify words based on
their parts. According to Carroll (1940) as cited in Nation (2001), this test can
measure learners’ skill in recognizing parts and identifying the meaning of words.

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