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CHAPTER III

METHOD OF RESEARCH

A. Location and Time

This research was conducted at Muhammadiyah University of Sumatera

Utara at Jalan Kapten Mukhtar Basri No. 3 Medan. The research was conducted

during the academic year 2014/2015. The reason for choosing this location

because the fourth semester students had previously learned Pronunciation in the

second semester and it would be practical for collecting the data and a similar

research has never been conducted in this location.

B. Population and Sample

1. Population
Arikunto (2006: 130) stated that “ The population is the whole subject of

research ”. A population is a set or collection of all elements processing one or

more attributes of interest. The population of this research was the students from

the fourth semester of English department of FKIP UMSU. There were 9 parallel

classes in the fourth semester. They are IV A Morning was consist of 44 students,

IV A Afternoon was consist of 36 students, IV A Night was consist of 45 students,

IV B Morning was consist of 42 students, IV B Afternoon was consist of 33

students, IV C Morning was consist of 41 students, IV C Afternoon was consist of

33 students, IV D Morning was consist of 40 students and IV E Morning was

consist of 43 students. So the total numbers of population in the fourth semester

are 357 students.

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2. Sample

Arikunto (2006:123) stated that if the population of the research less than

100, it is better to include all of them as the sample. However, if they are more

than 100, they are taken out 10% - 15% and 20% - 25%. From the Arikunto’s

theory above, the researcher decided to take 20% of the population as the sample.

So the samples in this research were 72 students. In this study, the researcher used

purposive sampling technique to decide the sample. According to Arikunto

(2006:153), Purposive sampling is a technique of sampling based on some

consideration. Some consideration to take the sample that the researcher used as

follow:

a. The subject was taken as the sample in this research was the fourth semester

students. The researcher chose this qualification because those students had

been taught about Pronunciation Practice in the second semester.

b. The researcher chose this two classes which is IV E morning and IV A

Afternoon as a sample, because both of this classes have a highest average

achievement among other classes when they studied Pronunciation in the

second semester. The researcher wanted to analyzed how far their ability in

identifying consonant especially the fricative sound.

From consideration above, the researcher was taken 36 students from class

IV E morning and 36 students from class IV A Afternoon as the sample. It means

that there were 72 students in those two classes that was taken as the sample of

this research.
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C. Research Design

In this research, the researcher was investigated the students’ ability and

difficulties in identifying the fricative sound. To explain the purpose of this

research, the researcher was applied the descriptive qualitative and quantitative

research. The descriptive qualitative research was identified the students’ ability

and difficulties in identifying the fricative sound. In addition, this research was

applied the descriptive quantitative research to count the percentage of the

students’ ability score in identifying the fricative sound.

D. Instrument of the Research

The instrument of this research was an objective test. The students were given

a list of words and asking them to underline the words that contain one of the

fricative sound which is in the test. There were 60 words that was taken from the

dictionary. Each correct answer was given score 1.66 and the wrong answer didn’t

affect the score. The source of the words was taken from The Oxford Pocket

Dictionary.

E. Technique of Collecting the Data

In collecting the data, the researcher conducted some steps as follows:

1. Explaining material of the research, the objective of the research and the

instructions in answering the test to the students.

2. Giving test papers to the students.
3. The researcher read the words from the test paper three times loudly in

front of the class.

4. Giving 30 minutes to the students in answering the test.
5. Collecting the students’ test papers.
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F. Technique of Analyzing the Data

After collecting the data, the researcher analyzed the data as follows:

1. Scoring the students’ answer sheet.

2. Listing their score in score table after getting the total sample score.

3. Calculating the students’ correct and incorrect answer by using Sudijono’s

formula:

Q= x 100%

where: Q = percentage of the correct item

N = the correct item

K = the number of item

4. Calculating the average score. In getting the average score, the researcher

was used the following formula:

where: average of score

= total of score

= total of sample

5. Calculating the percentage of the students’ score by the following formula:

P= x 100%

where: P = percentage of the students’ score

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N = the students’ score

M = the maximal score (100)

6. The researcher was used Hamalik’s formula to determine the students’

ability. Hamalik (2003:99) stated that a student can be said able when

he/she gets 70% or more from percentage of the students’ score. Otherwise,

a student can be said unable when he/she gets less than 70% from the

percentage of the students’ score. The table of criteria ability is as follows:

Table 3.1
Criteria of Ability

Percentage Point Qualitative Ability

(Quantitative)
90% - 100% A Excellent Able
80% - 89% B Very Good Able
70% - 79% C Good Able
55% - 69% D Poor Unable
0 - 55% E Very Poor Unable