2

Writing is a means to communicate, to convey message, ideas, and

feeling in a written form. Raimes (1983: 76) states that writing is a skill in
which we express ideas, feeling and thought which is to be arranged in
words, sentences and paragraph. Writing is usually directed to others for a
specific purpose. For students, it can provide the opportunity to express
themselves through a written form. Writing can also develop the writer’s
understanding of an issue by organizing their ideas on a piece of paper.
Writing is one of the important skills of a language. As Harmer
(2006: 79-80) states, “writing is a basic language skill, as important as
speaking, listening and reading”. Its means, however these four skills
become the basic components in mastering language communication.
Therefore, the primary aim of teaching and learning English is the students
can communicate with other whether in spoken or written form using the
language they have been learned.
In spite of the fact that writing is very important, writing well be
considered the most of difficult of the language skills especially for
Indonesian students, to get good score in writing test is very difficult for
them. Through learning, students wish to achieve the best result. A bad or
a good result of learning can be determined by some factors, for internal
factors such as students’ physical conditions, ability or intellectual
readines, skill and motivation. The external factors which may come from
outside the students are such as students’ environment, parents and
economical as well as social condition.
Among those factors, motivation is the key to learning and the
main factors when they want to do something, including writing. Students
who motivated to write they will do the assignment of writing seriously
and it can determined their success in writing. Therefore, motivation play
an important role in which a student achieve good result in learning,
especially in writing skill. To succeed in this writing skill, motivation
plays a vital role. In this case, motivation effects on how students learn
and how they behave towards a subject matter.
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For Senior High School students, besides speaking, listening and

reading, writing skill is one of the skills they realized as difficult one. It
was happened at the Eleventh grade students in SMA Koperasi Pontianak.
Based on the researcher’s observation, there was different level motivation
from the students in learning English writing skill. Furthermore, some of
the students dislike writing, they did not know how to write, feel
unconfident when they cannot find the right word, feel confuse when faced
with a topic and a blank piece of paper.
In relation with the explanation above, motivation is one of
important aspects in writing. Without a strong motivation, students will be
difficult to do writing activity. Theoretically, motivation is all of inner
power reinforcing any person to do something. So, writing motivation is
an inner power that determines successful writing activity. The students
need motivation in writing, because with motivation they will active to do
writing activity. Even though they will find many problems such as
structure grammar, diction, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation. In
writing, the students are able to make a good composition. It proves that
motivation needed by students in writing.
There are many reasons to investigate the correlation between
students’ motivation and their writing ability. First, at the first time the
students are glad when they would like to study English as their school
subject. However, when they are learning English in the classroom, almost
all of them are getting bored. They do not feel interested any more to study
this subject. Second, they lack awareness the importance of learning
English. Third, the technique that is used in teaching learning process is
not interesting. Considering these statements, the researcher realizes that
motivation is a key problem for the students to be successful in learning.
The teacher should motivate the students in writing by giving some
suggestion, corrections, rewards if they made a good writing.
Furthermore, prior research Gipta in Shurafa (2012) indicated the
significant correlation between learning motivation and English writing.
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When motivation is high, students learn things without taking much time,
but when it is low, they take longer time to learn English writing. On the
other hand, previous research above also obtain indicated highly motivated
students were found to use more writing strategies than less motivated
ones.
Based on the fact and problems, the researcher assumes that
English writing activity will not be effective if the students are not
strongly motivated. Therefore, to prove the theory above the researcher
was interested in investigating the correlation between the students’
motivation and their writing ability at the eleventh Grade Students of
SMA Koperasi Pontianak in the Academic year of 2018/2019.

B. Research Question
In line with the background stated previously, the problem is:
1. Is there any correlation between the students’ motivation and their
writing ability of eleventh grade students of SMA Koperasi Pontianak
in the academic year 2018/2019?
2. How is significant correlation between the students’ motivation and
their writing ability of eleventh grade students of SMA Koperasi
Pontianak in the academic year 2018/2019?

C. Objective of the Research

By relating to the research question, the objective of the research is:
1. To find out whether there is a correlation between the students’
motivation and their writing ability of eleventh grade students of
SMA Koperasi Pontianak in the academic year 2018/2019.
2. To find out how is significant correlation between the students’
motivation and their writing ability of eleventh grade students of
SMA Koperasi Pontianak in the academic year 2018/2019.
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D. Benefits of the Research

This study is expected to provide useful information about the teaching
and learning English at eleventh grade students’ of SMA Koperasi
Pontianak, especially in students writing ability related to their motivation.
This study is also useful for students, teachers, and the further researchers
which described in the following points:
1. For students
It is useful for students at SMA Koperasi Pontianak because this
study conducted to know the students’ motivation in writing ability.
Moreover, students are expected to improve their motivation and their
writing ability.
2. For teachers
It is useful for teacher at SMA Koperasi Pontianak to improve
students’ motivation in learning writing.
3. For school
The benefits of the research for school are it can increase the
students’ achievement and it can develop learning strategies which
stimulate students’ creativity in writing.
4. For further researchers
The result of this study can be used as a reference for other
researchers who are interested in conducting similiar study.

E. Scope of the Research

1. Research Variable
Variable is part of research, it is a general class of subject, events,
situations, characteristics and attributes that are of interest to the
researchers (Balnaves and Caputi,2001:46). It is concluded that
variable such as groups of subject those are going to be analyzed by
the researcher about each result of subjects, the researcher also can
find the comparison or relation among them based on the object of
research. There are two variables in this research, first is predictor
 6

variable as independent variable and second is criterion variable as

dependent variable.
a. Predictor Variable (Independent Variable)
Predictor variable is the presumed cause of non-
experimental study, also can be interpreted as a variable used to
make a forecast about an outcome in correlational research
(Creswell, 2012:341). This function is often called a variable
influence, because the function affects other variables. This
variable is also often reffered to stimulus variable. And the
predictor variable of this research is Motivation.
b. Criterion Variable (Dependent Variable)
Criterion variable is the presumed effect of non-
experimental study, also can be interpreted as the outcome being
predicted in correlational research (Creswell, 2012:341).
According to the function of these variables is affected by other
variables, therefore also called variables that influenced or
affected variables. The Criterion of this research is writing ability.
2. Terminology
In order to classify the term used and to avoid misunderstanding
the researcher provides the clarification as follows:
1. Motivation
Motivation is an energy, that can move,push and stimulate
someone based on their desire, goal, will, no matter it will come
from inside or outside in getting purpose that they set or set by
somebody else.
2. Writing
Writing is an ability in which we are not also expressing ideas,
facts, feeling, experience, and thought in written form, but also far
more than merely the act of transferring thought to paper; the act of
writing helps to shape and refine our thinking.
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3. Correlation
Correlation means statistical description for determining
relationship between two variables.
4. Ability
Ability is a competence in applying certain activity. In writing, the
components are content, organization, vocabulary, language use,
and mechanic.

F. Research Hypothesis
Creswell (2012:125) states, “hypotheses advanced a prediction
about what the researcher expect to find”. A hypotheses is a temporarily
statement of the result as prediction in the research. The null hypothesis
(Ho) represents the hypotheses that are trying to be rejected, while
alternative hipothesis (Ha) any other possibilities. In this research, the
researcher made hypotheses for the first research problem. The hypotheses
of this study are stated below :
1. Alternative hypothesis
There is a correlation between students’motivation and their writing
ability at the eleventh grade students of SMA Koperasi Pontianak in
the academic year 2018/2019.
2. Null Hypothesis
There is no significant correlation between students’ motivation and
their writing ability at the eleventh grade students of SMA Koperasi
Pontianak in the academic year 2018/2019.

G. Research Methodology
1. Form of Research
In this research, the researcher will use a correlational research
design. Cresswell (2008: 356) state that in correlational method, the
researcher used the corelational statistical analysis to describe and to
measure between two or more variables. In other words, it is applied
 8

to analyze whether or not there is a relationship between two

variables. In this study, there are two variables; namely the students’
motivation as independent variable (X) and the students’ writing
ability as dependent variable (Y).
2. Population of Research
In conducting this research, researcher need a region which
consist of object or subject that can be investigated. A population is as
all members of any well-defined class of people, events or objects
Ary, et al (2010: 148) . Another definition, Nunan (1992:231)
Population is all cases, situations or individuals who share one or
more characteristic.
On the statement above the researcher concludes that
population is a number people that have characteristic and become
subject of the research.
The researcher will choose the population of this research is
the eleventh grade students of SMA Koperasi Pontianak in the
academic year of 2018/2019. The school have 6 classes (3 science
classes and 3 social classes) and each class consist of 29 to 38
students. Especially two classes for eleventh grades who will be
population of this research, those are XI MIA and XI IIS with each of
them 30-38 students.
3. Sample of Research
In conducting the study, researcher probably not chose all the
subject or objects that exist in the population of research. As state by
objects Ary, et al (2010: 148), sample is a portion of a population. It
means that the sample in this research is represented the population.
Another
4. Sampling
In this research, the researcher will applied a random sampling.
The population will used as sample was two class, namely class
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eleventh year students of SMA Koperasi Pontianak as the subject of

the research.
Sampling is a process of choosing a number of individual for
research, so that the individuals are investigated. Widiyanto(2006:10)
in Tri Septiani (2017:28) states that random sampling is process of
choosing sample in which an individual in a population have the same
chance and the same freedom to be chosen as the sample.
5. Technique of Data Collection
The researcher uses questionnaires and test as the techniques to
collect the data for the study. The purpose of collecting data is to
obtain the data of correlation motivation and writing ability. The
main components of the technique of collecting the data are as the
following:
1. Questionnaire
Questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series
of questions for the purpose of gathering information from
respondents.
According to brown (2001:6) Questionnaires are any
written instruments that present respondents with a series of
questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing
out their answers or selecting from among existing answers.
Similiarly, Moore (1999:24) in Evi (2017) says that
questionnaire isa means of collecting the data in which the
researcher call on students to examine themselves and react to a
series of statement about their motivation, felling and opinions.
The purpose of using questionnaire is used to measure the
students’ motivationwhether they have high or low
motivation.Best (1981:167) state a questionnaire is used when
factual information is desire.
This research will use close questionnaire based on the
Likert Scale Type. According to rensislikert (in Ary, Donald,
 10

1985:195), likert scale has been one of the most widely and
successfully used techniques to measure attitudes. A likert scale
assess attitudes toward a topic by asking respondents to indicate
whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree
with each of a series of statements about the topic. The
respondents only needed to choose the best alternative from the
item and put the checklist on the given answers. In answering the
questionnaire, the students were asked to choose one of the
options by giving a mark or checklist. The score ranges from 1 to
4 can be seen at the table below:
Statement SS S TS STS
1 2 3 4
STS = Sangat Tidak Setuju
TS = Tidak Setuju
S = Setuju
STS = Sangat Setuju
The questionnaires in this research consist of 24 items.
Each item consists of four options with the scale from 1-4. The
questionnaire uses four scale based on the Likert Scale Type.
Likert Scale is a scale that used to measure someone opinion or
perception of the object.

2. Writing Test
In this research, the researcher will use writing test in form
of essay test. The text is about descriptive text. According to
Tomal (2003:72), testing is one of the more convenient methods of
data colletion. The function of this test is to know the students’
have improvement or not in writing descriptive text. This writing
test used to elicit the students’ composition based on the given
topic. The topic will given is just one. It is about “Your self”. In
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here they will give the explanation and the example of descriptive
text about introducing Friend before they are asked to do their test.
In this study, the researcher give writing test to find out their
writing ability.
6. Data Analysis
Analyis of data means a process of simplying and arranging data to
become simpler in order to find out the conclusion of information. In
the general process of analysis of research data, statistical methode
has contributed a great deal ( Singsh, 2006:223) in Elsye Fazira
correlation critical thingking and writing ability (2017).
In analyzing the data, the result of the students’ motivation
questionnaire and the result of writing test are used to find the
coefficient correlation between them. The data are correlated by using
Pearson Product Moment Correlation in order to investigate whether
there is any correlation or not. The two groups are correlated by using
Pearson Product Moment, the formula as follows:

N ∑ XY − (∑ X)(∑ Y)
𝒓𝒙𝒚=
√{𝑵 ∑ X 𝟐 − (∑ X)𝟐 } {N ∑ Y𝟐 − (∑ Y)𝟐

Where:
r xy : the coefficient of correlation between X and Y
N : the number of students in sample
x : the sum of students’ writing score
y : the sum of students’ motivation questionnaire score
Σx² : the sum of square of students’ writing test score
Σy² : the sum of square of students’ motivation questionnaire
score
Σxy² : the sum of product of x and y scores of each students.
(Hatch and Farhady, 1982: 222) in Dara Helmasena (2015)
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The researcher also will uses statistical computerization by using

Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to find whether there is any
correlation between the students’ motivation and their writing ability.
The next steps is to find the significant of variables by calculating
𝑟𝑥𝑦 is tested by significance test formula :

𝑟 √𝑛−2
𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 =
√1−𝑟2

In which : 𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 = t value

r = value of correlation coefficient

n = total of sampel

(Riduwan and H. Sunarto, 2011:81)