Rabu, 1 Februari 2023 Ni Komang Trisna Wahyuni - 1901882030084 Revisi
Rabu, 1 Februari 2023 Ni Komang Trisna Wahyuni - 1901882030084 Revisi
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PRE-REQUISITE TITLE
BACHELOR THESIS
As Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the
Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education Study Program
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar
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MOTTO
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APPROVAL SHEET
1
Approved by
Advisor I Advisor II
Dr. IB. Nyoman Mantra.SH,.S.Pd.,M.Pd A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum.
NPK. 826320347 NPK. 828610335
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APPROVAL SHEET
2
This Bachelor Thesis has been examined and assessed by the examiner
committee of English Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher
Training and Education, Mahasaraswati Denpasar University in the oral
examination on Wednesday, 1st February 2023.
Chief Examiner
Examiner I Examiner II
Dr. IB. Nyoman Mantra.SH,.S.Pd.,M.Pd A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S., M.Hum.
NPK. 826320347 NPK. 828610335
Approved by
Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Head of the English Language Education
Education Study Program
Dr. Drs. I Nyoman Suparsa, M.S Ni Made Wersi Murtini, S.Pd., M.Pd.
NIP. 19601218 198602 1 001 NPK. 82 8810 336
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STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY
The researcher hereby declares that this Bachelor Thesis is her own writing,
and it is true and correct that there is no other’s work or statement, except the
work or statement that is referred to in the references. All cited works have
already been quoted in accordance with the ethical code of academic writing.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, the researcher would like to express her great-sincere attitude
to the Almighty God, Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, for his everlasting blessing
and mercies so that this Bachelor Thesis could be completed on the date.
In addition, the researcher is also grateful to his first and second advisors,
Dr. IB. Nyoman Mantra, SH., S.Pd., M.Pd and A.A. Istri Yudhi Pramawati, S.S.,
M.Hum. for their valuable guidance, encouragement, suggestion and motivation
which were helpful and useful in finishing this Bachelor Thesis. They are also
gratitude to the Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, the staffs,
and also the Head of English Language Education Study Program with the
secretary for their help and encouragement during the researcher completed the
Bachelor Thesis.
Besides, the researcher also wishes his gratitude to the Headmaster of
SMPN 3 Ubud for her permission and to the English teacher for her assistance in
doing research, to the eighth-grade students for their good cooperation, support
and hard work during the process of the data collection. Without their help, this
study could not be well accomplished on time.
Furthermore, she also expresses her thank to her beloved parents, her
beloved best friends, her boyfriend, all classmates in semester VII C and all
friends in English Language Education Study Program that have given their love,
motivation, and solidarity therefore he is able to complete her study successfully.
Then for those whose names could be mentioned here one by one, she would like
to thank their support so that this Bachelor Thesis could be finally accomplished.
Finally, the researcher realized that this Bachelor Thesis is certainly far
from perfect. Therefore, the researcher hopes that the reader can give suggestions,
advice and criticism for the improvement of this Bachelor Thesis in the future.
Moreover, the researcher hopes that this Bachelor Thesis can be used as a
reference by other researchers who are interested in Grammar Mastery and
Writing Ability.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER........................................................................................................iiii
PRE-REQUISITE TITLE.............................................................................iii
MOTTO........................................................................................................iii
APPROVAL SHEET 1..................................................................................v
APPROVAL SHEET 2.................................................................................vi
STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY.........................................................vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..........................................................................viii
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................x
LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................xii
LIST OF APPENDICES.............................................................................xiii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION....................................................................1
1.1 Background of the Study.................................................................1
1.2 Research Problem............................................................................5
1.3 Objective of the Study.....................................................................5
1.4 Limitation of the Study....................................................................5
1.5 Significance of the Study.................................................................6
1.6 Definition of Key Term...................................................................7
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3.3 Research Instrument......................................................................18
3.3.1 Validity..........................................................................................21
3.3.2 Reliability......................................................................................23
3.4 Data Collection..............................................................................25
3.5 Data Analysis.................................................................................26
3.5.1 Pre-Requisite Testing....................................................................26
3.5.2 Hypothesis Testing........................................................................28
REFERENCES.............................................................................................46
APPENDICES..............................................................................................51
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LIST OF TABLES
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LIST OF APPENDICES
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1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
There are four basic skills that students need to be master in English,
including listening, reading, speaking, and writing (Harmer, 2007: 265). Listening
and reading are receptive skills, meaning that students need to have the ability to
writing are productive skills, meaning that students need to produce words,
sentences, or paragraphs orally or in written form. Writing skill has become one
of the most important English language skills. As a productive skill, writing skill
the process of producing the written text does not happen instantly. It is because
there are several steps that students need to go through in order to write a well-
this definition, it indicates that writing skill is the ability of a writer to write with
fluent, as natural as possible with the accuracy of grammar, the coherent and
authentic ideas and has a clear purpose of writing and reader in mind. Writing is
not a simple activity because there are a lot of aspects that must be mastered. This
preparation can make it possible for words that have been used receptively to
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(written form) using language. Brown (2001:336) defines writing as the process
of putting ideas down on paper to transform thoughts into words, to sharpen your
main ideas and to give them structure and coherent organization. However, out of
four basic skills in English, writing is considered to be the most complex skill to
master. Richards and Renandya (2002:303) state that writing is the most difficult
skill to master because the learners should be able to organize the ideas and turn it
into a readable text. The product of writing that the writer creates eventually will
be read by other people. Therefore, the writer needs to be able to organize it into a
states that the product of writing also needs to be interesting in order to attract the
interest of the audience to read the product.in use. Writing skills are complex and
Studies by Putri (2018) and Cahyaningrum (2021) indicated that there was a
skills. This result further suggested the importance of mastering English grammar
sentences to communicate with other people correctly. Without the correct usage
of grammar, the written text will not be understood by the reader because in
writing form the students do not have direct interaction with the reader like the
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(2005:4) also adds that grammar is an essential component of both spoken and
It clears that grammar gives students knowledge about how to put words in
different order and convey the intended meaning. Grammar mastery can help
writers create a good descriptive text. The relationship between both writing and
text. As we know, descriptive text usually uses present tense formulas. The simple
present tense refers to action or situation that does not change frequently. It is
statements of fact, the simple present can also be used to refer to the future.
Means that simple present tense is one kind of sentence that is used to express
daily activities and general statements. This sentence is used in descriptive text.
Some people may be good at writing descriptive text with lots of good ideas to
express but if they lack of grammar knowledge, they will have such a trouble in
communicating those ideas to other people. As a result, some students may get
bad marks in school, or for some writers they may not get anything published.
After that people begin learning grammar, they start speaking and learning tenses,
gerund and so on. The rules of grammar help to determine the mechanics of
writing descriptive text, which what makes the connection between grammar and
Simple present tense is one of the tenses in English grammar that is used to
tell about general truth or fact and habitual actions. Descriptive text usually
focuses on only one object, this type of text is written using the simple present
tense. Several studies have been conducted to investigate the correlation between
study by Putri (2018) found that there was a correlation between grammar
mastery and writing descriptive ability. Cahyaningrum (2021) also showed that
there was a positive correlation between grammar mastery and their competence
(2021) both indicated that there was a correlation between students’ grammar
whole, general knowledge covering the 16 tenses. Only few studies investigated
the correlation between students’ grammar mastery of certain tenses with certain
writing text. Therefore, considering the importance of mastering English and the
urge of having a good writing skill, this study aims at investigating the correlation
habitual actions, something that students will use a lot in their daily life. Further,
simple present tense is also the first tense that students learn in English. On the
other hand, descriptive text is chosen since it uses simple present tense in the
structure. This study will be conducted by taking the eighth grade students at SMP
Negeri 3 Ubud as the samples. It brings novelty in the terms of discussion as the
Mastery and Writing Ability of the Eighth Grade students of SMPN 3 Ubud in
research problem in doing investigation is important and useful for the researcher
before doing the research. Based on the background of the study, the researcher
was interested to know about the correlation between students’ grammar mastery
in simple present tense in writing descriptive text. There is one research question
that can be formulated for this study. The research question is as follows: Is there
any significant correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability of the
study as it indicates what this study tries to investigate. Therefore, based on the
investigate the correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability of the
To keep the discussion of this study focus, the study is limited to the
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discussion about the correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability in
descriptive text. The researcher focuses on students’ descriptive text writing ability
that uses simple present tense on its structure as it is used to describe the topics
about best friend, tourism place, idol, and pet. The participants or students that
are being studied are also limited to the sample size which consists of the eighth
Through this study, there are several positive contributions that are
Theoretically, this study is expected to add into the literature related to the
correlational study, specifically the one related to students’ simple present tense
contribution to the English teachers and other researchers. For the English
teachers. Through this study, the English teachers, especially the ones at SMP
Negeri 3 Ubud, are expected to have more insights about the aspects that
simple present tense and achievement in writing descriptive text are expected to
Since broad definition of terms can cause confusion, the key terms used
in this study are defined in advance. The definition of this study key terms is
presented below.
1. Grammar Mastery
Grammar mastery is defined as the ability of the eighth grade students of SMP
create correct and meaningful sentences. In the present study, the researcher
highlighted the grammar mastery of simple present tense. Simple present tense is
one of the tenses in English grammar that is used to tell about general truth or
2. Writing Ability
Writing ability is the successful effort and courage that the students do in
operationally defined as the ability of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3
Theoretical review is a set of concepts and terms from experts used and
needed in this research. Therefore, the theoretical study used for scientific studies
some foundations and related references that could lead this scientific study.
Some of the important theories from the experts which mentioned below would
As a result, this study discusses the theories which are relevant to this research. It
text.
Grammar mastery is the mastery of formal rules concerning word forms and
and also includes the understanding of simple clause and complex clause. In this
Harmer (2001: 12) defines the term grammar as the description of the ways
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in which words can change their forms and can be combined into sentences in that
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language. Grammar is the study of how words are combined to form sentences. It
way, it also enables us to describe our own use of language, as well as that of
enables us to evaluate the choices that are available to use during the composition.
description of the structure of a language and how language units like words and
of tenses which indicate the certain time of action in English, there is simple
present tense. According to Murphy (2004: 4) the simple present tense is used to
talk about something that is true in general and it happens all the time or
repeatedly. Sargeant.H, (2007:58) defines that simple present tense is used to tell
the facts and events of a story that is happening now or in the future. Simple
present tense is using the pure form of a verb or by adding -s or -es to the end of a
verb depending on the subject. If the subject is either I, You, They or We, the
verb that is used in simple present tense is the pure or original form. On the other
hand, if the subject is either She, He or It, the verb that are used simple present
things that are always true, or situations that exist now and, as far as we know,
will go on indefinitely. We use the present simple to talk about habits or things
that happen on a regular basis. We often use the present simple with verbs that
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perform the action they describe. Considering this usage, simple present tense is
learn English as a foreign language. The students should aware about these rules
that they learn as a target language, however, these enable them to communicate
should not learn it deeply because when they communicate to other people,
especially in spoken English they just need to know how people understand what
they say. Considering those definitions and explanations, the writer shows that
when they communicate. Grammar is the way of the spoken and written language
cohesion.
are about the linguistic and rhetorical problems entailed in writing. According to
Jones in R. Cooper and Odell (1977: 33) writing was synonymous with discourse,
and discourse was discussed in terms of its aims, it related to the function of
language, and in terms of its features, which are the separate elements, devices,
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which requires some learning. Then, Torrannce et al. (2007: 2) define writing as a
higher mental process involved in creating a permanent and extended text, which
process by which we transfer our thinking, our ideas, and our experiences into
written form. It is not only the combination of letter, which relate to the sounds
when people speak, but writing is more than the production of these graphic
symbols. In writing the students are expected to acquire, requiring the mastery of
35).
writing. According to Keraf (2000) the writer transfers the images, the feeling that
writer experienced to the reader. The writer tries to convey the image, feeling and
experiences to the readers so that they can imagine. In line with Keraf, Kane
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(2000: 352) adds that descriptive text is description about sensory experience,
how something looks, sounds, tastes. Mostly it is about visual experience, but
description also deals with other kinds of perception. The purpose of descriptive
writing is the process of creating visual images and sensory impression through
words. More often, description is a part of another piece of writing and is used to
appeal to the senses, describing how the thing looks, smells, feels, sounds, or
tastes (Oshima & Hogue, 1998). In the structure, descriptive text is usually
descriptive text, it can be concluded that descriptive text is a text which says what
a person or thing is like. In addition, the writer can use the feeling to transfer the
thing.
similar topic with the one discussed in this present study. The first study was
conducted by Putri (2018) aimed to find out the correlation between students’
grammar mastery and their writing ability on descriptive paragraphs of the tenth-
design was correlational research consisting of five classes; the number of the
population was 122 students. The sample of this research was 50 students taken
from 5 classes using random sampling. The data were collected using test to
collect data. The results indicated that there is a correlation between grammar
mastery and writing descriptive ability. Based on the data analysis, the researcher
Cahyaningrum (2021) conducted the second study that aims to find the
consisted of 35 students. The instrument of this research used a test for grammar
and writing. The data were collected using test to collect data. The researcher
concluded that there was a positive correlation between grammar mastery and
their competence in writing descriptive text. The result showed that here was any
There were many similarities both of previous studies and this research.
These studies collected the data using grammar and writing test. The difference
between those previous and this research was the sample and population. Those
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previous studies was conducted in senior high school student as the sample and
this research took junior high school student as the sample. The population of the
first studies was consisted of 50 students and the second study was 35 students.
Considering the result data, those two studies were already good in
presenting the data and finding the correlation between grammar mastery and
writing ability in descriptive text. The sources of the material that the researchers
used was good. However, in writing test, the first studies did not give clear
instruction about how many sentences which should be written by the students. In
order to make the instruction clearer in this study, the researcher limited the
sentences in a paragraph for the writing test. The researcher asked the student to
are closely related in thought and which serve one comment purpose often used to
describe what a person looks like and acts like, what a place looks like, and what
an object looks like. Furthermore, Pardiyono (2007:34) states that descriptive text
was a type of written text, in which has the specific function to describe an object
(living or non-living things) and it has the aim of giving description of the object
2.3 Hypothesis
hypothesis, the researcher has to ensure that the hypothesis is real or based on
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fact. Based on the theories and related studies presented on the theoretical and
empirical reviews, two hypothesis were drawn for this study. The hypothesis were
RESEARCH METHOD
design. Considering the objective of this study which aims to investigate the
correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability of the eighth grade
considered the best design for this study. Correlational research, according to
Fraenkel and Wallen (2009: 328), is a study that investigates the possibility of a
the circumstances, considering the present study determined to find out the
correlation between students' simple present tense mastery and their writing skill
in descriptive text. Cohen et al. (2007: 256) states that a correlational study is
suggests, correlational study involves the collection of two sets of data, one of
indexes called correlation coefficients that show both the direction and the
information on how variables are related. Correlation coefficient has two signs
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which are positive and negative.
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21
The researcher uses this design to predict scores and explain the relationship
among variables. In brief, there are two variables in this research, the independent
“Y”.
between internal validity and external validity. As greater controls are added to
validity because nothing is manipulated or control but they often have high
the results are more likely to reflect relationships that exist in the real world.
The population of this study were 295 eighth grade students at SMP Negeri
3 Ubud that were divided into 8 classes. Moreover, it was a big population for the
researcher to do research. The researcher then used 73 students that took from 2
classes that consisted of 37 students in VIII B class and 36 students in VIII C class
as the samples who were chosen by using a cluster sampling method with lottery
system. In the cluster sampling method with lottery system, the researcher took
the samples randomly. Therefore, the use of cluster sampling method with lottery
system suggests that all populations have the same opportunity to be selected and
included as the sample of the present study. The sampling was done in the
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following steps: Defining the population that were the eighth grade students of
randomly;
c. Using the class names that had been chosen from the rolls of
by the researcher while collecting data to make his work become easier and get a
better result, complete and systematic in order to make the data easy to be
processed. In this research, the researcher used a test method as the instrument.
Test was a set of questions or other practices or devices used to measure the skill,
intelligence, ability and talent of an individual or a group. The type of test used
here was achievement test. There were two instruments that would be used to
The first was a grammar mastery test. The researcher used grammar test to
numbers of true false questions, and 5 of rearrange words into good sentences.
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The second instrument was a writing test used to gather the second data
about related topics that would be given by the researcher. Moreover, it should be
consisted of 6-12 sentences. There were four topics that were provided: best
friend, tourism place, idol, and pet. The writing test can be seen on Appendix 3.
Furthermore, scoring rubric is used to score the students’ work. The scoring
rubric that was used in the present study was adopted from the scoring rubric of
Brown (2007: 34). The scoring rubric used by the researcher is presented in
misuse of connectives
1 Identification is not
complete and descriptions
are arranged with misuse
of connectives
Grammar 4 Very few grammatical or
(G) agreement inaccuracies
20% 3 Few grammatical or 2x
- Use Present agreement inaccuracies but
Tense not affect on meaning
- Agreement 2 Numerous grammatical or
agreement inaccuracies
1 Frequent grammatical or
agreement inaccuracies
Vocabulary (V) 4 Effective choice of words
15% and word forms
3 Few misuse of 1.5 x
vocabularies, word forms,
but not change the
meaning
2 Limited range confusing
words and word form
1 Very poor knowledge of
words, word forms, and
not understandable
Mechanics (M) 4 It uses correct spelling,
15% punctuation, and
- Spelling capitalization 1.5 x
- Punctuation 3 It has occasional errors of
- Capitalization spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization
2 It has frequent errors of
spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization
1 It is dominated by errors of
spelling, punctuation, and
capitalization
Adapted from Brown
(2007: 34)
Based on Table 3.1, there were five indicators that were used to assess the
and mechanics. Each of the indicators had different weighting, in which content
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weighted 30%, organization and grammar weighted 20%, and vocabulary and
formula used to calculate the students’ score, the highest score for the students’
writing test would be 100 and the lowest score was 25.
The research instrument that was used to collect data should fulfill the
addition, there are two important characteristics that every measuring instrument
should possess: validity and reliability (Brown, 2004: 21). The research
instruments can be used to gather valid and reliable data. Validity and reliability
research. Therefore, both the validity and reliability of the research instrument
need to be focused by the researcher to get valid and reliable data. Regarding the
importance of the good characteristic test, the discussion of validity and reliability
3.3.1 Validity
to the extent to which the research instrument measures what it was intended to
measure. In addition, Brown (2004: 22) writes that the validity of the test refers to
the extent to which inferences made from assessment results are appropriate,
Cohen et al. (2007: 113) state that validity is an important key to effective
research. If a piece of research is invalid, then it is worthless. This means that the
situation and the particular purpose for which it is being used. Therefore, there
were several ways to determine test validity: face, construct and content validity.
The first is face validity. Brown (2004: 26) emphasizes that face validity
refers to the degree to which a test looks right and appears to measure the
of the examinees who take it. Face validity is usually based on the opinion of a
subject expert who has been asked to evaluate an instrument. Therefore, a test that
can be said having face validity is the test shows the appearance of the test, clear
instruction and uncomplicated, without error spelling, clear and tidy format. This
principal which have been adopted as bases to construct the research instrument.
Ary et al. (2010: 231) state that construct-related evidence of validity focuses on
construct validity when the researcher concerns with the type of behavior
involved in the test performance. This is also a tool that allows the researcher to
perform systematic analysis. Construct validity is used to ensure the extent of the
The third is content validity, which is defined as any attempts to show that
the content of the test is a representative sample from the domain that is to be
tested (Fulcher and Davidson, 2007: 6). It means that a test can be said to have
content validity if the contents or materials of the test represent the materials,
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which have been taught to the students. The teacher must test the students
according to what has been taught and what students have learned in the class.
Teachers cannot be tested beyond what they have been taught. This means that
the researcher must test the sample based on the material that has been taught by
the teacher in class. If the test is not based on the learning material that has been
given, then the results are not in accordance with what is being taught.
instruments in the form of grammar test and writing test construction test
which were used to measure the achievement of grammar mastery and descriptive
text writing ability. In addition, in order to have valid test, the research
instruments were considered to have a good face, construct and content validity to
be applied. The face validity of the present research instruments could be seen
from the clear instructions and the format of the test that has a standardized typing
format. Moreover, in terms of construct validity, the tests have already followed
the principles of the test constructions. Besides, the descriptive test has been
taught to the students: thus, the test has fulfilled the criteria of content validity.
3.3.2 Reliability
means that the scores are dependable: therefore, it can rely on decision- making.
Thus, the decision-making can be done if the reliability score is good. On the
other hand, Khotari (2004: 24) states that a test is reliable if it provides
consistent results and is dependable. It means that when the researcher conducts
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the sane test to students in different places and time, it shows the same results.
Therefore, in other words, every test should be reliable as the research instrument
which are needed in the present study to get good result and according to
instrument.
Brown (2004: 20) states that reliable tests are dependable and consistent.
It suggests that if the teacher gives the same test to the matched students on two
difference chances, the test should result similarly. In other words, tests are used
in different places and times and used to measure different students, and then the
measure capacity of the test is the same. Moreover, a good test that was used as a
research instrument should reliable to obtain more appropriate and accurate data.
conditions, the clarity of the rubrics concerning the various skills are expected to
consistency and explicability over time, over instruments and over groups of
height, can be measured precisely, whilst others, like musical ability, cannot.
Thus, the test used as a research instrument should be reliable because reliability
means that the measuring device is not reliable when it gives different results.
Alderson and Bachman (2002: 108) add that the writing scoring method is
good test. The way of giving scores by the researcher in each criterion must be
consistent to make the test reliable. In addition, according to Ary et al. (2010:
212), reliability is concerned with the extent to which the measure would yield
consistent results each time it is used. The first step in ensuring reliability is to
make sure the scale is long enough that it includes enough items to provide a
other words, to make the test reliable, the researcher should consider how to make
a good test. Moreover, Brown mentions the clarity of the rubrics concerning the
various skills are expected to be performed by testers, and the scoring method. In
conclusion the reliability of the research instrument in this study had been in line
with the expert (Brown, 2004). Therefore, it could be used by the researcher to
collect the data. Furthermore, the test items had been judged or reviewed by both
reliable enough to collect the required data. Thus, in the present study, the
instruments could be used and applied by the researcher to collect the data.
research instrument. Based on the design of the study and the instruments used in
this study, the method of data collection that will be used is test. Test method is
considered appropriate for the data collection because it is used to measure the
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is as stated by Megel and Heermann (1994) that test method is used to measure
In this research, the researcher had 3 steps to carry out the test to measure,
as follows: the first step was grammar mastery test in terms of simple present
tense. The test of mastery on simple present tense was intended to collect the data
about students’ grammar mastery in terms of simple present tense. This test
numbers of true false questions, and 5 of rearrange words into good sentences in
40 minutes. The second step was writing achievement test in term of descriptive
text. The test of writing achievement in term of descriptive text was intended to
collect data about students’ achievement in writing descriptive text. The researcher
about related topics that will be given by the researcher. Moreover, it should
consist of 6-12 sentences in 40 minutes. There were four topics that were
provided: best friend, tourism place, idol, and pet. Finally, the researcher gave
In order to answer the research question in the present study, the data should
be analyzed. In analyzing the data of this study, there were some data that should
In order to answer the research question in the present study, the data
properties. Normal here means if the data have a normal distribution the main
reason for conducting normality testing is that it is necessary for the researcher to
distribution. The normality test method with SPSS can be done with the Shapiro
normality the researcher used one sample Shapiro Wilk test with the provision
that when Aiymp. Sig. > 0.05. According to Pallant (2007: 62) when the result of
data is more than 0.05 indicates normality, meaning the data is assumed to be
analysis is truly taken from a population which is too different from each other.
Homogeneity helps researchers to reduce sampling error (Tayie, 2005: 38). After
the normality test, the researcher determined the homogeneity of the test. This
test is intended to test whether the data obtained from the sample is homogeneous
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or not. As the test criteria, when the value of sig. > 0.05, the variances are
Bachman (2004: 85) states that in calculating the Pearson product moment
correlation coefficient, the two variables are calculated with respect to each other
and with respect to how much each one varies individually. Pearson product
moment correlation was used to analyze the data in the present study. Pearson's
relationship between two interval or ratio variables and it can have a value
between -1 and 1. In other words, using Pearson's r is a simple way to access the
variables, based on the first and the second study that state on empirical review
the researcher used the crude criterion to evaluate the magnitude of coefficient.
Table 3.2;
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3.5.2.2 T-test
The T-test is used to test mean differences between two groups (Marczyk et
al. 2005: 220). A "significant difference" means that the results that are seen are
most likely not due to chance or sampling error. In any experiment or observation
that involves sampling from a population, there is always the possibility that an
observed effect would have occurred due to sampling error alone. But if the result
is "significant", then the investigator may conclude that the observed effect
actually reflects the characteristics of the population rather than just sampling
significance of 1-tail.
According to Pallant (2007: 239) when the value is less than 0.05, the result
affecting the result of T-testing. In this study, the researcher used SPSS 27
program with Paired Sample Test in computer program to compare the means of
4.1 Finding
The data in this study were collected through grammar mastery test and
writing test in order to investigate the correlation between grammar mastery and
writing ability of the eighth grade students at SMPN 3 Ubud. The details of the
The grammar mastery test was used to investigate the students’ grammar
mastery level. The test consisted of 30 questions that were divided into three
questions, and 5 items of jumbled sentences questions. The test was distributed
(2001: 12), grammar is a set of rules that direct the ways words are formed and
simple and complex clauses. Following this definition, the questions developed
in this grammar mastery test included topics related to the correct use of active
The highest total point that the students could get in the test was 100 and
the lowest was 0. The scores of the students’ grammar mastery test were divided
into 5 categories, following the one suggested by Septiani et al. (2018: 110),
which
35
36
included very good, good, sufficient, poor, and very poor. The result of the
Number of Students
Score Interval Grammar Mastery Level
N %
80 – 100 Very Good 24 33%
66 – 79 Good 44 60%
56 – 65 Sufficient 5 7%
46 – 55 Poor 0 0%
0 – 45 Very Poor 0 0%
Table 4.1 shows that students who got score within the interval of 80 –
100 were considered to have very good grammar mastery level. Students who
got the score within 66 – 79 were considered to have good grammar mastery.
mastery and finally those who got below 45 were considered to have very poor
grammar mastery.
The result of Table 4.1 also indicated that none of the students fell within
the poor nor very poor categories (0%). Then, there were only 5 students (7%)
who were categorized in sufficient categories. The majority of the students were
considered to have either good or very good grammar mastery. It was because 44
students (60%) were included in the good category and 24 students (33%) fell
within the very good category. This indicated that the majority of the eighth
grade students at SMPN 3 Ubud had good grammar mastery, as their scores fell
After the result of the students’ grammar mastery scores were calculated,
the scores were then analyzed by using descriptive statistics analysis on SPSS
37
Program version 27. This analysis was conducted in order to find the mean as
well as the minimum and maximum scores of the students. The result of the
Descriptive Statistics
Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
Students' Grammar Mastery 73 63 93 75.67 7.403
Valid N (listwise) 73
Based on Table 4.2, it can be seen that the lowest score for the students’
grammar mastery test was 63, while the highest score was 93. The mean score
for the test was 75.67 with the standard deviation of 7.403. Following the
classification of the scores in Table 4.1, the mean score of the students’ grammar
mastery could be categorized as good since it fell within the interval of 66 – 79.
categorized as good.
After the grammar mastery test was conducted, the students were then
asked to do a writing test. This test was conducted in order to gather the second
data related to the students’ writing ability. The students were asked to write a
provided, which included best friend, tourism place, idol, and pet. The students’
Brown (2007: 34). There were five indicators that were used to assess the
Each indicator had different weight in the scoring process, whereas the
content indicator weighted 30%, organization and grammar weighted 20%, and
vocabulary and mechanics weighted 15%. Therefore, the highest total score that
the students could get in their writing ability test was 100 and the lowest score
was 25. The scores of the students’ writing ability test were also divided into 5
categories, following the one suggested by Septiani et al. (2018: 110), which
included very good, good, sufficient, poor, and very poor. The result of the
Number of Students
Score Interval Students’ Writing Ability
N %
80 – 100 Very Good 29 40%
66 – 79 Good 41 56%
56 – 65 Sufficient 3 4%
46 – 55 Poor 0 0%
0 – 45 Very Poor 0 0%
Table 4.3 shows similar results to the grammar mastery test presented in
Table 4.1, as none of the students fell within the poor nor very poor categories
(0%). In the sufficient category, there were only 3 students (4%) who got the
scores within the 56 – 65 interval. The majority of the students had either good
or very good writing ability, as 41 students (56%) were included in the good
category and 29 students (40%) were included in the very good category. This
indicated that the majority of the eighth grade students at SMPN 3 Ubud had
good writing ability, as their scores fell within the interval of 66 – 79.
After the result of the students’ grammar mastery scores were calculated,
39
the scores were then analyzed by using descriptive statistics analysis on SPSS
Program version 27. This analysis was also conducted to find the mean as well as
the minimum and maximum scores of the students. The result of the analysis is
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Students' Writing Ability 73 65 95 78.49 8.054
Valid N (listwise) 73
Table 4.4 shows that the minimum score that the student got in their
writing test was 65 and the maximum one was 95. This resulted in the mean
score of 78.49 with the standard deviation of 8.054. As the mean score of the
students’ writing ability fell within the interval of 66 – 79, it could be concluded
The type of correlational test that was carried out in this study was
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Test and Paired Samples T-Test. However,
in order to carry out the test, the data needed to be normal and homogeneous.
the two variables. The tests were conducted through SPSS Program version 27.
Normality test was carried out in order to ensure that the data were
normality of the data, as it is usually used to test data with sample size that is
40
larger than 50. The data were considered to be normally distributed if the p-value
that was indicated by the Sig. (2-tailed) was higher than 0.05 (Sig. > 0.05). The
Based on Table 4.5, it can be seen that the value of the Sig. (2-tailed) was
0.200, which was more than 0.05 (Sig. > 0.05). Following the requirement of the
test, the data of the study could be considered normally distributed, meaning that
the majority of the data points were relatively similar as they occurred within a
After the normality test was conducted, the homogeneity test was carried
out as another prerequisite test. Homogeneity test was carried out in order to
ensure that the data were homogeneous. The requirement for the test is the same
as the one in the normality test, in which the data were considered homogeneous
if the p-value that is represented by the Sig. (2-tailed) is more than 0.05 (Sig. >
41
0.05). In this study, Levene test was used to investigate the homogeneity of the
students’ grammar mastery and writing ability data. The details of the
Based on Table 4.6, it can be seen that the value of the Sig. (2-tailed) was
0.119, which was more than 0.05 (Sig. > 0.05). Therefore, the data of the study
were also homogeneous. As the data of the study had been confirmed to be
normal and homogeneous, as the data were symmetric and had the same
4.1.4 The Correlation between Students’ Grammar Mastery and Writing Ability
investigate whether or not there was a correlation between the students’ grammar
mastery and their writing ability. This was also used to decide the hypothesis
accepted in this study. The test also indicated the strength of the correlation as
well as the direction of the correlation. The correlation was stronger if the
correlation coefficient value was closer to 1 or -1. Then, the correlation was
the correlation coefficient value. The same as the rest of the statistical analysis in
42
this study, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Test was also conducted
through the use of SPSS Program version 27. The result of the Pearson Product
Correlations
Students' Grammar Students' Writing
Mastery Ability
Students' Grammar Mastery Pearson Correlation 1 .824**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 73 73
**
Students' Writing Ability Pearson Correlation .824 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 73 73
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Moreover, the probability value should also be lower than 0.05. If the
between the variables. On the other hand, if the requirement is met, then Ha is
As shown in Table 4.7, the result showed that the Pearson Correlation
coefficient, which represented the r-obtained was 0.824. As the score was closer
to 1, it indicated that the correlation between the two variables was strong.
Moreover, the probability, which was represented by the Sig. (2-tailed) was also
lower than 0.05, as it scored 0.000. Therefore, H a was accepted, meaning that
there was a significant correlation between the students’ grammar mastery and
their writing ability, meaning that the students’ understanding of the grammar
The degree of the correlation is divided into 5 categories, which has been
explained in Table 3.2 in Chapter III. The categories included very high, high,
moderate, low, and very low. The result in this study showed that the value of r-
obtained was 0.824. Based on the criteria in Table 3.2, it could be concluded that
the correlation between the students’ grammar mastery and their writing ability
words, the students' grammar mastery was directly proportional to their writing
ability.
between the two variables, a Paired Samples T-Test was conducted. It was used
to ensure and determine the hypothesis testing in the study. The result of the test
The same as the result of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Test,
the Paired Samples T-Test also showed that the probability, which was
represented by the Sig. (2-tailed) was also lower than 0.05, as it scored 0.000.
44
alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted, which suggested that there was a
writing ability.
4.2 Discussion
The finding of the study indicated that the students’ grammar mastery
was considered to be good as its average score was 75.67, which fell within the
interval of 66 – 79. The students’ writing ability was also considered to be good
as its average score was 78.49, which also fell within the interval of 66 – 79.
This suggested that the eighth grade students at SMPN 3 Ubud demonstrated a
the two variables. The Pearson Correlation coefficient, which represented the r-
obtained was 0.824, which indicated a very high correlation. Moreover, the
probability, which was represented by the Sig. (2-tailed) was also lower than
0.05, as it scored 0.000. This was also confirmed in the Paired Samples T-Test,
as the same result was found. Therefore, it could be concluded that there was a
ability. This was in line with the findings of the studies conducted by Putri
(2018: 46) and Cahyaningrum (2021: 51) which also found that there was a
The result of this study was also supported by the findings of the studies
carried out by Etfita (2019: 67), Puspitaloka (2019: 27), and Sari et al. (2020:
220). All of the studies found that the correlation between grammar mastery and
writing ability was significant and inevitable. It was because students’ writing
organizing their ideas into good, meaningful sentences. This is related to the fact
that grammar is one of the important aspects in writing, which plays an important
role in the writing process. It helps students to express their ideas and form
The result of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Test also showed
positive correlation between the variables. This suggested that the better the
students’ understanding of the grammar, the better their writing ability would be.
they know how to arrange sentences into good, meaningful texts. Similarly,
Daniel (2017: 168) also states that writing involves the process of arranging
ideas into good sentences or paragraphs by using the correct grammatical rules.
Therefore, when the students have good grammar mastery, their writing ability is
clearly and correctly, as it deals with words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. It
provides students with the rules of combining words or pieces of words to form a
Wahyuni, 2018: 76). Phoocharoensil (2012: 508) further suggests that the
46
disadvantages for the students since they will find writing skill difficult,
especially when it is related to sentence structure as they are not familiar with the
grammatical structure.
meanings better in the form of phrases, clauses, and sentences (Setyowati &
Hardiastikna, 2019: 32). Students who have good grammar mastery can manage
(2015: 108) also add that a better understanding of how the language works in a
variety of contexts will support the learning in literacy, which includes writing.
Furthermore, even though the grammar study by itself does not necessary make
the student a better writer since there are also other aspects like content,
having a good understanding of how the language works, students can have a
better control in their writing, which improves their writing ability (Lestari,
2018: 54).
convey a message or information to the readers (Fariyanti & Faliyanti, 2013: 11).
Putri et al. (2016: 219) also suggest that communication is formed in written
piece through the meaningful sentences written by the writer, which are
understood well by the readers. In addition, Etfita (2019: 60) also suggests that
writing is much more than just getting words down and putting mechanics on
sentences that are formed through correct use of grammar, the writing piece will
and their writing ability can also be demonstrated using the stages in writing. As
which cannot be done at once. Writing involves four stages, including pre-
process in which the students check their writing and ensure the best result of it
will help students to revise their writing over the process in order to get a good
writing.
ability are highly correlated due to the fact that students require good grammar
will result in an improvement in the writing ability. This is reflected in the result
of the study, in which the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Ubud demonstrated a
In this chapter, the researcher presents the conclusions from all the
and Writing Ability of The Eighth Students of SMPN 3 Ubud in Academic Year
suggestions related to this study regarding the findings of this study. As a result,
5.1 Conclusion
ability in descriptive texts for students of class VIII of SMPN 3 Ubud in the
academic year 2022/2023. In conducting this research, two test items were used,
namely: Grammar Mastery Test and Writing Ability Test. The test was carried
out well by 73 samples selected to collect the required data. Data was collected
from 2 classes that of consist 37 students in VIII B class and 36 students in VIII C
class as the samples who were chosen by using a cluster sampling method with
lottery system. The collected data was then analyzed using Pearson's Product
Moment Correlation. Furthermore, The result in this study showed that the value
of r-obtained was 0.824 which means the correlation of the two variables was
48
49
Based on the data described previously, this study reached the conclusion
that there is a significant correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability
in descriptive text of the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Ubud in the academic
obtained was 0.824, which indicated a very high correlation. Moreover, the
probability, which was represented by the Sig. (2-tailed) was also lower than 0.05,
as it scored 0.000. This was also confirmed in the Paired Samples T-Test, as the
same result was found. Therefore, it could be concluded that there was a
significant correlation between the students’ grammar mastery and writing ability.
and writing ability of the eighth grade students of SMPN 3 Ubud in the academic
5.2 Suggestions
Based on the result that has been mentioned above, the researcher would
like to give some suggestion for the English teacher, students and the other
researcher.
First for the Teacher of SMPN 3 UBUD more attention to their grammar
mastery and their writing ability not only in descriptive text. It is essential that the
teachers know that one of the factors affect the students writing skill in descriptive
explain more about grammar mastery and replay again about simple present tense
before the students’ make a paragraph especially in descriptive text in order to get
Second for the eighth grade students' of SMPN 3 Ubud. They are need to
realize how very important grammar in writing ability. Not only in descriptive
text, but in all of paragraph, sentences, and other knowing about grammar rules is
very helpful for then in constructing a good writing product. Grammar mastery is
very needed in almost all their subject at school and they will get more difficult
kind of writing when the grade increase. By using correctly grammar, the students
Third, for the other researcher who are interested in the further study of the
correlation between grammar mastery and writing ability this present research
study could serve as a useful reference. The other research are also suggested to
make a better instrument the total of the question to get the appropriate score
made the data analysis is going to well without to find the result data of the
REFERENCES
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APPENDICES
57
APPENDIX 1
LIST OF THE SAMPLE
APPENDIX 2
RESEARCH INSTRUMENT GRAMMAR MASTERY TEST
Name : _____________________________________________
Class : _____________________________________________
making it looks simple and minimalist. I also do not put many things
inside. There is a medium-sized bed on the left side where I (2) . . . every
day and a desk on the (3) . . . side. I put some indoor plants in my room
for aesthetic and healing purpose. (4) . . . green color always helps me
1. a. paint
b. paints
c. painted
d. painting
2. a. slept
b. sleep
c. sleeps
d. sleeping
60
3. a. other
b. others
c. another
d. some other
4. a. They
b. Their
c. Theirs
d. Them
5. a. at
b. by
c. in
d. on
6. Ratna and Narra always love to spend their weekend by . . . in the park.
a. bike
b. bikes
c. biked
d. biking
7. I am often late to school because of the traffic, which makes the vehicles
in front of us move very . . . .
a. low
b. lowly
c. slow
d. slowly
8. My mother does not . . . dinner every day since we enjoy eating outside a
lot.
a. cook
b. cooks
c. cooked
61
d. cooking
a. they
b. their
c. theirs
d. them
a. a expert
b. an expert
c. a expertise
d. an expertise
11. Susi and Mia often spend . . . time in the library during the lunch time.
a. they
b. their
c. theirs
d. them
a. yesterday
b. tomorrow
c. next week
d. every day
a. him
b. his
c. her
d. hers
a. causing
b. caused
c. causes
d. cause
away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Her house always seems to
have something about it that (17) . . . it apart from all the rest. It has a
us to the main hallway of the house. It always fills with joy and laughter
15. a. Go to
b. Goes to
c. Going to
d. Went to
16. a. at
b. by
c. in
d. on
17. a. set
b. sets
c. sat
d. sits
18. a. welcoming
b. welcomed
63
c. welcomes
d. welcome
19. a. they
b. their
c. theirs
d. them
a. blessing
b. blessed
c. blesses
d. bless
II. Read the sentence and choose the correct answer based on the
grammatical structure by giving a check mark (✓)!
True
False
True
False
23. Taylor Swift is a popular pop singer that started her career by singing
country music.
True
False
64
65
24. Indonesia is divided into three time zones, which are Indonesia Western
Standard Time (WIB), Indonesia Central Standard Time (WITA), and
Indonesia Eastern Standard Time (WIT).
True
False
True
False
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
66
Answer Key
I. Multiple-Choice Test
1. C
2. B
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. D
7. D
8. A
9. D
10. B
11. B
12. D
13. C
14. A
15. C
16. C
17. B
18. C
19. A
20. A
21. True
67
22. False
23. True
24. True
25. False
APPENDIX 3
WRITING TEST
Name : _____________________________________________
Class : _____________________________________________
Direction:
Please write a descriptive paragraph consisting of 6-12 sentences of your own
words by choosing one of the topics bellow.
1. Best friend
2. Tourism place
3. Idol
4. Pet
______________________________
_____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
69
__________________________________________________________________
APPENDIX 4
DATA TABULATION
The Tabulation of Data Show Samples’ Scores
40 73 78
41 83 90
42 73 70
43 66 70
44 70 78
45 80 82
46 83 90
47 73 78
48 76 79
49 83 82
50 90 95
51 83 80
52 80 85
53 80 82
54 86 82
55 86 90
56 86 92
57 66 70
58 66 72
59 63 75
60 66 67
61 76 78
62 83 88
63 63 70
64 76 78
65 63 65
66 86 86
67 83 90
68 76 80
69 86 88
70 76 80
71 63 65
72 86 88
73 73 75
∑ 75.67123288 78.49315
71
APPENDIX 5
MASTERY
Descriptive Statistics
Std.
N Minimum Maximum Mean Deviation
Students' Grammar Mastery 73 63 93 75.67 7.403
Valid N (listwise) 73
72
APPENDIX 6
Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Students' Writing Ability 73 65 95 78.49 8.054
Valid N (listwise) 73
73
APPENDIX 7
NORMALITY TEST RESULT
APPENDIX 8
APPENDIX 9
Correlations
Students' Grammar Students' Writing
Mastery Ability
Students' Grammar Mastery Pearson Correlation 1 .824**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 73 73
Students' Writing Ability Pearson Correlation .824** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 73 73
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
76
APPENDIX 10
well and always motivate her to reach her dreams. She really loves her family and
wants to make them proud of her. She started her education in kindergarten at TK
Amurwa Widya in 2005 then she continued her elementary school at SDN 1
Kemenuh in 2006-2012. In 2012, she studied at SMP Blahbatuh and she started
her senior high school at SMAN 1 Blahbatuh. She started her college in 2019 in
English. She took English language education study program Faculty of Teacher
Training and Education. She was doing teaching practice at SMPN 3 Ubud in
seventh semester. Every moments in this university was unforgettable for her. In
addition, there was many enormous things that she has got when she learnt in
Mahasaraswati Denpasar University. She got a lot of great friends and great
lectures. She was really grateful and proud because she could be part of
Mahasaraswati University.