ABSTRACT

The aims of this research are to find out the correlation between (1) grammar mastery and writing skill; (2) self-esteem and writing skill; and (3) grammar mastery, self-esteem, and writing skill.
The method used is quantitative method that is correlational study. It is conducted at the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Tawangmangu in the academic year of 2016/2017 which consists of 228 students in seven classes. The sample of the research is class VIII C that consists of 32 students taken by cluster random sampling technique. The instruments to collect the data are objective test to collect students’ grammar mastery data, essay test to collect students’ writing data, and questionnaire to collect students’ self-esteem data. The techniques to analyze the data are Single Correlation and Multiple Regression Correlation.
The results of the data analysis show that in the level of significance of ?= 0.05 (1) there is a positive and significant correlation between students’ grammar mastery and writing skill (r_(x_1 y)=0.5658; t_o(3.75) > t_t(2.04)); (2) there is positive and significant correlation between students’ self-esteem and writing skill (r_(x_2 y)=0.5673; t_o(3.77) > t_t(2.04)); and (3) there is a positive and significant correlation between students’ grammar mastery and self-esteem simultaneously and writing skill (R_(x_1,2 y) = 0.665; F_o(11.46) > F_t(3.32)).
Based from the results, it can be concluded that students’ grammar mastery and self-esteem are important factors that give contribution to writing skill. Therefore, grammar mastery and self-esteem should be considered to increase students’ writing skill. It is suggested that teacher should create interesting and meaningful activities that facilitate students in learning grammar and create positive, conductive, and comfortable learning environment to increase students’ self-esteem.

Keywords: correlation, grammar mastery, self-esteem, writing skill.