ISSN (p) 2461-3961 (e) 2580-6335

Doi: 10.35569
Vol. 6 No. 1 Tahun 2020

Biormatika :
Jurnal ilmiah fakultas keguruan dan ilmu pendidikan

http://ejournal.unsub.ac.id/index.php/FKIP/

The Correlation between EFL Students’ Attitudes towards Their Writing Ability

Astri Dwi Floranti1, Hanif Nurcholish Adiantika2

STKIP Invada Cirebon1, Universitas Muhammadiyah Cirebon2
[email protected], [email protected]

Info Artikel Abstract

____________________ __________________________________________________________

This study aims at examining the relationship between students’

Sejarah Artikel:
attitude towards their writing ability. This study employed
quantitative study by using Pearson-product correlation. The
Diterima (bulan) (tahun) samples were randomly selected 35 students out of the total
Disetujui (bulan) (tahun) population 70 students in one senior high school in Bandung. The
Dipublikasikan (bulan) Data were obtained through questionnaire with regard to attitude
and writing proficiency which are appropriate with several criteria
(tahun) of each writing element to scrutinize the correlation between
students’ attitude and writing skill ability. The findings indicate
that attitude has moderate correlation (.456) with students’ writing
ability. In other words, it is obvious that attitudes are very
essential for students to increase their writing ability. The English
teachers are suggested to figure out the prominence of attitudes to
their students for it has been found that attitudes is able to
significantly contribute to the students’ writing ability.
Keywords: Correlation, EFL students, attitude, writing ability

prominent to comprehensively teach writing

INTRODUCTION skill in order to shape students’ ability to write
Writing is commonly deemed as a properly and appropriately.
challenging skill and complex skill to be There are many features in writing that the
mastered by the students in EFL context students should grasp since, according to Wall
(Graham, Harris, & Mason, 2005). Inside the (1981, p. 53), it is commonly associated with
circumstance of English in Indonesia where it intrinsically sophisticated elements covering
is taught as a foreign language, writing skill is
considered the most fundamental skills the
students should master. However, most
students delineate that the writing skill is very assortment of writing mechanics and
complex as its complexity will significantly grammar, knowledge possession of issue,
affect their writing output. Therefore, it is awareness of writing style trend, and any
other related factors in writing skill. In other (1994, p. 12) attitude plays an integral role in
words, the coverage of writing involves the determining students’ participation in L2
mixture of the mechanics of writing along learning and demonstrating students’
with grammar, knowledge of topic being achievement in any task given in this case
written, current trend of writing style, so on writing skill.
and so forth. Concerning the inevitable relationship
Among the centers of writing complexity, between motivation/attitude and success in L2
writing creates its own tendency when the learning, Dornyei (1998) emphasizes that
readers are physically missing and in some motivation/attitude offers the major stimulus
cases the authors remain unknown. Writing is to carry out an English teaching where it is
denied of certain advantages for example taught as a second/ foreign language and
composing straight quotations, cooperating subsequently to withstand the conservative
and obtaining direct response from the and monotonous teaching and learning
readers, attaining an in-depth and consistent process over and over again. Deprived of
information on the readers’ contextual adequate motivation/attitude, even the
acquaintance through gestures and any other students with the most outstanding capabilities
paralinguistic elements (Pilus, 1993). The are unable to undertake long standing goal and
aforementioned shortcomings should be neither are suitable programs and decent
viewed and considered as crucial factors in lessons sufficient to confirm students’
English teaching in a foreign language context accomplishment. Conversely, adequate
in general and writing skill in particular. motivation can construct substantial capacity
Writing is defined as a process where the and learning circumstance (p. 117).
writers discover point of views and ideas and Therefore, this study intends to investigate
subsequently materialize them in a visible and the correlation between students’ attitude and
actual form (Raimes, 2003; Richard & writing ability. The result of this study will be
Renandya, 2003; Moore-Hart, 2010). beneficial for both students and teachers. By
Therefore, in order to evade misunderstanding knowing if students’ attitudes and writing
for both native and non-native ability are correlated significantly, it is
speakers/writers, it is very fundamental for the assumed that if the students have positive
writers to equalize a set of issues covered in attitudes, the writing ability will be potentially
writing skill particularly mechanics and high. But, oppositely, if the students have
grammar, content, audience, purpose, spelling, negative attitudes, the writing ability will be
punctuation, and vocabulary. Furthermore, it potentially low.
reassures the process of thinking as well as In accordance with the purpose of the
learning, stimulates interaction, and study, this study is aimed at searching answers
materializes ideas and thoughts into concrete to the following question: Are students’
form for consideration. Non-native speakers attitudes and writing ability correlated
consider writing as complicated skill since significantly? The significances of the present
they are expected to generate written outputs study are portrayed into two major ways.
that represent the possession the elements and Theoretically, the study is hoped to support
issues in writing skill in English as a second the existing theory on the same area.
or foreign language as aforementioned (Abu- Practically, the findings of the study are
Rass, 2001). expected to be useful for English teachers
In relation to the aforementioned concerning how to encourage students to have
explanation, one of the essential affective positive attitudes towards writing ability.
factors that determine the improvement of
student’s learning achievement is attitudes. Concept of Writing
The issue of L2 students’/learners attitude, Inside the circumstance of writing,
motivation, and perception particularly in the attitude/motivation plays a fundamental role
context of L2 learning has been circulating for as it will lead to inspiring significances
years (e.g., Gardner, 1983; Gardner & towards the process of writing (Bruning &
MacIntyre, 1993; Nunan, 1988; O’Neil, Horn, 2000). Furthermore, Bruning & Horn
1991). According to Oxford and Shearin (2000) also proclaim that stimulating
significances have momentous result upon advance the students’ competence to compose
process and product particularly in writing a writing.
which is deemed as the complex skill to be The attitude of students will turns out to be
mastered. more optimistic when they recognize interest
Ames (1992) examined classroom in written communication and understand that
structures and revealed genuine assignments they are able to write well by giving them
to be an essential of a motivated, mastery- meaning to experiences and matters related to
oriented structure. Writing will tend to make them (Bruning & Horn, 2000, Gau,
students more enthusiastic and motivated Hermanson, Logar, & Smerek, 2003). The
when it is employed as an instrument for researchers and scholars believe that there is a
specific objectives (e.g. intellectual and/or link between the writing process and writing
social advance) instead of general ones attitude. (Bruning & Horn, 2000, Gau,
(Cleary, 1991; Potter, McCormick, & Hermanson, Logar, & Smerek, 2003).
Busching, 2001). The study of attitude has gained extensive
Writing involves a set of diverse cognitive consideration recently in both the first and
procedures that the students must carry out to second language researchers and scholars.
succeed. The aforementioned procedures Many scholars and researchers, on the attitude
cover retrieval, goal setting, planning, issue, have inferred that students’ attitude is
problem solving, and evaluation (Flower & deemed as a vital part in teaching and learning
Hayes, 1981). The amount and intricacy of the process. Thus, it should be considered as an
aforementioned procedures indicate the integral aspect in the pedagogy of
students’ high level motivation. foreign/second language learning.
Motivation to write plays an integral part Gardner (1985) asserts that attitudes in the
in writing skill as the students who lack context of language learning is also believed
attitudes/motivations to write will be difficult and deemed as motivation components. In
to involve themselves in writing particularly accordance with Gardner (1985, p. 10),
academic-based writing (Pajares, 2006). motivation is defined as an assortment of
Furthermore, the students with the tendency as effort combined with a desire to achieve the
aforementioned may undergo excessive language objective along with encouraging
anxiety towards writing, low self-confidence attitudes towards language learning.
for writing, and lack of self-resilience and Wenden (1991) depicts attitude into three
self-fortitude in writing. components: Firstly, attitudes are highly
associated with cognitive component. This
Concept of Attitude may comprise principles or insights regarding
Attitude to write is viewed as one factor the substances or circumstances linked to the
that may affect students’ writing competence attitude. Secondly, attitudes possess an
in EFL classroom. Therefore, in improving evaluative component. In other words, it is
their attitudes/motivation in the context of referred that the substances and circumstances
writing skill in EFL context, it is very correlated may create preferences of like or
prominent to regularly diminish their negative dislike. Thirdly, attitudes are referred to
attitudes/motivation. The development of behavioral component. It can also be inferred
writing in EFL context has become a priority that there is a tendency of certain attitudes to
of the contemporary education culture. As a encourage learners/students to implement
result, it is no wonder that the researchers or specific learning behaviors.
scholars themselves have requested further Gardner (1985, p. 91-93) points out that
studies with regard to the relationship between attitude is considered as an evaluative reaction
attitudes and their writing skill (Kear, to some object of reference or attitude,
Coffman, McKenna, & Ambrosio, 2000). concluded based on individuals’ principles or
Behaviors play a primary role to supports thoughts regarding the referent. In other
students for writing and education betterment words, the evaluative reaction will lead to the
such as growing their writing skills, emergence of positive and negative attitudes.
expressing their ideas and thoughts, and Both of them will significantly affect the
success of students’ language learning for
instance English teaching in general and Furthermore, by referring two previous
writing skill in particular. studies, this study is carried out to put an
emphasis whether the findings are similar in
Previous Related Research Report Indonesia context or completely different to
There have been studies focusing on each other. This study particularly tests the
correlation between students’ attitude and students’ attitude and writing ability to senior
their writing ability where English is taught as high school students.
a foreign language. There are two previous
studies that had been conducted. The first After presented the relevant literature
study was conducted by Hashemian and review and previous related research, the
Heidari (2012) in Iranian context. The study present study has similarities with the previous
aimed at investigating the correlation between studies in term of correlation between
L2 learners’ motivation/attitude and their students’ attitude/motivation and
success in L2 writing. The findings indicated accomplishment in L2 writing (Hashemian and
that there was a relationship between Heidari, 2012; Pajares, 2006). The similarity
participants with integrative type of between the relevant literature review and
motivation and writing skills even though previous related research emphasize that
running Pearson-product correlation did not motivation/attitudes is one of the most
indicate any relationship between participants fundamental factors in writing competence.
with instrumental type of motivation and Students, with lack motivation/attitude to
success in academic writing in L2. write, have no capability to engage in
Furthermore, the results also showed that academic writing. The high anxiety potentially
there was no relationship between negative occurs to the students with the lack motivation
attitude and success in L2 writing, but there to write. In contrast, study from Jahin and
was a relationship between positive attitude Idrees (2012) showed that there was no
and writing skill. In the other words, the result correlation between the participants’ attitude
also revealed that the positive attitude turned towards their learning English and their overall
out to be the fundamental aspect that affected English language proficiency.
writing skill because there was a significant In other words, language attitude is
correlation between both of them. deemed to be essential as it plays an integral
Secondly, the study was conducted by part in language teaching and learning
Jahin and Idrees (2012) once again in Iranian especially in EFL and ESL classroom. It
context. The study aimed at assessing the appears consistent with Prodromou (1992) that
current EFL major students’ writing a positive learners is the one who holds
proficiency and scrutinizes the correlation positive attitude towards the target language.
between students’ writing proficiency and Attitude is one of the crucial elements that
their attitudes (motivational intensity and affects English as a second/foreign language
desire to learn) towards learning English. The learning. It is because how much efforts
findings portrayed that there was no students put into language learning depends
significant correlation between participants’ somewhat on attitude (Gardner, Lanlonde, and
attitude towards learning English and their Moorcroft, 1985). Therefore, students’ attitude
overall English language proficiency, as plays an integral part of learning and it should
exemplified by their GPAs. It was become an indispensable component of foreign
unavoidable that in the previous study, there and second language learning pedagogy.
was a significant correlation between L2
students’ motivation/attitude the positive METHODS
attitudes and writing skill. However, in this Research Design
previous study, the result displayed that there This study was characterized as a quantitative
was completely no significant correlation study. It was based on definition of co-
between the students’ attitude towards their relational research design from Borg and Gall
English learning and their whole English (1993: 112, as cited by Latief, 2011) that a
language proficiency. correlation is the measurement of the co-
relationship between two or more variables
using co-relational statistic to investigate the In order to collect the required data, two
precise degree of their relationship. This instruments were employed in the present
research was held in one of Senior High study. They are:
School in Bandung, West Java. The design 1. Writing test ability is initiated to gain the
can be portrayed as follow: data of students’ writing ability. In writing
test ability, recount text was chosen as the
T1 T2 genre of writing test. The writing test titles
Note: consisted of four tentative themes belong
 T1 refers to students’ attitudes (as to the recount text. The four tentative
independent variable) measured by themes were visiting tourism place, at the
questionnaire beach, going to the zoo, and holiday.
Students’ scoring system of writing ability
 T2 refers to writing ability (as dependent was employed in order to judge the
variable) measured by writing test of validity of the test. This scoring system is
recount text very fundamental to represent five
elements of writing skill that should be
Two meetings were arranged to obtain the mastered by the students. They are
data in the present study. In the first meeting, considered as content, organization,
the students were given questionnaire (T1) to language use, vocabulary, and mechanic.
seek out the students’ attitude in writing skill. There are several criteria of each writing
Subsequently, in the second meeting, the element which are modified by Heaton
writing test of recount text (T2) was carried (1991).
out to measure the students’ writing skill. 2. Questionnaire of attitude was
Consequently, the data obtained from the administered to obtain the information
questionnaires (T1) were correlated with the about students’ attitude toward language
data attained from the writing test of recount learning. The questionnaire delivered to
text (T2). the students was adapted from “Attitude
Questionnaire” proposed and developed
Population and Sample by Setiyadi (2006) designed to examine
The population belonged to the first grade of students’ attitude toward English
one senior high school in Bandung, West language. A set of questionnaires were
Java. There were two classes of the first grade administered in order to scrutinize the
of MA with the total population of students is students’ attitude in English learning in
70 students. The numbers of the students in general and writing skill in particular. The
each class are approximately 35 students. questionnaires consisted of 28 items. Each
Based on the population, the sampling item had a numerical value according to
was carried out by simple probability Likert scale, for example:
sampling through lottery. The researcher had 4 = strongly agree
committed to conduct the sample by initiating 3 = agree
simple random where each individual inside 2 = disagree
the population had an opportunity to be a 1 = strongly disagree
sample of the research. Then, simple
probability sampling generated the concrete Data Collecting Procedures
result where X-A class which consisted of 35 There were several sequential procedures to
students, had been selected as the population gather the data required. The procedures were
and sample. It became manifestation carried out as follow:
according to consideration that entire class 1. Distributing the Questionnaire: This
possessed the identical probability to be procedure was conducted in the very first
selected. It also had a fundamental purpose to meeting. Questionnaires were
avoid the subjectivity that might occur in the administered in order to examine the
study. students’ attitude toward English
language.
Instrumentation and Material
2. Conducting Writing Ability Test: Students analyzed by using Pearson Product
were given a test in order to measure their Moment Correlation formula as proposed
writing ability. The test consisted of four by Hatch and Farhady (1982: 198):
tentative themes belong to the recount
text. r xy =N ( ∑ XY ) −(∑ X )¿¿
3. Analyzing the Data: The results of writing
test as the manifestation and the concrete
The data were manually computated to
evidence belongs to students’ writing scrutinize whether there is correlation
ability and the questionnaires have been
between those two variables or not.
4. Testing Hypothesis: In order to infer a ability. If r value is higher than r table, it means
possible correlation between students’ that the hypothesis is acceptable.
attitude and students’ writing ability, the
criterion of hypothesis acceptance was
utilized. To decide whether the first FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
hypothesis is accepted or rejected, the Findings
following criteria for acceptance: Two meetings were initiated to conduct this
study. The first meeting was held on January
H0= r value< r table 3th, 2020. In the first meeting, the
H1=r value >r table questionnaires-based students’ attitude towards
Notes: English was distributed. Subsequently, at the
H0 : There is no correlation between students’ second meeting, students’ writing ability test
attitude and students’ writing ability. If r was done on January 5th, 2020. After the data
value is lower than r table, it means that the collected, they were quantitatively analyzed by
hypothesis is acceptable. using manual computation through Pearson
H1 : There is a significant correlation between Product Moment Correlation. The computation
students’ attitude and students’ writing using Pearson Product Moment Correlation is
indicated as follow:

N ( ∑ XY ) −( ∑ X )¿ ¿

35 ( 6157.56 )−(2369)(90,57)
r xy = 2 2
√[35(165643)−( 2369) ][35(235.0449)−( 90.57 ) ]

215515−214560
r xy =
√ [ 5797505−5612161 ][ 8226.572−8202.925 ]
954,27
r xy =
√[185344] [ 23.6466 ]
954.27
r xy =
√ 4382755
954.27
r xy =
2093.5
r xy =0.45582
r xy =0.456
Based on the aforementioned data analysis by Students’ attitude determines the result of
using Pearson Product Moment Correlation, their writing proficiency significantly. The
the findings reveal that the value of two-tailed correlation is significant because between
significance correlation (r value) between students’ attitude and their writing ability are
attitudes and writing ability is 0.456. tied to each other as the manifestation of the
Therefore, based on reliability emphasized by significant correlation. This is relevant with
Setiyadi (2006), the correlation between those what Gardner (1985, p. 91-93) emphasizes
variables is considered moderate. that attitude is considered as an evaluative
reaction to some object of reference or
Discussion attitude, concluded based on individuals’
The findings of the study is similar with principles or thoughts regarding the referent.
the study conducted by Hashemian and In other words, the evaluative reaction will
Heidari (2012). They revealed that there was a lead to the emergence of positive and negative
relationship between positive attitude and attitudes. Both of them will significantly
writing skill. In the other word, the result of affect the success of students’ language
the study indicated that the positive attitude learning for instance English teaching in
became one of the fundamental factors that general and writing skill in particular.
affected students’ writing skill. There are some suggestions that can be
The findings of the study, based on the described as follows:
aforementioned Pearson Product Moment1. This study applied recount text as the main
Correlation analysis, indicate that attitude has material of writing test. Further research
an integral role towards students’ writing should be conducted by other genres of the
ability. Nonetheless, based on the correlation text for example: narrative, descriptive,
between those variables which is considered procedure, report, etc.
moderate, it represents that the attitude has2. For the objective of the further study, it
considerably affected students’ writing should also be conducted to investigate the
achievement as it is relevant with Pajares correlation between students’ attitude and
(2006), Jahin & Idrees (2012), Johnson other English language skills such as
(2012), and Dehbozorgi (2012) that listening, reading, and speaking.
motivation/attitude to write is an essential3. The English teachers are advised to explain
element in writing skill. Motivation to write the importance of attitude in English learning
plays an integral part in writing skill as the to the student for it has been revealed that the
students who lack attitudes/motivations to attitude is able to significantly contribute to
write will be difficult to involve themselves in students’ writing ability.
writing particularly academic-based writing
(Pajares, 2006). Furthermore, the students
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