The Correlation Between Vocabulary Mastery and Descriptive Paragraph Writing Ability of the Eighth-Grade Students of SMPN 5 Sukawati

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the correlation between vocabulary mastery and descriptive paragraph writing ability of the eighth-grade students of SMPN 5 Sukawati academic year 2021/2022. The problem statement of the research was, “is there any correlation between vocabulary mastery and descriptive paragraph writing ability?” This research used the instrument in this research was tests, namely vocabulary mastery test (matching cloze procedure test) and descriptive paragraph writing ability test (paragraph construction test). The population in this research were all students of class VIII SMPN 5 Sukawati, totaling 253 students. To select the 73 research samples, cluster sampling was conducted. The result showed the correlation between vocabulary mastery and descriptive paragraph writing ability portrayed by a correlation coefficient of 0,440. It is at the fair level. Additionally, the significance level of both vocabulary score and descriptive paragraph writing ability score are .000, which means it is smaller than .05 (.000 ≤ .05). It means that the null hypothesis is rejected, and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. In conclusion, the researcher found that there is a significant correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and descriptive paragraph writing ability because the more students master the vocabulary, the more students writing ability, especially in a descriptive paragraph or vice versa.