THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ SELF-CONFIDENCE AND THEIR SPEAKING ABILITY AT SMA NEGERI 6 OKU, PALEMBANG SOUTH SUMATERA

The purpose of this research was to find out the correlation between the eleventh-grade students' self-confidence and their speaking ability at SMA Negeri 6 Ogan Komering Ulu, Palembang South Sumatera. This research used a correlational design. The population was all of eleventh grade students at SMA Negeri 6 Ogan Komering Ulu, Palembang South Sumatera (211 students). The cluster random sampling technique was used to collect the data. There were 32 students (class XI.6) became the sample. The instruments for collecting data were a questionnaire about students’ self-confidence and the speaking test.
Based on the data analysis, there was no correlation between the eleventh grade students’ self-confidence and their speaking ability at SMA Negeri 6 Ogan Komering Ulu. The result showed that the rcalculated value was -0.0034., while the rtable value was 0.3494 at the significance level 0.05 and degree of freedom (df = n–2). Since rcalculated was lower than rtable (-0.0034 < 0.3494), the null hypothesis, which stated that that there is no significant correlation between the eleventh-grade students' self-confidence and their speaking ability at SMA Negeri 6 Ogan Komering Ulu, Palembang South Sumatera, was accepted. It means that speaking ability is not influenced by self-confidence but probably there are many factors that can influence speaking ability such as linguistic and non-linguistic aspects. Based on the finding, the researcher suggested that students consistently practice their speaking ability, even though they might have no self-confidence. The teachers are suggested to always support students in developing their speaking ability, however students have low self-confidence. For other researcher the researcher suggested to do research about other factors that influence students’ speaking ability.
Keywords: Correlation, Self-confidence, and Speaking Ability