THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS' READING COMPREHENSION ACHIEVEMENT AND WRITING ACHIEVEMENT AT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

Reading and writing are closely related language skills. However, previous studies have focused on university students, leaving a gap in our knowledge regarding junior high school students. This study investigated the correlation between reading comprehension and writing achievement at the junior high school level. A quantitative correlational study was conducted. A homogeneity test revealed a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05), indicating that the population was not homogeneous. Purposive sampling was therefore used to select Class VIII A (n = 31) for a writing test and a reading comprehension test. Two independent raters scored the test with a Cohen's kappa of 0.82, revealing a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.487, p = 0.006). Students with higher reading comprehension tended to have higher writing achievement and vice versa. This supports Anderson's (1977) Schema Theory, which states that reading develops schemas that can be applied to writing to improve students’ literacy outcomes.