ACADEMIC MOTIVATION, PARENTAL EDUCATION AND WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS, SRIWIJAYA STATE POLYTECHNIC

Abstract

This study examined the correlation of academic motivation and parental education towards
writing achievement of English Study Program students, Sriwijaya State Polytechnic in academic year
2012/2013. The Study also examined whether there was a significant difference in terms of gender
towards writing achievement of the students. It was quantitative correlational research. The sample
consisted of 45 students of English Study Program, Sriwijaya State Polytechnic. Academic Motivation
Scale (AMS) by Vallerand et al. (1992) with some modification conducted by researcher was used as a
measure to find out the academic motivation of the students and demographic questionnaire was used
to find out name, class, gender and parental education of the students. Meanwhile, the data about
writing achievement of the students were taken from the archive in English Study Program, Sriwijaya
State Polytechnic. The results showed that academic motivation added to parental education correlated
significantly towards writing achievement of the students (R=0.837); and there was no significant
difference in terms of gender towards writing achievement of the students. Hopefully, future studies
will investigate why and how academic motivation added to parental education influenced and gave
contribution to writing achievement of the students.