Abstrak
ABSTRACT Ayu Syawilda, 2318059. “The Correlation Between Students' Critical Thinking and Writing Skills in Descriptive Text at The 10th Grade Students of MAN 1 AGAM” a thesis. English Education Department. UIN Sjech M. Djamil Djambek Bukittinggi, 2025. This research was conducted based on problems found in MAN 1 AGAM, particularly among 10th grade students. It was discovered that most students obtained low scores in their English writing tasks, experienced difficulty in generating and organizing ideas when writing descriptive texts, and lacked critical thinking skills. These issues led the researcher to investigate the correlation between students’ critical thinking and their writing skills in descriptive text. The researcher applied quantitative research using a correlational design. The total population consisted of 53 students. A purposive sampling technique was used to select one class (X.E.1), consisting of 19 students, as the main sample. Meanwhile, the other two classes (X.E.2 and X.E.3) were used to try out the instruments for validity and reliability. The research instruments included a critical thinking questionnaire and a descriptive writing test. Data were analyzed using SPSS to reduce human error. The findings showed that the correlation coefficient between students’ critical thinking and their writing skills was 0.430, indicating a moderate positive relationship. However, the significance value was 0.066, which is higher than the standard alpha level of 0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is no statistically significant correlation between students’ critical thinking and their descriptive writing skills. Although the relationship was not significant, the moderate correlation suggests that students with stronger critical thinking skills tended to write better, even if not consistently across the sample. This study provides valuable insights for educators by highlighting the potential role of critical thinking in enhancing writing ability. Further research is recommended to investigate other factors that might influence students’ writing proficiency more significantly.