THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS' INTEREST IN ENGLISH AND THEIR READING COMPREHENSION AT THE EIGHTH GRADE OF SMPN 7 TARAKAN
This study aims to investigate the correlation between students’ interest in English and their reading comprehension. Utilizing a correlational research design with a quantitative approach, the data were collected through cluster random sampling, selecting classes VIII-4, VIII-5, and VIII-7 from SMPN 7 Tarakan as the sample, which included 85 students. The instruments used in this research comprised a questionnaire to measure students’ interest in English and a reading comprehension test. Data analysis was conducted using the Pearson Product Moment, with the assistance of SPSS version 25.0, to determine the presence or absence of a correlation between students’ interest in English and their reading comprehension. The statistical analysis yielded an r-test value of 0.617, which exceeded the r-table value of 0.213 (0.617 > 0.213). Therefore, the alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted, and the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. It can thus be concluded that there is a significant correlation between students’ interest in English and their reading comprehension in the eighth grade at SMPN 7 Tarakan.