The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between self-esteem and speaking ability of the first year students at SMK Negeri 16 Samarinda. The design of this study was correlational design within quantitative approach. The sample of this study was 31 students in Accounting Class. The instruments of this study were the Terms of Self-Esteem questionnaire and a speaking test. The data of this study were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Formula. The data analysis result of the self-esteem questionnaire showed that the first year students at SMK Negeri 16 Samarinda had ‘high level of self-esteem (M=56.10). This result implied that participants had confidence and motivation in learning. The data analysis for the speaking test showed that the mean score of students’ speaking ability was poor in ability of speaking (M=67.87). It can be inferred that the participants had poor ability in speaking in front of the class. The result of the Pearson Product Formula showed that there was a positive and fair correlation (0.584), which means there was a positive relationship between self-esteem and speaking ability as both variables tend to increase or decrease linearly together. This meant that Null Hypothesis (Ho) is rejected and the Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. This result meant that students’ self-esteem correlated with the students’ speaking ability by making the students was more confident and had more motivation in learning process. However the students’ had low ability in speaking which was not only influenced by the psychological area but also it could be influenced by the difficulties of the English subject itself.