The purpose of this research was to describe the second-year students’ speaking ability in the debate. The descriptive method was used as the design of this research. The population of this research was the second-year students at the English Department of Bung Hatta University who registered in the academic year 2020/2021. The researcher used the total sampling technique to select the sample, and the number of sample members was 37 students. The instrument for collecting the data in this research was a speaking test in the form of debate. To identify if the test is reliable, the researcher used the inter-rater method that two scorers checked the students’ speaking performance. The result of the analysis showed that the test was reliable. It was supported by the fact that the coefficient correlation is 0.89. It was categorized as a very high correlation. Then the last was valid in terms of contents because it had covered all materials that students had learned. Generally, the  result  of  this  research  showed  that  the  students’  speaking ability in debate at the English Department of Bung Hatta University was very high. In general, the students’ speaking ability in the debate was classified as very high ability.  This research concludes that  the  second-year students’ speaking ability in debate at the English Department of Bung Hatta University was very high.   REFERENCES Atchison, J. (2017). The Art of Debate. Virginia: The Great Courses. Bailey,  K.  (2016).  Practical  English  Language  Teaching  Speaking.  New  York:  The  Mc.  Graw  Hill Companies. Chania, S., & Amri, Z. (2019). An Analysis of Students’ Grammatical Errors on Speaking at SEA Debate at English Department of Faculty of Languages and Arts of Universitas Negeri Padang. Journal of English Language Teaching, Vol. 8, No. 4. Claudia, A. (2017). An Analysis of The Second Year Students’ Speech Ability at the English Department of Bung Hatta University. Unpublished Thesis.  Padang: Bung Hatta University. Fauzan,  U.  (2014).  The  Use  of  Improvisations  Technique  to  Improve  the  Speaking  Ability  of  EFL Students. Dinamika Ilmu, Vol. 14, No. 2. Lestari, L. F. (2018). Debate Technique as Teacher’s Strategies in Improving Students’ Higher Education English Speaking Skill. Musfirah. (2017). The Effectiveness Of Debate Method To Improve Students’ Speaking Skill. Didaktika Jurnal Kependidikan, Vol. 11, No. 2. Rasyid, A.R., Perdana, I., & Dayu, A.T. (2020). Students’ Speaking Achievement: The Application of Debate Technique For Teaching. Proceedings of Shepo 2020. Refnita, L. (2018). Educational research: A guide for Beginners. Padang: LPPM Universitas Bung Hatta. Rubiati,  R.  (2010).  Improving  Students’  Speaking  Skill  Through  Debate  Technique.  IAIN  Walisongo Semarang.