Linguistic Competence and Academic Essay Writing Ability of Grade 9 Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69569/jip.2026.088Keywords:
Academic writing proficiency, Age of first English language exposure, Gender differences in education, Linguistic competence, Transitional devicesAbstract
This study examined the linguistic competence of Grade 9 students and its relationship to their academic essay-writing ability. Anchored in Noam Chomsky’s theory of linguistic competence, the research examined sentence structure, transitional devices, and parallelism as key components of effective written communication. A quantitative descriptive–correlational design was employed, with 107 students selected through one-stage cluster sampling from a public secondary school. Data were collected through validated instruments and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that students demonstrated Proficient competence in sentence structure (x = 13.39) and Satisfactory performance in transitional devices (x = 8.61) and parallelism (x = 10.44). Female students outperformed male students, and those exposed to English at earlier stages achieved higher scores than those exposed later. All components of linguistic competence were positively and significantly correlated with essay-writing ability, with overall competence showing the strongest association. The findings underscore the importance of early language exposure and targeted instruction and contribute empirical evidence linking linguistic competence to academic writing performance among secondary learners.
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