CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Language competence is a broad term which includes linguistic or

grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic or socio-

cultural competence, and what might be called textual competence. The

specific learning outcomes under the heading Language Competence deal

with knowledge of the language and the ability to use that knowledge to

interpret and produce meaningful texts appropriate to the situation in which

they are used. Language competence is best developed in the context of

learning activities or tasks where the language is used for real purposes, in

other words, in practical applications.

Language is comprised of basic skills also known as the macro skills

such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. These macro skills are also

arranged in hierarchy according to its acquisition and/ or learning. It has been

known in the course of linguistics that language can be learned as it can also

be acquired. Using critical analysis, among all the skills, listening and

speaking can be scored to be acquired. Thus, they can also be named as

skills which are instinctive skills. On the other hand, reading and writing are

the skills which should be learned in the most specific context. Hence, they

can be labeled as productive skills. These are the skills which can and should

be learned in the most specific and familiar context among learners.

 It goes along with the global era; the position of communication plays the

most important roles in the world. There are many sophisticated means of

communications. However, everything will be useless if there is no language

for communication. Everyone knows that language is very important to

communicate with others. Talking about language, of course, equals with

speaking and writing activities because both of them belong to productive

skills. Imagine, if there is no speaking and writing in the world.

Although English is not the most widely spoken language in terms of

native speakers, it is the most widely used language worldwide. The primacy

of English in the global arena is attributable to the fact that it is the language

through which international trade and diplomacy are conducted, scientific and

technological breakthroughs are highlighted, news and information are

disseminated, and as a communicative tool, English functions as a mediator

between different socio-cultural and socio-economic paradigms (Crystal,

1997, 2000; Graddol, 1997). To surmise, its multi-faceted role enables

English to transcend cultural, social and economic barriers as the medium

through which achievements and innovations in the arts, commerce and

technology are highlighted.

Empirically, speaking is easier than writing. When we are speaking there

are many situations and contexts that are able to support ones’ understanding

between speaker and listener. When the author writes something he/she

must use the complete sentence in order to avoid making mistakes. In

expressing something, the author needs the components of writing that are

complicated.

Essentially language functions as the system of human communication

which according to Richards, Platt and Platt (1992: 283), “consists of different

units, such as morphemes, words, sentences, and utterances”. Crystal (1992:

212) on the other hand views language as,” an act of speaking or writing in a

given situation.” This spoken or written form of language is referred to as,

“parole or performance whereas the linguistic system underlying one’s use of

speech or writing is referred to as competence”. Of the four skills in English,

writing is considered to be the most complex and difficult skill to master. This

difficulty, according to Richards and Renandya (2002: 303),” lies not only in

generating and organizing of ideas but also in translating these ideas into

readable texts”.

The important role ascribed to writing is manifested in the status accorded

to it in differing situations within the teaching and learning environment. For

instance, writing serves as an important tool of assessing proficiency as

attested by its inclusion in the form of writing tests in major examinations such

as the TOEFL and IELTS writing sub-test. Beyond the realms of assessment,

the skill of writing is an essential feature of materials development 2

(Cumming, 1997). In academia, the skill of writing is visible in conference

presentations, journals and book publication through which the transmission

of new ideas and concepts are effected.

 Furthermore, according to Kitao (1996: 2) the components of writing are:

(1) grammatical ability – the ability to write English in grammatically correct

sentences; (2) lexical ability – the ability to choose words that are correct and

used appropriately; (3) mechanical ability – the ability to correctly use

punctuation, spelling, capitalization, etc; (4) stylistic skills – the ability to use

sentences and paragraph appropriately; (5) organizational skills – the ability

to organize written work according to the convention of English, including the

order and selection of materials; and (6) judgments of appropriacy – the

ability to make judgment about what appropriate depending on the task, the

purpose of writing, and the audience. So that, presenting writing skills for the

students must be done as seriously as possible in order to be successful in

handling the writing process. In another way, Ghazi (2002: 1) says that writing

is a complex process that allows writers to explore thoughts and ideas, and

make them visible and concrete. Writing encourages thinking and learning for

it motivates communication and makes thought available for reflection. When

thought is written down, ideas can be examined, reconsidered, added to,

rearranged, and changed.

The above statement gives the language teachers signals that conducting

writing process is not as simple as other language skills – listening – speaking

and reading. It needs some skills, such as: (1) using vocabularies in writing;

(2) generating the ideas; and (3) using tenses or grammar for writing. After

doing at least three skills, the product of writing should be examined,

changed, and edited to get the perfect writing. Writing performance is different
from other skills because it needs the accurate situation or context, and of

course, the structure of every sentence must be complete to avoid

misunderstanding.

Moreover, according to the hierarchy of the skills, writing comes last.

Therefore, we can say that writing is the achievement of proficiency level in

acquiring and learning a particular language. If a language learner can write

in a language that observes and practices the finite rules of the language, the

learner can be identified as proficient in the language.

In connection to the context above, a successful writing has a thing to

do with language competence in which it involves creating a good

communication skills wherein linguistic or grammatical competence of which

writing is important part of communication skill. Good writing skills allow one

to communicate with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through

face-to-face conversation. Poor writing skills can create poor impressions.

Writing is a process of construction and it has been one of the most

challenging skills that students have to learn. Because writing is one of the

productive skills in learning languages, then writing activities are totally

different from listening, speaking, and reading activities. In writing there are a

number of aspects of language that must be obeyed for conveying the ideas,

and self-actualization that can be understood by people who read. These

aspect of the language contained in writing activities are grammar and

vocabulary. This means that writing can provide good opportunities for

students to further deepen their grammar understanding.

 Reaching proficient levels of literacy is a universal goal for all Senior

High School students taking up HUMSS in Paulino Dari National High School.

This objective is especially challenging for this students as English language

learners particularly in the domain of writing. Writing has been identified as

one of the most essential skills because the world has become so text-

oriented. Due to this change, mainstream teachers as well as ESOL

instructors, are in great demand of effective techniques to improve writing

skills of this particular population. The purpose of this research is to perceive

the Influence or impact of Language Competence on students in producing a

successful writing specifically among Senior High School students taking up

HUMSS in Paulino Dari National High School. The findings suggest that

through the use of technology, pre-taught vocabulary, various teacher

influences and the implementation of positive diverse literacy practices, this

goal can be attained.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical Framework of this study, as discussed below, has been

derived from a search of theoretical models relevant to the study.

Having reviewed different interpretations of the relevant concepts

found in this study such as language, linguistic competence, language

proficiency, writing competence, grammatical competence, and grammatical

errors, the researcher selected the most relevant and clear cut models for the

study. Although most current descriptions of the language and its components
are more comprehensive, and each one adds some complementary definition

of the very complex and complicated issue of language, they are still, as

Farhady, Jafarpur, and Birjandi (2006: 90) claim, “more ambiguous. There is

no unanimity among scholars in the field for the definition of the same terms”.

As far as language model and language proficiency is concerned, the

researcher has adopted the model proposed by Carroll (1961); on which

modern tests such as the TOEFL and IELTS are mainly based. In his model,

Carroll (1961) adds that “there are four chief kinds of skills ... in a language:

understanding (listening), speaking, reading and writing.” Moreover; he goes

on that for each skill, a learner needs to master three components: phonetics

and phonology, the grammatical structure (including morphology and syntax),

and the lexicon (vocabulary)” (Carroll, 1961: 3).

The role of grammar in writing is akin to the role of listening and

speaking where the two are mutually synergistic. In other words, writing and

grammar are inextricably intertwined as much of good writing derives its

excellence from faultless grammar. This is emphasized by Frodesen and

Eyring (2000: 23) who believe that,” a focus on form (grammar) in

composition can help writers develop rich linguistic resources needed to

express ideas effectively”. Based on these views, the researcher deduced

that second language writers need to pay attention to form in developing

writing proficiency. Hence, the model of grammar in this study was adopted

from the model of grammar as proposed by James (1998: 96), which is based
on a descriptive view and ,”stands between the two extremes of scientific and

pedagogic grammars”.

In order to choose his writing model for this study, from what was

reviewed in literature, the researcher chose to adopt a model of writing

proposed by Raimes (1983: 6), not only for its relevance and clarity, but also

for its skills coverage including higher level skills of planning and organizing

as well as the low level skills of the mechanics of writing. Moreover; this

model of writing provides the researcher with very common terms and

concepts in the field which are unambiguous. Another advantage of this

model is that it could be easily matched with the ESL composition profile

proposed by Jacobs, Zincgraf, Wormuth, Hartfiel and Hughey (1981: 30)

which consists of approximately similar components for writing and writing

assessment.

For the assessment of writing, it should be added that writing

assessment like language assessment is a complex and rapidly evolving field

that has seen significant changes in recent years. Due to the nature of this

study, the researcher employed the ESL composition profile model as

proposed by Jacobs et al. (1981: 30), which is a combination of both the

holistic and analytic approaches of writing assessment.

The researcher adopted the CAH (Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis)

method in this study because it has been attested by several researchers that

a good proportion of errors are interference-based (Grauberg, 1971; George,

1972). Moreover; Richards (1979:18) mentions that interference from the

mother tongue is clearly a major source of difficulty in second language

learning, and “contrastive analysis has proven to be a valuable tool in locating

areas of interlanguage interference”. Selinker and Douglas (1989: 28) note

that, “the more recent results confirm that CA is the best place to begin

language transfer studies since structural congruence ... is most probably

necessary though not sufficient, for most types of language transfer to occur”.

Additionally, Yarmohammadi (2002: 27) adds that, “under the influence of the

mother tongue the differences between L1 and L2 are transferred into the

learner’s language – i.e. interlanguage – hence, interference is created and

certain deviant structures are generated.”

The methodology of CA of this study has been adopted from

Yarmohammadi (2002), who compared and contrasted the sentence

structures of two languages- Philippine English and American English and

through contrastive analysis, showed the areas of deviation due to L1

interference. In this study, in order to answer some of the research questions,

the researcher has also benefited from Error Analysis (EA), which is the study

and analysis of the errors made by second or foreign language learner.

According to Richards et al. (1992: 96), EA may be carried out in order to: “a)

find out how well someone knows the language, b) find out how a person

learns a language, and c) obtain information on common difficulties in

language learning”. Although EA has been criticised, currently, Ellis (1994:

69) adds that “it is showing signs of making a come-back”. Also he approves

that “both the qualitative approach, and the improved quantitative approach to
error interpretations, has much to offer SLA” (Ellis, 1994: 70). Moreover, in

order to avoid any drawback, the researcher decided to classify errors by

employing the descriptive profile of errors proposed by James (1998: 274).

This taxonomy is a new version of Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982). In his

taxonomy, James has taken advantage of Corder’s (1981: 23) algorithm for

error analysis.

Conceptual Framework

Statement of the Problem

The main purpose of the study is to perceive the Influence of

Language Competence on producing a successful writing among Senior High

School students taking up HUMSS in Paulino Dari National High School.

Specifically, the study will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What is the writing level of Senior High School students taking up

HUMSS?

2. What are the overall language competency levels Senior High

School students taking up HUMSS in terms of listening, reading

and grammatical competence as measured by TOEFL?

 3. Is there significant relationship between language competency and

producing a successful writing/writing skills of Senior High School

students taking up HUMSS?

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study would be beneficial to the following:

Administrators. The findings of the study will provide knowledge and

information to different school administrators on the influence/impact of

Language competence in writing a successful writing.

Future Students. The results of the study could provide insights to the

students so they would be aware about the factors that affect their

productivity in non-error and grammatically correct writings and

influence/impact of Language competence in writing a successful writing.

General Public. Through this study other general will have general

awareness to adapt to the changes made by different research and review

related literature regarding in this study.

Scope and Limitations

Definition of Terms

In a desire to have better understanding on the terminologies used in

the study, the following terms are defined conceptually and operationally:
Communicative Purpose. It is the result that the writer hopes to achieve in

writing a text. This may be a general purpose such as ‘to entertain’ or may be

very specific.

Communicative Failure. This term is used to mean that the writer has not

been able to convey his communicative purpose because in the process of

writing s/he has made (a) grammatical error(s) leading to the failure in

communication.

Communicative Competence. It refers to the ability not only to apply the

grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct

sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to

whom. Communicative competence includes:

a. knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language,

b. knowledge of conversational rules,

c. knowing how to use and respond to different types of speech acts, and

d. knowing how to use language appropriately (Richards et al. 1992: 65-6)

Grammatical competence. It refers to the knowledge of a finite system of

rules that enables an ideal language user in a homogenous speech

community to generate and understand an infinite variety of sentences.

Error. This term refers to the use of a linguistic item (a word, a grammatical

item, a speech act, etc.) in a way a native speaker regards as showing faulty

or incomplete learning.
Error Analysis. The study and analysis of the ERRORS made by L2 learner

is called EA, which is carried out in order to:

a. identify strategies learners use in LL,

b. try to identify the cause of learner errors, and

c. obtain information on common difficulties in LL (Richards et al. 1992: 127)..

Grammatical Errors. They include errors of morphology, handling word

structure such as singular –s, plural –s, -ed, and –ing, and errors of syntax,

handling structures larger than the word, namely phrase, clause, and

sentence.

Interlanguage. This term refers to the type of language produced by

second/foreign language learners who are in the process of learning a

language.

Interlingual / Transfer errors. Those errors attributed to the native language

(NL) are called interlingual/transfer errors. There are interlingual errors when

the learner’s L1 habits (patterns, systems or rules) interfere or prevent

him/her, to some extent, from acquiring the patterns and rules of the second

language

CHAPTER II

Review Related Literature

 Presented in this section are the literature and studies related to the

present investigation so that the readers will be given a clear picture of what

the present study is all about.

CHAPTER III

Research Methodology

This chapter presents the description of the methods and procedures

done in order to obtain the data, how they are analysed, interpreted, and how

the conclusion is met. This section is to justify the means in which the study is

obtained to help in giving it purpose and strength that it will then be truthful

and analytical. All these help in the processing of the data and the formulation

of conclusions.

Specifically, this chapter covers the following: The Research Design,

Research Environments, Sampling Techniques, Research Participants,

Research Instruments, and Data Gathering Procedure (which includes the

sampling method). These are presented below.

Research Design

To be able to have grasped on how employees adopt to new working

arrangement made some government agencies a Quantitative Method was

used.

The study will conduct survey research; the researcher will ask

respondent to answer survey question that are related to the study. The data
collected from this survey will then be statistically analyzed to be able to make

a solid research conclusion.

In determining the writing level of the respondents; the Four (4) Point

Likert Scale had been used. It used five-point scale data.

Point Scale Verbal Interpretation

4 4.2 – 5.0 Strongly Agree
3 3.4 – 4.19 Agree
2 1.8 – 2.59 Disagree
1 1.0 – 1.79 Strongly Disagree

Research Environment

Sampling Techniques

The study used Simple Random Design in determining in this

research. The respondents in this study are 50 permanent students of Senior

High School students taking up HUMSS of Paulino Dari National High School

Research Participants

Research Instruments

To gather the needed data, the researcher had to use the following

instruments: A self-constructed survey questionnaire which was used to

determine the writing level of the Respondents throughout the result of thier

Essay Writing and; Part 2: Variables related to Language competency and

writing competency of the respondents.

 This 60 research subject are students of Mars in Paulino Dari National

High School which located at Barangay Sugbay Dos, Municipality of Pitogo.

The instruments were gather, distribute and send thru Google Form

links via respondents preferred medium either via Social Media Messenger

App (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and etc.) or via Email.

Data Gathering Procedure

Observing the tenets of character and human relations, with the

purpose of the initiating the research instrument which was most one of the

important research tasks being the tool to generate data of the two variables.

It was noted by the Research Instructor and recommended by itself.

With all the essentials completed for the research site, the

researchers following the schedule proceeded to the mentioned location to

administer the survey questionnaire. It happened in the 1 st or 2nd month of

year 2022 with the morning schedule preferred to realize what Thoreau said:

“Physical and mental energies are up in the morning.”

To make sure that right responses were given, the researchers had to

explain and detail all that were contained in the questionnaire and had to

answer some clarificatory questions raised by the respondents. With the

respondents completing the task, followed the retrieval of the data sources to

bring to life the functions of the succeeding chapter.

He