Effects of Methods with Linguistic Package on Students' Achievements in Essay Writing

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of methods with a package of linguistic inputs on the achievements of students' in essay writing. The package of linguistic input is a package designed to enhance students' ability to write correct sentences especially in areas of concord, that is agreement of pronoun with a compound antecedent, agreement of subject and verb and agreement of verbs with indefinite pronouns. Two methods were identified namely: Lecture Method and Discussion Method. Each method was combined with a package of linguistic input for the experimental group while the control group was only taught essay writing without being exposed to a package of linguistic inputs. It was discovered that students taught with the combination of a package of linguistic inputs and teaching methods were able to write good essays and used verbs better than those who were not exposed to a package of linguistic inputs. It was recommended that teachers of essay writing should expose their students to package of linguistic inputs in concord in order to enhance their ability to use verbs correctly with subjects when constructing sentences..

Keywords: Linguistic package; essay writing; students' achievement

The Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 11 (1) 2006: pp. 84-92