Metalinguistic Awareness on Students’ Writing Skills: A Case of Selected High School Students, Orolu, Osun State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The study examined the impact of metalinguistic awareness on students’ writing skills with a view to improving their writing performance in English language. The objectives were to determine the level of metalinguistic awareness on the written output of the students in the selected schools., to determine the level of writing skills of the students in the selected schools, and to examine the impact of metalinguistic knowledge in the areas of content words, organization and use of linking devices on the written output of the students in the selected schools. An experimental design was adopted for the study and the sample size was 166 respondents. All the student respondents were randomly divided into either control or experimental group of 83 students each. The research instruments in this study were test papers used as questionnaires. A pre-test was administered to gain the necessary background knowledge on student participants' subject-matter knowledge in writing skill which was thereafter followed by a post-test after a two-week explicit instruction on the established areas to measure the two groups' performances on their written output. The data obtained was analyzed using Descriptive statistics, Independent Sample T-test and Pearson Correlation. The obtained findings revealed that Metalinguistic Knowledge really does have an impact on writing performance of the language learners. That when students master words commonly used in the content areas of writing, organize and plan their written work very well and appropriately make use of connectives, they improve in their written output. Based on the finding, the study concluded that the approach of making the student writers be metalinguistically aware of certain well-defined aspects proved reliable and rewarding in the development of writing skills. The study recommended that teachers should be encouraged to consider implementing direct metalinguistic strategy instruction to improve students’ written skills when describing words. Writers of English language textbooks should be more current in order to produce textbook materials that would reflect developments and innovations in teaching essay writing. Governments, through the Education Ministries and other concerned people with the organization of conferences, seminars and workshops are encouraged to hold regular programmes to facilitate English essay writing skill using the approach exposed in this study

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION.......................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL ................................................................................................................ ii

DEDICATION............................................................................................................ iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT......................................................................................... iv

ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................v

LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................x

CHAPTER ONE ..........................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................1

1.0 Introduction............................................................................................................1

1.1 Background to the study........................................................................................1

1.1.1 Historical perspective .........................................................................................2

1.1.2 Theoretical perspective.......................................................................................5

1.1.3 Conceptual perspective.......................................................................................6

1.1.4 Contextual perspective .......................................................................................8

1.2 Statement of the problem ......................................................................................9

1.3 Purpose of the Study............................................................................................10

1.4 Specific objectives ................................................................................................10

1.5 Research Questions..............................................................................................10

1.6 Research Hypotheses...........................................................................................10

1.7 Scope of the study.................................................................................................11

1.7.1 Geographical scope ...........................................................................................11

1.7.2 Content scope ....................................................................................................11

1.8 Significance of the study......................................................................................11

CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................12

LITERATURE REVIEW .........................................................................................12

2.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................12

2.1 Theoretical Review...............................................................................................12

2.1.1 Schema theory ...................................................................................................12

2.2 Conceptual Framework.......................................................................................13

2.3.1 Metalinguistic awareness..................................................................................14

2.4 Writing Skills........................................................................................................22

2.5 Impact of metalinguistic awareness in improving students’ essay 

writing ability .............................................................................................................28

2.6 Summary of the gap.............................................................................................29

CHAPTER THREE...................................................................................................30

METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................30

vii

3.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................30

3.1 Research Design ...................................................................................................30

3.2 Research Population ............................................................................................30

3.4 Sampling Technique ............................................................................................31

3.4.1 Sample Size ........................................................................................................31

3.5 Data Collection.....................................................................................................31

3.6 Research Instruments..........................................................................................31

3.7 Validity and Reliability of Instruments .............................................................32

3.8 Data Collection Procedure ..................................................................................33

3.9 Data Analysis........................................................................................................33

3.10 Ethical Consideration........................................................................................34

3.11 Limitations of the study.....................................................................................35

CHAPTER FOUR......................................................................................................36

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ....................36

4.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................36

4.1 Demographic profile of the respondents............................................................36

CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................43

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..........................43

5.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................43

5.1. Discussion of findings .........................................................................................43

5.1.1 The level of Metalinguistic Awareness on written output of the 

students. ......................................................................................................................43

5.1.2 The level of the writing skills of the students in the selected schools. ..........44

5.1.3 Impact of metalinguistic knowledge on the written output of the 

students in the selected High Schools.......................................................................45

5.2 Conclusions...........................................................................................................45

5.3: Recommendations...............................................................................................46

5.4 Suggestions for Further Research ......................................................................46

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................47

APPENDICES............................................................................................................54

APPENDIX I: TRANSMITTAL LETTER.............................................................54

APPENDIX II: STUDENT ASSENT SCRIPT .......................................................55

APPENDIX III: QUESTIONNAIRE.......................................................................56

APPENDIX IV: MARKS SCORED BY THE STUDENT 

PARTICIPANTS IN THE TESTS ...........................................................................59