The roles of linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval in writing essays : a comparative analysis of the first and second language writing of Malaysian ESL learners

Abstract

This study is an investigation into the role of linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval in order to improve essay writing in second language. Writing in the second language is a challenging task to second language learners due to their less developed language abilities such as linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval. Their linguistic knowledge (grammar) of the second language is limited. making learners unable to connect words into proper clauses and sentences. In addition. due to inadequate lexical retrieval. second language writers are unable to express their ideas well, thus making a lot of mistakes in their essays. Having considered the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis (LIH) and Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis (LTH). this study presents an analysis of the Malay and English writing proficiency of students who learn Malay as the first language and English as the second language. This study adopts a correlation design involving Form Five Malay ESL students of mixed ability (n=97 good, average and weak). The primary concern in this study is to investigate whether a correlation exists between English and Malay in terms of linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval so that the students` limited ability in writing essays may be improved using instructions in both Malay and English. Thus, the writing proficiency test is divided into two sub skills: linguistic knowledge (a Malay Grammatical Knowledge Test which tests on sentence construction and an English Grammatical Knowledge Test whic}l tests on vocabulary) and lexical retrieval (a Malay Lexical Retrieval Test which tests on vocabulary and proverb retrievaJ and an English Lexical Retrieval Test which tests translation from Malay to English) and argumentative essays in both Malay and English. Using Pearson`s r, linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval in Malay and English writing were compared. The results show that there is no relationship between linguistic knowledge in Malay and English writing. On the other hand. a moderate relationship exists between lexical retrieval in Malay and English writing. Furthermore, a significant correlation for Malay and English writing skills are found to exist. In additio~ multiple regression analyses were conducted to evaluate one variable against several other variables that explain how well Malay Essay Test scores predict mastery in English Essay Test scores. Thus, linguistic knowledge and lexical retrieval would help to improve second language learners` writing skills.