Relationship of Academic Language and Reading Comprehension with Academic Writing in Higher Education
Abstract
University-level writing is a skill in which other basic cognitive, discursive and linguistic skills are involved. Often students’ first year higher education students have difficulties writing in their chosen discipline, which may affect their academic performance. The aim of this quantitative cross-sectional and correlational study is to evaluate the relationships between three predictor variables supported by previous research (academic vocabulary, academic language, and reading comprehension) and academic writing. Sixty-one first-year college students were assessed on the predictor variables and academic writing during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results show that students have a relatively high mastery of academic vocabulary, a medium one of academic language skills, a low one of reading comprehension, and a very low one of academic writing. In the subsample that completed all assessments (n=42), significant moderate and strong correlations were identified between variables and academic writing, except for academic vocabulary. Results suggest that academic language skills, particularly connectors, and reading comprehension could be ideal candidates for intervention efforts that help strengthen the academic writing process of new college students.
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