Lexical and Syntactical Competencies among English Major Students of the University of Bohol

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the competency level of the English major students of the University of Bohol (UB), in the aspects of lexicon and syntax. The study further sought to find the correlation between lexical and syntactical competencies and the degree of variance in the different dimensions of lexicon and in syntax. The study made use of the descriptive method of research. It also made use of a complete enumeration of the junior respondents from both the Teachers College and the College of Arts and Sciences for the second semester of the school year 2016-2017. The results showed that the Junior English major students of UB had high competency levels in the lexicon. They performed high in context clues, word formation, and structural analysis but performed moderately in idioms. On the other hand, the students had a Moderate competency level in Syntax. They performed the best in subject-verb agreement but performed the worst in sentence modification/transformation. There was a correlation between lexical and syntactical competency; students who got high in lexicon were also high in syntax. There was also variance in the lexical competencies on the four dimensions. The English major students’ competency in getting meaning through context clues, word formation, structural analysis, and idioms was of varying extent. Students performed differently in all these aspects. Context clues got the highest, idioms got the lowest average competency. The subject-verb agreement obtained the highest average competency whereas sentence modification/ transformation obtained the least.