Intellectual pathways to academic writing in ELT: Mapping cognitive skills interactions in multilingual learners

Abstract Cognition plays a critical role in literacy development and is widely recognized as a foundational factor in acquiring skills for learning a target language. In English language teaching, writing proficiency is often considered a key indicator of overall language competence. Consequently, identifying variables that significantly predict writing skills is essential for enhancing pedagogical strategies and student outcomes. This study employed path analysis to examine the direct causal effects of English proficiency, reading comprehension, science process skills, quantitative skills, and abstract thinking skills on key dimensions of writing: lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, coherence and cohesion, and task achievement. Data were collected from 188 first year multiligual college students through aptitude tests and writing assessments and analyzed using linear regression. Results indicated that English proficiency significantly predicted lexical resource (R = .276, p .001), grammatical range and accuracy (R = .327, p < .001), coherence and cohesion (R = .309, p < .001), and task achievement (R = .327, p < .001). Science process skills were found to be significant predictors of grammatical range and accuracy (R = .194, p = .007), coherence and cohesion (R = .185, p = .011), and task achievement (R = .212, p = .004). Abstract thinking skills also significantly predicted lexical resource (R = .151, p = .039), grammatical range and accuracy (R = .158, p = .030), coherence and cohesion (R = .150, p = .040), and task achievement (R = .191, p = .009). These findings suggest that prioritizing English proficiency, science process skills, and abstract thinking skills in the multiligual classroom is crucial for enhancing students’ writing competence. Keywords Cognitive skills, writing skills, path analysis, ELT, multilingual