ENGAGING WRITING ACTIVITIES AND THE WRITING COMPETENCE OF GRADE 12 HUMSS STUDENTS

This quasi-experimental study investigates the effectiveness of engaging writing activities in enhancing the writing competence of Grade 12 Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) students at Malvar Senior High School, Batangas, during the current academic year 2024–2025. Two experimental groups participated in different sets of writing activities: Group 1 engaged in comic strip creation and photographic writing prompts, while Group 2 worked with vocabulary challenges and Mad Libs. Writing competence was assessed through vocabulary acquisition, comprehension, grammar usage, and essay construction. A pre-assessment and post-assessment were conducted to measure progress, with statistical analyses using t-tests for dependent and independent means to determine significance. Findings revealed that both groups exhibited improvements across all writing competence indicators. However, Group 1 demonstrated greater progress in comprehension, grammar usage, and essay construction, while Group 2 showed more substantial gains in vocabulary acquisition. The post-test scores of Group 1 were significantly higher than those of Group 2, highlighting the effectiveness of comic strips and photographic prompts in enhancing overall writing competence. The study concludes that engaging writing activities play a crucial role in improving students' writing skills, with different activities yielding varying benefits. It is recommended that educators integrate a mix of these strategies to target specific writing skill areas. Future research should explore the long-term effects of such activities on literacy and their impact on other cognitive skills. Continuous innovation in writing instruction is essential to maintaining student engagement and fostering overall writing competence.