Abstract:

Linguistic competence is the ability to use grammatical structures of foreign language (FL) accurately. Linguistic competence plays a prevalent role among the competences in foreign language learning (FLL). Accurate use of structures seem inevitable part of foreign language development. As Chomsky defined the term, Linguistic competence as the system of strict rules that limit our speech, as a tacit acceptance of what is acceptable and what is not. The research study emphasises importance of linguistic competence in the process of reading comprehension. A number of strategies were specifically selected for reading comprehension development of English language learning. In the following article, they are introduced and analysed as they were incorporated in the Reading comprehension intervention programme with the intention to improve the reading skills of English language learners of B1 proficiency level in the educational setting in Slovakia. In addition, we developed a testing tool to measure linguistic competence of secondary grammar school English language learners. The procedure and the structure of the tool is demonstrated in the research article.

Keywords:

Linguistic competence, reading comprehension, English language learners, test design.