英语论文L1 to L2 Writing Process and Strategy Transfer A Look at Lower Proficiency WritersWord格式.docx

英语论文L1 to L2 Writing Process and Strategy Transfer A Look at Lower Proficiency WritersWord格式.docx

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ReviewOfLiterature

Writinginasecondlanguage（L2）isachallengingandcomplexprocess.Whilethefirstlanguage（L1）writingprocessincludesproducingcontent,draftingideas,revisingwriting,choosingappropriatevocabulary,andeditingtext,writinginanL2involvesalloftheseelementsjumbledwithsecondlanguageprocessingissues.InthecaseoflowerL2proficiencywriters,theseL2issuescanoverwhelmthewritingprocess,eventothepointofacompletebreakdownoftheprocess（Bereiter&

Scardimalia,1987）.

L1UsetoDriveL2Writing

AlthoughmanyL2writersusetheirL1insomewaywhilewritingintheL2,theamountofL1usedduringL2writingisnotthesameforallL2writers.Ingeneral,proficientL2learnersdonotdependheavilyontheL1todrivethewritingprocessbecausetheyhaveasufficientlevelofL2automaticityandknowledgetothinkandplanintheL2（Jones&

Tetroe,1987）.However,lowerL2proficiencywritersrelymoreheavilyontheirL1duringthewritingprocessinordertosustaintheprocessandpreventacompletebreakdowninlanguage（Arndt,1987;

Cumming,1989;

Raimes,1985;

Uzawa&

Cumming,1989）.[-1-]

UzawaandCumming（1989）observedtwodistinctstrategiesthathelpedsustainthewritingprocessoftheirlowerL2proficiencysubjects.Onetheytermed"

keepingthestandard"

andtheother"

loweringthestandard."

KeepingthestandardstrategieswereusedinL2writinginordertomaintainthelevelofwritingachievedintheL1.Thesewerestrategiessuchastakingmoretime,revisingextensively,andseekingassistance.Loweringthestandardstrategieswereusedinordertocompletethewritingtaskwithinareasonableamountoftimeandwithoutexcessivementaleffort.Thesewerestrategiessuchasreducinginformation,simplifyingsyntax,substitutinglexicalitems,andignoringreaderconcerns.ThesubjectsinthestudyproducedL2papersthathadlesscontentthantheirL1writing,butaboutequalqualitytotheirL1writing.Overall,theL1aidedinkeepingthestandard.IftheL1wasnotused,wecansurmisethatthequalityofwritingwouldhavebeenlowerthanitwasandthestandardwouldhavehadnochecksandbalancesinplacetokeepitonahigherplane.

SeveralstudieshavelookedattheeffectofcomposingintheL1andthentranslatingintotheL2（Cohen&

Brooks-Carson,2001;

Kobayashi&

Rinnert,1994）.ThesestudieshavefoundthatthelowerL2proficiencywritersbenefitedfromcomposingintheL1andthentranslatingintotheL2,aresultthathighlightstheimportanceofusingL1composingstrategiesforlowerL2proficiencywriters.

JonesandTetroe（1987）didastudyontheeffectofL1useduringL2writing.TheyfoundthatthelowerL2proficiencywriterswhodidnotusetheirL1werelesseffectiveintheirplanning.ThewriterswhodidusetheirL1producedmoredetailsduringtheplanningstageofL2writing.Furthermore,theL1facilitatedmoreabstractthoughtduringplanning.

ResearchQuestion

AlthoughwehavesomeunderstandingofhowlowerproficiencywriterscopewiththedemandsofwritinginanL2,ourpictureisstillincomplete.OneareainwhichwestillhavelittleunderstandingisthedegreetowhichL2writerstransfertheirL1composingprocessandstrategiestotheirL2writing.WhileitisgiventhatL2writingposeschallengesthatareuniquefromL1writingandthusrequireuniquestrategiestodealwith,itisreasonabletoassumethatpartsofthecomposingprocessaresimilaroreventhesameintheL1andtheL2.ThepurposeofthisstudyistoinvestigatethedegreetowhichlowerL2proficiencywriterstransfertheircomposingprocessesandstrategiesfromL1writingtoL2writing.Thequestionthatthisresearchsoughttoansweris:

WhatL1composingprocessesandstrategiesdolowerL2proficiencywriterstransfertoL2writing?

Method

Subjects

ThreenativeJapanese-speakingsubjectswereselectedfromanintensiveEnglishprogramintheU.S.toparticipateinthisresearch.TheywerechosenfortheirbeginningEnglishproficiency,theirwiderexperiencewithwritinginJapanese,andtheirlimitedexperiencewithwritinginEnglish.Allthreesubjectswerefemaleandtheiragesrangedfrom26to28yearsold.Allthreesubjectswerehighschoolgraduates,andtwoofthethreesubjectshadalsograduatedfrom2-yearcolleges.[-2-]

Procedure

Sixthink-aloudprotocolswerecollectedwhilethesubjectscomposedessaysinJapaneseandtheninEnglish.Eachsubjectindividuallyparticipatedintwocomposingsessionsinwhichthesubjectwroteanessaywhilethinkingaloud.InthefirstsessionsubjectswroteaJapaneseessayandinthesecondsessiontheywroteanEnglishessay.Thesessionswerevideoandaudiotapedforsubsequenttranscription,analysis,andcomparison.

Eachsessionfollowedasimilarpattern.Firsttheresearcherexplainedthepurposeofthink-aloudprotocolsandgaveabriefdemonstrationoftheprocessbycomposingthefirstparagraphofanessaywhilethinkingaloud.Thesubjectthenpracticedtheprotocolmethodwhiletheresearchercheckedforqualityandsubjectunderstandingoftheprocess.Subjectswerethengivenanessaytopic（seeTable1）.BothessaytopicscamefromthetestbankofTOEFLessaytopics.

JapaneseEssayTopic

EnglishEssayTopic

Whenpeopleneedtocomplainaboutaproductorpoorservice,someprefertocomplaininwritingandothersprefertocomplaininperson.Whichwaydoyouprefer?

Usespecificreasonsandexamplestosupportyouranswer.

Whenpeoplemovetoanothercountry,someofthemdecidetofollowthecustomsofthenewcountry.Othersprefertokeeptheirowncustoms.Whichonedoyouprefer?

Supportyouranswerwithspecificdetails.

Table1—EssayTopics

ThetopicfortheJapaneseessaywaswritteninJapaneseandthetopicfortheEnglishessaywaswritteninbothJapaneseandEnglish.Thesubjectbegantheprotocolbyreadingthetopicaloud.Thesubjectwasallowedtotakeasmuchtimeastheyneededtocomposetheiressayandtheysignaledtheresearcherwhentheyfinishedcomposing.

Results

Twoprotocolsforeachofthethreesubjectswerecollected,transcribedandthenreviewedandanalyzedforcomposingprocessesandstrategies.Thedescriptionsbelowhighlightthemainfeaturesofeachsubject'

sJapaneseandEnglishessaycomposingprocessandstrategies.Theyalsocompareandcontrastthoseprocessesandstrategiesforsimilaritiesanddifferences.

Katsue

TheformatandlengthofKatsue'

sprewritingvariedbetweenthetwoessays.DuringtheJapaneseessay,Katsuespent8minutesmakingalistofideasundertwoseparateheadingsbeforebeginningtodraftheressay.Theideaswereembodiedinavarietyofwords,phrases,andsentencesundereachheading.TheideagenerationfortheEnglishessaytook18minutesandlookedmorelikeafirstdraftwithoutanyorganization.

Despitetheidenticalstructureofthetwoessaytopics,therewerenoheadingstoidentifythetwooptionsinherEnglishessayprewritingastherehadbeeninherJapanese.KatsuewrotedownherideascompletelyinEnglishasshebrainstormedinJapanese.SimilartoherJapaneseprewriting,sheusedamixtureofwords,phrases,andsentencestowritedownherideas;

however,unlikeherJapaneseprewriting,Katsuedidnotuseanevenbalanceofallthreebutusedmostlycompletesentences.PartofherideagenerationforherEnglishessaywasfindingtheEnglishthatbestexpressedherideas.ThiswasevidencedbythenumerousrevisionsmadetothesesentencesbeforeKatsuebegancomposingheressay.[-3-]

WhilecomposingherJapaneseessay,therewerethreetriggersthatcausedhercomposingprocesstocyclefromwritingintovariouscombinationsofrehearsingideas,revising,editing,andreading.Thesetriggerswerecompletingasentence,searchingforawordtomoreclearlyexpressanidea,andnotknowinghowtocompleteathought.

Aftercompletingasentence,Katsuewouldusuallyrereadwhatshehadjustwritten,sometimesevaluatingitbeforecontinuingonwiththenextsentence.Forexample,Katsuefinishedcomposingthesentence,"

WhenIthinkaboutit,Iabandonmycomplainthalfwaythrough"

（seeAppendixA）.Whenshecompletedthesentence,Katsuewentbackandrereadit,givingheranewideathatpushedhertowritethenextsentence,"

ThisisbecauseeventhoughIthinkitinmyheart,itisverydifficultformet