scholarly journals Second Language Learners’ Pauses Over Different Times Intervals in L2 Writing Essays: Evidence From a Keystroke Logging Program

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-202
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mohsen
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Purpose. Several studies have been conducted to analyse students’ pauses during first language and/or second language writing to indicate the magnitude of the underlying cognitive processes learners have. Majority of studies have examined students’ pauses at a threshold 200ms. However, little is known about recording second language learners' pauses at different pauses’ times over different types of genres. The current investigation reports a case study of L2 learners’ cognitive processes by recording their pauses (<500ms, <1000ms, and <2000ms) during L2 writing in response to multiple genres prompts. Design / methodology / approach. Twenty-five postgraduate students were asked to write three essays over three weeks, and their writing processes were recorded using a keystroke logging program (Inputlog, 7, Leijten & van Waes, 2013). Data was triangulated using a log file from the keystroke logging program, a process graph for writing behavior through different stages, and a visual video recording of their captured screens during writing behaviours. Findings. Results found that the students paused over sentence and paragraph boundaries and their pauses between paragraphs were significantly higher in writing narrative essay than in their argumentative essays at pauses intervals <500 and <1000ms respectively, and in turn, their pauses between sentences in an argumentative essay were significantly higher than their pauses in a descriptive essay at <500, <1000 respectively. However, there were no significant differences across word boundaries over genre types. Conclusions. The current study extends the previous literature in examining the underlying cognitive processes during L2 writing tasks as the trendy issue of psycholinguistics. Knowing the cognitive processes is crucial in diagnosing the students’ difficulties in writing L2 essays as advanced technology has the potential to explore intrusively the accurate cognitive processes learners involved during writing tasks. Originality / value. This paper is innovative in examining a state-of-the-art issue and has implications to the field of psycholinguistics.

scholarly journals CLASSIFICATION OF L2 WRITING PROCESS AND WRITING STRATEGIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imelda Hermilinda Abas ◽  
Noor Hashima Abd Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Writing Process ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
Writing Strategies ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Oriented Approach

English for second language writing has developed greatly, from product oriented approach to process oriented approach. This implies that the focus of L2 writing has shifted from the final product of writing to the process of writing. Because of its own rules and conventions, writing skill is considered difficult to learn in a short period of time. Although it is a difficult skill, writing is essential for second language learners’ academic success. Second language researchers are still trying to find satisfactory answers to the how and why of the teaching of writing process to second language learners. More studies are needed to shed light on second language writing process area. This paper discusses briefly the writing process and the writing strategies employed by a few EFL proficient student writers in writing. It is found that the writing process stages employedin this study were prewriting, planning, drafting, pausing and reading, revising and editing which occurred non-linear and recursive. The writing strategies identified in the writing process stages were relating the topic to past knowledge and experience, taking the readers into consideration, talk-write, freewriting, outlining, listing, seeking help, using online materials, focusing on the mechanics of writing, and text organization. However, what works successfully for some students may not work well for others, and what functions well for one assignment may not be compatible for another.

scholarly journals Increasing fluency in L2 writing with singing

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Alisaari ◽  
Leena Maria Heikkola
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
L2 Writing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Pedagogical Methods

Fluency is an essential part of a language learner’s skills. Despite various studies on fluency, little is known about the effects of different pedagogical methods on the development of written fluency. In this paper, we examine how different pedagogical methods affect the development of second language learners’ written fluency. Participants in this study were 51 language learners enrolled in two intensive Finnish courses. The pedagogical methods investigated in the study were singing, listening to songs, and reciting lyrics of songs. Written stories based on cartoon strips were used as a pretest and a posttest. The fluency of written stories was analyzed based on the number of words used in the texts. Differences between the groups taught by different pedagogical methods were analyzed. The results seem to indicate that fluency increased the most in the singing groups compared to the other groups. There was also a statistically significant difference between the singing group and the group reciting lyrics, as well as between the group listening to songs and the group reciting lyrics.

Pair versus individual writing: Effects on fluency, complexity and accuracy

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian Wigglesworth ◽  
Neomy Storch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Collaborative Writing ◽  
Single Text ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Language Writing

The assessment of oral language is now quite commonly done in pairs or groups, and there is a growing body of research which investigates the related issues (e.g. May, 2007). Writing generally tends to be thought of as an individual activity, although a small number of studies have documented the advantages of collaboration in writing in the second language classroom (e.g. DiCamilla & Anton, 1997; Storch, 2005; Swain & Lapkin, 1998). Particularly in university contexts, group or pair assignments are widely used in many disciplines. In addition, collaborative writing could be used in second language classroom assessment contexts as formative assessment. However, research which compares texts produced by learners collaboratively to texts produced individually, and the implications of this for assessment practices, is rare. This study is a first step in the investigation of using collaborative writing in second language contexts and comparing the performance of two groups of second language learners: one group worked individually, and the other group worked in pairs. When writing in pairs, each pair produced a single text. All participants completed one writing task: an argumentative essay. The performances of the individuals (N = 48) and the pairs (N = 48) were compared on detailed discourse analytic measures of fluency, complexity and accuracy. This comparison revealed that collaboration impacted positively on accuracy, but did not affect fluency and complexity. A detailed analysis of the pair transcripts recorded during the writing activity provides insights into the ways in which pairs work together, and the foci of their endeavour. The implications of these findings for in-class assessment of second language writing are discussed.

REPLICATION AND REPORTING

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene Polio ◽  
Susan Gass
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Level Of Detail ◽  
Proficiency Levels ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Writing Research ◽  
Language Writing

In this paper we address the need for replication studies in the field of second language acquisition and discuss the problems surrounding standards of reporting research. A particular focus is on the level of detail necessary for replication to take place. The lack of uniform standards is noted with specific examples of problematic reporting taken from descriptions of second language learners' proficiency levels and measures of linguistic accuracy in second language writing research. We propose ways that we believe will lead to more thorough reporting of research and that will therefore allow others to engage in replication.

Context and idiom understanding in second languages

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 155-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Liontas
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Idiom Comprehension ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
The Right ◽  
Affect Transfer ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
Idiomatic Meaning

This article describes the results of a study conducted with fifty-three adult third-year learners of Spanish, French, and German in order to investigate (a) the degree to which idiom type affects the speed and ease of idiom comprehension and interpretation, (b) the effect that context exerts on idiom understanding, (c) the strategies second language learners employ in computing the idiomatic meaning of multiword phrasal units during contextualized and acontextualized reading of texts containing such idioms, and (d) the cognitive processes that are likely to constrain the construction of the right idiomatic mappings between target and domain idioms. Findings indicate that (a) there were significant main effects for lexical and post-lexical level idioms in both the context and the non-context treatment; (b) translation, guessing, and the use of context are highly important in the construction of idiomatic meaning; and (c) the degree of opacity between target and domain idiom, knowledge of vocabulary, graphophonics and syntactic arrangement, and literal meaning of an idiom influence and affect transfer of idiomatic knowledge in significant ways.

scholarly journals Performing Argumentative Writing in English: Difficulties, Processes, and Strategies

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Writing Task

Argumentative writing constitutes an important part of second-language learners' academic writing experience in North America. This study examined the difficulties a group of Mexican graduate students encountered when engaged in an argumentative writing task as well as their writing processes and strategies. Data were collected from individual interviews with the participants and from participants' written essays. Data analysis indicated that most participants perceived the rhetorical aspects of English argumentative writing as difficult. Data analysis also indicated that participants mainly used cognitive, social, and search strategies, whereas metacognitive strategies were used infrequently. Potential implications of the study for second-language writing instruction are discussed.

scholarly journals English Second Language Writing Difficulties and Challenges Among Saudi Arabian Language Learners

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Meshal Alfaqiri
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Saudi Arabian ◽  
Writing Difficulties ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Saudi Arabian Students ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Research Questions

The purpose of this study was to explore the writing difficulties and challenges that Saudi Arabian English as a second language learners experience at different levels of proficiency. The participants of the study consisted of 114 Saudi Arabian students between the ages of 15 and 36 (53 female, 61 male). The research questions not only focused on understanding the challenges presented to the students, but, also, the metacognitive strategies that the students used to solve these challenges. The results showed that the participants lacked experience in writing English and, as such, experienced grammar issues.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness and Issues of Using Feedback in Second Language Writing

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 74
Author(s):  
Yichen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
English Majors ◽  
Language Writing

Based on the description of feedback in the literature and the classification of feedback by different scholars, this paper discusses the efficiency and possible issues of the teachers’ use of different feedback in the teaching of second language writing. Through interviews with experienced English majors, this paper further demonstrates the importance of teachers' use of feedback in second language writing teaching. At the end of the paper, the author also shows that the combination of different feedback according to specific situations in teaching can better promote the writing proficiency of second language learners.

Chinese learners’ use of concessive connectors in English argumentative writing

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-123
Author(s):  
Chan-Chia Hsu ◽  
Richard Hill Davis ◽  
Yu-Chi Wang
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Argumentative Writing ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Chinese Learners ◽  
Language Writing ◽  
Argumentative Essays

Abstract A learner corpus, i.e., a principled collection of contextualized texts produced by second language learners, can be of invaluable help in identifying learners’ needs. Previous learner corpus research has indicated that an area for improvement in second language writing is learners’ use of logical connectors as cohesive devices. While most previous studies have been general surveys that examined a wide range of English connectors, the present one is a more focused investigation, probing into Chinese-speaking learners’ use of concessive connectors. The data is taken from a self-constructed corpus of argumentative essays written by Taiwanese freshmen, who were placed into four proficiency levels. Common errors, including orthographical, syntactic, and semantic ones, were identified and categorized. The frequency distribution of the attested concessive connectors reveals Chinese learners’ development in their use of individual connectors. Difficulties may be attributed to the linguistic complexity of concessive connectors in English and L1 transfer. Moreover, previously identified lexico-syntactic characteristics in learners’ use of English connectors were reconfirmed by our corpus data. More importantly, the pragmatic function of concessive connectors in Chinese learners’ argumentative writing is also addressed. The findings have important pedagogical implications. Pragmatics is an area in need of further attention in learner corpus research, and we have gone some way toward enhancing our understanding of that area.

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