L1 use in the L2 composing process: An exploratory study of 16 Chinese EFL writers

Thai EFL Students’ Writing Errors in Different Text Types: The Interference of the First Language

“…According to Wang and Wen (2002), L2 writers obviously get stuck when writing in the target language (TL) because their mother tongue majorly affects the use of the second language; consequently, they may at times combine the systems of the two languages in their L2 writing, which is called "language transfer or syntactic transfer". This is considered a severe problem of L2 writing as Fromkin et al (2003) clarify that L2 learners are so dependent on their L1 syntactic properties that they transfer some L1 grammatical rules in their L2 writing, eventually causing such errors.…”

Multilingual Students´ Self-reported Use of their Language Repertoires when Writing in English

“…reviews in e.g. Murphy & Roca de Larios 2010;Tullock & Fernández-Villanueva 2013;van Weijen et al 2009;Wang & Wen 2002). Existing research has focused on L2 writers' use of their L1 for a number of different purposes, including generating and organising ideas for the content and structuring of the text (Murphy & Roca de Larios 2010;Wang & Wen 2002), for controlling the writing process (Wang 2003;Wang & Wen 2002) and for solving linguistic problems such as vocabulary issues (Wang 2003).…”

“…Murphy & Roca de Larios 2010;Tullock & Fernández-Villanueva 2013;van Weijen et al 2009;Wang & Wen 2002). Existing research has focused on L2 writers' use of their L1 for a number of different purposes, including generating and organising ideas for the content and structuring of the text (Murphy & Roca de Larios 2010;Wang & Wen 2002), for controlling the writing process (Wang 2003;Wang & Wen 2002) and for solving linguistic problems such as vocabulary issues (Wang 2003). Some studies suggest that less proficient L2 learners are more likely to rely on their L1 than more proficient learners (Uzawa 1996;Wang 2003;Wang & Wen 2002) whereas other studies have shown that the L1 is resorted to regardless of proficiency level, albeit for different purposes (Murphy & Roca de Larios 2010;van Weijen et al 2009;Wang 2003).…”

“…In exploring bi-and multilingual students' use of their background language(s) when writing in English, the present study draws on the composing process model of writing in an educational context developed by Wang and Wen (2002) based on previous models of writing (esp. Flower & Hayes 1981).…”

“…informing them that the main focus of the study was to investigate their language(s) of thought while engaging in a writing task in English. In order to gauge which languages they used when writing, students were presented with the five composing activities identified by Wang & Wen (2002), which were translated into Swedish with somewhat simplified wording in order to ensure students' comprehension. They were asked to state which language(s) they use as language(s) of thought while engaging in the five different composing activities and writing in English.…”