Writing in Foreign Language Contexts: Learning, Teaching, and Research (Second Language Acquisition) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847691838 ISBN 13: 9781847691835

Verlag: Multilingual Matters, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

This book represents the most comprehensive account to date of foreign language (FL) writing. Its basic aim is to reflect critically on where the field is now and where it needs need to go next in the exploration of FL writing at the levels of theory, research, and pedagogy, hence the two parts of the book: 'Looking back' and 'Looking ahead'. The chapters in Part I offer accounts of both the inquiry process followed and the main insights gained in various long-term research programs. The chapters in Part 2 contribute a retrospective analysis of the available empirical research and of professional experiences in an attempt to move forward. The book invites the reader to step back and rethink seemingly well established knowledge about L2 writing in light of what is known about writing in FL contexts.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rosa Manchón is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Director of the postgraduate programme in English Language and Linguistics at the University of Murcia, Spain. Her research interests include second language writing and research methods. Her work has appeared in leading applied linguistics and second language writing journals such as the Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Learning, and the Modern Language Journal. She has also edited various journal issues on SLA and L2 writing as a guest editor for the International Journal of English Studies, International Review of Applied Linguistics, and the Journal of Second Language Writing. She is currently co-editor (with Ilona Leki) of the Journal of Second Writing.

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Writing in Foreign Language Contexts

Learning, Teaching, and Research

By Rosa M. Manchón

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2009 Rosa M. Manchón and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84769-183-5

Contents

Contributors, 
Acknowledgements, 
Preface, 
Introduction: Broadening the Perspective of L2 Writing Scholarship: The Contribution of Research on Foreign Language Writing Rosa M. Manchón, 
Part 1: Looking Back. Research Insights, 
1 Situated Writing Practices in Foreign Language Settings: The Role of Previous Experience and Instruction Carol Rinnert and Hiroe Kobayashi, 
2 Changes in English as a Foreign Language Students' Writing Over 3.5 years: A Sociocognitive Account Miyuki Sasaki, 
3 Towards a Blueprint of the Foreign Language Writer: The Linguistic and Cognitive Demands of Foreign Language Writing Rob Schoonen, Patrick Snellings, Marie Stevenson and Amos van Gelderen, 
4 The Temporal Dimension and Problem-solving Nature of Foreign Language Composing Processes. Implications for Theory Rosa M. Manchón, Julio Roca De Larios and Liz Murphy, 
5 Age-related Differences and Associated Factors in Foreign Language Writing. Implications for L2 Writing Theory and School Curricula M. Luz Celaya and Teresa Navés, 
6 The Globalization of Scholarship: Studying Chinese Scholars Writing for International Publication John Flowerdew and Yongyan Li, 
7 A Critical Evaluation of Writing Teaching Programmes in Different Foreign Language Settings Melinda Reichelt, 
Part 2: Looking Ahead. Issues in Theory, Research and Pedagogy, 
8 The Contribution of Studies of Foreign Language Writing to Research, Theories and Policies Alister Cumming, 
9 Studying Writing Across EFL Contexts: Looking Back and Moving Forward Lourdes Ortega, 
10 Training for Writing or Training for Reality? Challenges Facing EFL Writing Teachers and Students in Language Teacher Education Programs Christine Pearson Casanave, 
Part 3: Coda, 
11 Bibliography of Sources on Foreign Language Writing Melinda Reichelt, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Situated Writing Practices in Foreign Language Settings: The Role of Previous Experience and Instruction

CAROL RINNERT and HIROE KOBAYASHI

Introduction

An English as a foreign language (EFL) setting epitomizes the situated nature of writing. The writing of EFL students is affected not only by their first language (L1), but also by the educational context where they learn to write. This socially and culturally characterized context provides metaknowledge about writing (i.e. view of audience and goals of writing) as well as linguistic and textual knowledge, affecting the ways in which students process and produce writing.

Recognizing that L1 writing instruction/experience plays an important role in the development of students' writing in an EFL situation, for the last decade we have conducted a number of studies to examine possible effects of such experience. These studies have evolved under the influence of major writing theories in the field of second language (L2) writing, including contrastive rhetoric, cognitive-process approaches, genre theory and sociocognitive theory. Along with this evolution, the methods adopted have changed from large-scale experimental and questionnaire survey studies to a case-study approach based on a variety of data sources, including in-depth interviews.

In order to elucidate this evolution, we have selected the 12 studies shown in Table 1.1. These studies focus primarily on two of the three dimensions of L2 writing that characterize the knowledge that students are expected to acquire: the features of texts they produce, and the sociocultural context where writing takes place (Cumming, 2001). The studies highlight a relationship between these two dimensions; that is, the students' perceptions and use of L1 and L2 rhetorical patterns tend to change through writing training and experience, as well as with changing socialcultural contexts. While the chosen studies do not deal directly with composing processes such as planning and revising (a third dimension in Cumming's [2001] terms; see contributions by Manchón et al. and Schonnen et al., this volume), those conducted at the latest stage show how EFL students in Japan respond to given writing tasks and construct texts in Japanese and English. The conceptual, linguistic and rhetorical choices individual writers make when writing essays constitute part of the composing process, which reflects 'ideational, interpersonal and textual positions arising from the writer's experience in participating in genres and discourses' (Roca et al., 2002: 47). From a sociocognitive approach, the studies have looked at both macro- and micro-level discourse/rhetorical choices that students have made in constructing L1 and L2 texts.

In relation to the acquisition of EFL students' academic writing ability, we are greatly concerned with the issue of transfer of writing skills across languages, not only from L1 to L2, but also the reverse direction, from L2 to L1. A number of studies have investigated the transfer of writing ability from L1 to L2 (Cumming, 1989; Kobayashi, 2005; Sasaki & Hirose, 1996), and also from L2 to L1 (Berman, 1994; Shi & Beckett, 2002). However, few studies have approached the issue to clarify how previous writing instruction and experience affect the occurrence of transfer and even fewer have taken a close look into the direction of such influence.

In this chapter, we categorize our studies into three stages, which constitute a logical continuum, and attempt a critical examination of the research conducted in each stage. In the sections below, we summarize, evaluate and reinterpret the major findings of the studies shown in Table 1.1, while drawing logical connections among them. In the conclusion, we synthesize the findings and discuss their significance in relation to L2 writing theory, research and pedagogy.

Stage 1

The initial studies, especially two evaluation studies (2 and 3 in Table 1.1), were framed in terms of traditional contrastive rhetoric, which assumed that the rhetorical aspects of each language are culturally unique and preferred (Kaplan, 1966) and suggested that differences in organizational patterns between students' first and second languages cause difficulties for L2 learners (Casanave, 2004; Kubota, 1997). These two evaluation studies were designed on the basis of the findings of Kobayashi's (1984a, 1984b) study, which compared four groups of students (American college students, advanced Japanese ESL students in America and two groups of Japanese college students in Japan) in their use of rhetorical patterns. The study found a consistent tendency among the four groups: Whereas American students writing in English often used a general-to-specific ('deductive') pattern, Japanese students writing in Japanese frequently employed a specific-to-general ('inductive') pattern, and the two Japanese groups writing in English differed from each other, the group in Japan being substantially close to the group writing in Japanese and the group in the USA, relatively close to the American group. These findings confirmed what contrastive rhetoric had argued, but they also clearly suggested that the writing instruction and experience the Japanese advanced ESL students in the USA received influenced their frequent use of the general-to-specific pattern. In terms of research design, the study has strongly affected our...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1847691838
• ISBN 13: 9781847691835
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 318
• Herausgeber: Manchón Rosa
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland