A Study On L1Use In L2Writing Process

L2writing is an important part in second language acquisition which has been widelystudied since the1940s. Most L2writing researchers paid more attention to the similaritiesbetween L1and L2writing and neglected the feature of L2writing. So in order to get amore comprehensive understanding of L2writing and provide some implications for L2writing instruction, the following research questions are investigate in the present study.1. How much L1is involved in the L2writing process?2. What is the relationship between the amount of L1use and the students’ L2proficiency levels?3. How do the students use L1in their L2writing process?The participants in this study were six non-English majors of Arts from ShanxiNormal University. They were divided into three groups according to their L2proficiencylevels.The data collecting procedures covered four steps: think-aloud training; writing;retrospective interviews and questionnaires. Then qualitative and quantitative analyseswere done on the basis of their think-aloud protocols, the retrospective interviews and thequestionnaires. The researcher counted the number of Chinese words and the number ofboth English and Chinese words in L2writing process and categorized the writingactivities. Therefore, the relationship between L2proficiency levels and L1use wasstudied by comparing the proportions of L1use in different L2proficiency groups.The major findings of this study are as follows: Firstly, L2writing process is abilingual event. Secondly, the amount of L1use in L2writing process decreased with thedevelopment of L2proficiency levels in general. Thirdly, in sentence forming activity, L1use had a negative effect on L2writing. However, on the other activities, L2proficiency levels did not bring about distinct influence on L2writing. Finally, by analyzing thequestionnaires and the interviews, it is found that most of the students attributed their L1use in L2writing process to their lower English proficiency levels, their being used toChinese thinking, their lack in practicing the English writing and long exposure to Chinesein their daily life.The above findings have some useful implications for teaching and learning Englishwriting for non-English majors. At first, L1should not be rejected completely in L2teaching and learning. When teachers decide whether to allow or forbid L1use in L2writing teaching and learning, the students’ L2proficiency levels should be taken intoconsideration. Besides, teachers should guide the students on when L1use facilitates L2writing and train the translation strategies in L2writing instruction. Furthermore, it is ofgreat significance for students to improve their L2proficiency level. Finally, does theenvironment of English learning have an effect on students’ thinking in their writing?...