| Writing is one of the most important skills in SLL(Second Language Learning)and it can reflect students’ L2 ability comprehensively.As a result,with the development in L2 teaching and learning,the researches in this filed draw great attention abroad and at home.In order to explore the processes in L2 writing extensively,the studies related to thinking languages are of vital importance.Previous studies have proven that thinking languages in the processes are very sophisticated for there is not only one kind of language included,but the combination of L1 and L2.Besides,they also find L2 proficiency will have an impact on the choice of thinking languages,which will have influence on L2 writing processes.However,the findings still need further exploration.Therefore,this thesis aims at giving a comprehensive explanation for the senior school students’ thinking languages in L2 writing processes so as to provide suggestions for teaching and learning in L2 writing.The study mainly discusses from the following three parts: the use of thinking languages in L2 writing processes;the effects that thinking languages have on L2 writing processes and L2 writing score;the influence of L2 writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy on the selection of thinking languages in L2 writing processes.Think-aloud as the major research instrument in this study,is used to verbalize people’s abstract thoughts.Other research instruments in the study are questionnaire for retrospective interviews,composition profile of Jacobs,English proficiency test,the questionnaire about learning background and WAT(Writing Apprehension Test)as well as writing self-efficacy.All of the study instruments are reliable in theory and widely used in practice.In the study,there are 8 participants from senior high school and all of them are similar in L2 proficiency.They are asked to finish a writing task,during which they must do their best to express their thoughts in words and communicate with the author after writing so that the author will know their thinking languages in the writing processes accurately and collect fundamental data for the study followed.Based on data collection and analysis,the research finds that both L1 and L2 serve as the medium of thought in L2 writing processes and each one plays significant roles that can not be replaced: L1 mainly plays the roles in brief translation,brain storm,self-question,mind organization,evaluating article structure,monitoring and analysis of writing topic;L2 mainly has effect on translating Chinese into English,making sentence structure,collecting information,repeating English as well as improving expression.For L2 writing score,on the one hand,thinking in L1 makes compositions more substantial in content and more accurate in grammar use.On the other hand,the students who are more dependent on L2 thinking do better in vocabulary and the variation of sentence structure.In addition,apart from the factors discussed by former scholars,this research reveals that the anxiety for L2 writing and writing self-efficacy make a difference in the choice of thinking languages as well.In the end,this study provides suggestions for pedagogy and puts forward the limitations of this thesis and the necessity for further studies.In order to improve students’ L2 writing ability,teachers should pay more attention to the thinking languages while teaching in L2 writing and help students to cultivate proper L2 writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy. |
