A Critical Examination of L2 Writing Process Research

Abstract

The present chapter is intended as a critical analysis of the most relevant recent research into the cognitive processes underlying second language written composition. After an introduction of the research domain, a number of relevant methodological aspects are briefly discussed. These include the data collection procedures used, the assessment of writers’ command of the second language, the evaluation of written products, the context of the research, the type and number of participants involved, the type of tasks used, and the way reliability has been reported in the different studies. The substantive part of the research has been analyzed by isolating its main theoretical frames. Each of these frames has allowed us to derive a number of research sub-domains under which the studies have been grouped: the comparison of skilled and unskilled L2 writers, the development of L2 writing skill, the comparison of L1 and L2 writing processes, and the relationship between writing ability and L2 proficiency. A systematic analysis of the findings within each category has led us to identify a number of areas in need of further research: the notion of L2 writing skill, the formulation process, the temporal character of composition, the cognitive mechanisms involved in the transfer of writing abilities across languages, and the situated nature of L2 writing.