Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English

Overview of L2 Writing

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Rafiz Uddin:
grammar:
formal aspect of language (e.g., subject-verb-agreement, tense, aspect markers, references, etc.)

Rafiz Uddin:
pragmatics:
implicit messages a text conveys to the reader; shared expectations for communication by a social group (e.g., ways to greet in a letter, appropriate ways of phrasing ideas, etc.)

Rafiz Uddin:
orthography:
the way to write letters or symbols of written language; handwriting

Rafiz Uddin:
mechanics:
punctuation, spelling (accuracy), capitalization, etc.

Rafiz Uddin:
Writing is a Process

Writing is a complex process that requires the author to be aware of and combine various components of language successfully.

While the physical act of writing is fairly automatic for adult writers, in the L2 it becomes a conscious process once more, especially if the L2 orthography is different from the learners' L1. The same is true if the rhetorical style of the L2 is vastly different from that of the L1 (this is particularly relevant for longer writing assignments).

L2 writers spend less time planning and organizing ideas and have more difficulties with these steps (Silva, 1993). To counter this, L2 instruction should include time for planning both content and form, for generating ideas as well as for improving accuracy.

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