L2 Writing processes of Thai graduate students

Abstract

This research article aims to discover L2 writing processes of Thai graduate students using the model of composing processes by Chenoweth and Hayes (2003). The participants were six graduate students from the Graduate School of Language and Communication. The participants were given an English argumentative writing task to complete while being observed through the use of the think-aloud protocol (TAP). Later, the participants were interviewed immediately after finishing the writing task.

The finding validates the model of composing processes that Thai students employed proposing, translating, evaluating/ revising, and transcribing processes simultaneously. It also showed that even though the participants used each writing process for different reasons, these processes did not guarantee higher scores.

Besides the composing processes, the interview data indicated that there are non-language and language factors which influenced the writing performances. Other than the non-language factors, the language factor (L1 use) also influenced the writing performances. Since Thai graduate students mentally employed Thai while composing English writing, the results suggested that mentally employing Thai does not obstruct the writing processes. Rather, it facilitates the writing activities. However, the L1 use interfered with the writing outcome in terms of syntactic and lexical features.

On this basis, it is recommended that it is not necessary for writers to employ the writing process in every situation, but they should provide good content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics in order to get high scores. Additionally, using L1 may lighten the participants’ cognitive load; however, they should be aware of some linguistic interference that can lower their writing quality.