Direct Writing and Translated Writing Strategies in English as a Foreign Language

One of the main observations in second language acquisition (SLA) including the learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is that learners are affected, negatively or positively, by their knowledge of first language. In EFL writing situations, this sometimes leads to the practice of writing first in the mother tongue and then translating into English. The purpose of the present research was to explore possible differences in learner strategies employed in direct writing and translated writing. To achieve this purpose, data on writing strategies were collected after both direct and translated writing tasks from 119 Undergraduate and graduate male and female EFL writers in-class. A modified version of Cohen and Carson’s questionnaire was administered immediately after the completion of a direct EFL writing task and a translated EFL writing task that included an initial draft in Persian. Participants’ response frequencies to questionnaire items about their writing strategies in both situations were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS frequency comparison techniques. The results showed that while writing in the translated writing mode, students report that they avoided word for word translation and did not purposely make use of complex grammatical structures. The results also showed that students did not find themselves thinking in their dominate language (Persian) and translating when involved in direct writing mode. Higher proficiency in English was positively related to the use of direct writing

Keywords:

Direct Writing , Translated Writing , Iranian EFL Learners , Writing Strategies