Effects of Study‐Abroad Experiences on EFL Writers: A Multiple‐Data Analysis

Abstract

This study was a comparison of the changes in English writing behavior of 7 Japanese university students (the study-abroad group) who spent 4 to 9 months in English-speaking countries with those of 6 counterparts majoring in British and American studies (the at-home group) who remained in Japan. The study aimed at confirming the results of Sasaki (2004), who investigated similar students' English-writing behavior over 3.5 years. After a 1-year observation period, (a) both groups improved their general English proficiency; (b) only those in the study-abroad group improved their second language (L2) writing ability and fluency; (c) unlike Sasaki's participants, the study-abroad group made more local plans and the at-home group fewer; (d) at the end of the study, both groups translated their ideas into the L2 as often as they did at the beginning of the study; and (e) only the study-abroad group became more motivated to write better L2 compositions.THE PRESENT STUDY FOCUSED ON THE effects of study-abroad experiences on the writing behavior of Japanese students of English as a foreign language (EFL) as analyzed through various types of data. This study was motivated by previous research (Sasaki, 2004), in which I observed 11 Japanese university students, focusing on changes in their English as a second language (L2) proficiency, the quality of their L2 writing (argumentative exposition), their L2 writing fluency, their L2 writing strategy use, and their L2 writing styles over a 3.5-year period. Using data from the participants' interviews in this initial study, I also examined changes in their L2 writing confidence and motivation. Through such analyses, I intended to investigate, in a rather exploratory manner, the possible changes in the participants' writing after completing two semesters of process writing instruction in their first year at the university. In addition to this original research purpose, because 6 (henceforth, the ESL group) of the 11The Modern Language Journal, 91, iv, (2007) 0026-7902/07/602-620 $1.50/0 C 2007 The Modern Language Journal participants happened to spend 2 to 8 months in English-speaking environments during the observation period, I was also able to assess the effect of their overseas experiences. Among the results were that (a) both the group that remained in Japan (henceforth, the EFL group) and the ESL group (who spent some time abroad) improved their L2 proficiency, L2 writing ability/fluency, and confidence in L2 writing; and (b) the ESL group became more motivated to study the L2 in general, as well as to write compositions with better content than the EFL group. The data from the student interviews further indicated that the overseas experience was the best explanatory factor in accounting for improving the ESL group's L2 proficiency, L2 writing ability, L2 writing fluency, and use of some effective L2 writing strategies, regardless of the length of stay.I designed the present study so that I could confirm the results of the exploratory study just described regarding the dif...

Past and future research agendas on writing strategies: Conceptualizations, inquiry methods, and research findings

“…Bosher, 1998;Cumming, 1989;Kobayashi & Rinnert, 1992;Porte, 1995;Sasaki, 2000Sasaki, , 2004Sasaki & Hirose, 1996;Zainuddin & Moore, 2003), as well as to the strategies used when transferring previous genre knowledge and expanding genre repertoires across contexts of learning (e.g., Leki, 2011). Another line of research has looked into strategy use in study-abroad stays (e.g., Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007). …”

“…Given the nature of research preoccupations and the fact that the phenomena under the spotlight are not always directly accessible, data collection procedures have included introspective techniques (e.g., think-aloud protocols or stimulated recalls), survey data collection procedures (i.e., questionnaires or interviews), text analysis, and computerized tracking (e.g., keystroke logging), often triangulating data from several sources. Most of this research is cross-sectional in nature, although there are solid longitudinal studies in the area (e.g., Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007Sasaki, , 2009Spack, 1997).…”

“…The main groups of L2 writers in focus in this body of work have been second and foreign language university students (e.g., Csizér & Tankó, 2015;Manchón et al, 2009;Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007 writers (e.g., Beare & Bourdages 2007) and secondary school students (e.g., Maarof & Murat, 2013;Schoonen et al, 2009Schoonen et al, , 2011Simeon, 2016;Tillema, 2012;Tillema, van den Bergh, Rijlaarsdam, & Sanders, 2011). Given the nature of research preoccupations and the fact that the phenomena under the spotlight are not always directly accessible, data collection procedures have included introspective techniques (e.g., think-aloud protocols or stimulated recalls), survey data collection procedures (i.e., questionnaires or interviews), text analysis, and computerized tracking (e.g., keystroke logging), often triangulating data from several sources.…”

“…Accordingly, under this paradigm, strategies are viewed as actions implemented by L2 writers to respond to the demands encountered in the discourse community where they write and learn to write. An important concern in this strand has been to ascertain the manner in which strategic behavior is mediated by the social context in which writing takes place (e.g., Cumming, 2006;Lei, 2008;Leki, 1995Leki, , 2011Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007Spack, 1997, for representative examples). Research in the area has been framed in socio-cognitive views of literacy development as well as goal theories in educational psychology.…”

Second Language Learners’ Performance and Strategies When Writing Direct and Translated Essays

“…A number of studies were conducted to explore effective language and writing strategies and their benefits to improve students' performance (Ismail, 2011;Roca de Larios, Manchon and Murphy, 2008;Sasaki, 2004Sasaki, , 2007Wong, 2005;Casanave, 2002;Lv and Chen, 2010;Griffiths, 2007;Wenyu and Yang, 2008). Vol.…”