Quantifying the Burden of Writing Research Articles in a Second Language

David I. Hanauer Indiana University of Pennsylvania ; Karen Englander Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

Abstract

This article provides quantitative data to establish the relative, perceived burden of writing research articles in English as a second language. Previous qualitative research has shown that scientists writing English in a second language face difficulties but has not established parameters for the degree of this difficulty. A total of 141 Mexican, Spanish-speaking scientists from a range of scientific disciplines participated in a survey which directly compared writing scientific research articles in Spanish and English as a second language. The survey questions defined burden in relation to perceived difficulty, dissatisfaction, and anxiety. The results revealed that the experience of writing a scientific research article in English as a second language is significantly different than the experience writing in a first language and that this writing process was perceived as 24% more difficult and generated 11% more dissatisfaction and 21% more anxiety. The findings suggest that the use of English as a second language is the cause of this increased burden.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2011-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088311420056
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Written Communication
  3. Written Communication
  4. Written Communication
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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