Metalinguistic and Ideational Thinking in Second Language Composing

Written Communication Oct 1990

Metalinguistic and Ideational Thinking in Second Language Composing

ALISTER CUMMING

Abstract

This article describes episodes of concurrent metalinguistic and ideational thinking in the verbal reports of 23 adult ESL learners composing on two tasks, then relates these descriptions to claims about the value of composition writing for second language learning. Three kinds of thinking episodes, appearing in about 30% of the decisions reported by learners while composing, show potential value for incidental learning of the second language: (a) searching out and assessing appropriate wording, (b) comparing cross-linguistic equivalents, and, much less frequently, (c) reasoning about linguistic choices in the second language. Multivariate analyses indicated that the frequency of these thinking episodes is significantly related to learners' writing expertise in their mother tongue. Implications are drawn for refining Swain's 1985 notion of “comprehensible output” in view of other theories of cognitive learning and second language acquisition, a necessary preliminary to empirical assessment of this hypothesis.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 1990-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/0741088390007004003
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

Wang (2020)

Becoming Multilingual Writers through Translation

Research in the Teaching of English

Cites in this index (5)

SMAGORINSKY (1989)

The Reliability and Validity of Protocol Analysis

Written Communication
McGINLEY et al. (1989)

Traversing the Topical Landscape

Written Communication
BETANCOURT et al. (1988)

Sources of Writing Block in Bilingual Writers

Written Communication
FLOWER et al. (1984)

Images, Plans, and Prose

Written Communication
Flower et al. (1981)

The Pregnant Pause: An Inquiry Into the Nature of Planning

Research in the Teaching of English

Also cites 45 works outside this index ↓

10.1111/j.1467-1770.1984.tb00353.x

↗
10.1093/elt/41.4.257

↗
Bereiter, C.

The psychology of written composition

↗
10.1093/applin/3.3.181

↗
Birdsong, D.

Metalinguistic performance and interlinguistic competence

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1986.tb00559.x

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1983.tb00546.x

↗
10.1093/applin/4.3.259

↗
10.1017/S0272263100008391

↗
10.18806/tesl.v3i0.995

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1989.tb00592.x

↗
10.1177/026553229000700104

↗
10.1007/BF00377643

↗
10.1007/BF00368233

↗
10.2307/356095

↗
10.1093/applin/8.2.111

↗
10.3138/cmlr.44.4.653

↗
10.2307/377490

↗
10.2307/3586654

↗
10.1093/applin/9.2.198

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1974.tb00509.x

↗
10.1515/text.1.1983.3.2.183

↗
10.1017/S014271640000850X

↗
Lakoff, G.

Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind

↗
10.1017/S0272263100007300

↗
10.1093/applin/4.2.126

↗
10.2307/3586276

↗
10.17763/haer.47.3.8840364413869005

↗
10.1017/S027226310000783X

↗
10.1016/S0022-5371(84)90489-4

↗
10.2307/3586828

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1987.tb00579.x

↗
10.1017/S014271640000031X

↗
10.1017/S0272263100008433

↗
10.1093/applin/10.1.36

↗
10.1207/s1532690xci0201_1

↗
10.1016/0749-596X(86)90014-8

↗
Scribner, S.

The psychology of literacy

↗
10.1017/S0140525X00052432

↗
10.18806/tesl.v6i1.542

↗
10.2307/3586736

↗
10.3138/cmlr.46.1.178

↗
10.1093/applin/10.2.128

↗
10.2307/3586647

↗
10.1111/j.1467-1770.1989.tb00591.x

↗

CrossRef global citation count: 143 View in citation network →