Hi Michael,

I've experienced an improvement of L1 by teaching L2. That is, as they learn about a foreign language, its rules, levels of formality, register, etc., they also reflexted about the conventions of their native language.

I teach EFL/ESL to mostly Spanish speakers and Spanish as a second language to American learners. In both cases, the benefits of being exposed to a second language gravitates positively in the L1.

I would like to carry out some formal research on the matter. It may be interesting to see what aspects are mostly improved. 

All the best,

Laura

I know that the opposite is the case in cases where students have their L2 as their literacy L1 (i.e. have only been taught literacy in their L2, and their L1 is not taught as a written language), then they will write their L1 with influence from their L2. For example in the case of Nahuatl where most L1 speakers have Spanish as their main literacy language most learners will intuitively follow Spanish orthographic conventions when they write Nahuatl. For example separating prefixes from their roots when they correspond to separate words in Spanish, over representing phonetic contrasts that are phonemic in Spanish and underrepresent those that aren't etc.

Hi Michael,

I've experienced an improvement of L1 by teaching L2. That is, as they learn about a foreign language, its rules, levels of formality, register, etc., they also reflexted about the conventions of their native language.

I teach EFL/ESL to mostly Spanish speakers and Spanish as a second language to American learners. In both cases, the benefits of being exposed to a second language gravitates positively in the L1.

I would like to carry out some formal research on the matter. It may be interesting to see what aspects are mostly improved. 

All the best,

Laura

I have addressed a similar question in my page regarding this matter. Unfortunately, it depends on many aspects when looking at this kind of question. First, the rhetorical perspective, as whether both languages share the same rhetorical aspects. Second, the style of writing, do they both have similar punctuations, and, if so, are they used in a similar way. 

I have considered Arabic language as an L1 compared to English language as an L2 if they really share the same aforementiond aspects.; and whether if ESL learners would do better in writing in a second language if they have a good proficiency in writing in their L2. It seems to me that, according to some reserch that was conducted in this regard that Arabic as an L1 writing proficiency has a positive impact on English writing as an L2.

You might look at Kaplans contrastive rhetorical theory, as he has mentiond some issue in this regard.

Hope that we could find more research in this issue, as it helps learners of a second language acquesition.

Yes they are different but somehow or other proficiency in L1 affects that in L2.I think we can help students overcome th edifferences in conventions and expectations by encouraging more reading in L2.

You may want to look at the works on contrastive rhetoric  or genre studies by Connor or Swales. Also, Atkinson, D. and Ramanathan, V. (1995). Cultures of Writing: an Ethnographic Comparison of L1 and L2 University Writing/Language Programs. TESOL Quarterly, 29, 539-568.

In the case of Spanish speakers sometimes the L1 influence is positive, especially in academic writing vocabulary. But for other conventional features, such as in formal letters, the L1 influence to English may be somewhat negative. I suppose it all depends on the genre. There are some genre conventions and formats that are common in both Spanish and English, so the L1 influence may be positive. I believe as writing instructors we should make the most of these positive influences. 

My experience in writing is that 1) if my students, native Spanish speakers, write well in their native language, there is definitely a transfer to L2 writing; 2) when learning specific conventions in L2 (English, in this case), because there are differences between the two cultures, what they learn in L2 affects L1 writing in a positive way; 3) when writing introductions to a paper or stating their research problem in L1 there are differences not only in terms of knowledge of the genre but also in terms of its structure. Swales' CARS model (1990) proves to be quite useful; 4) from the point of view of style, Spanish speakers tend to be categorical in their statement and leave very little space for different points of view. Students tend not to hedge their statements and have to be taught that they are "humble servants of the discipline" as Hyland so eloquently puts it. Moreover, their statements are very often vague and approximate. They have to be taught to be more precise in the use of language. One can definitely see a two-way influence of L1 on L2 and vice versa. 

The conventions of L1 affects those learners more who are not given adequate instructions by their teachers about the differences between L1 and L2 writing conventions.

I think that there's a mutual transfer of writing conventions in both L1 and L2. Based on my teaching experience, I've noticed that my students transferred some negative aspects in writing from L1 (Arabic) to L2 (English) such as redundancy, repetition, personal judgement (disregarding objective assessment), and exaggeration. However, after being exposed to English writing conventions (especially in academic writing courses) which are quite different, they started to cycle back those new positive conventions (e.g. clarity and precision, using topic sentences and paragraphs, employing logical sequence, using connective words functionally, writing conclusions, developing arguments properly, etc.) into their L1 writing. So, the relationship sounds so complicated; it's circular rather than being linear. 

I am a native Tagalog speaker though I consider English my second language. But because English is used professionally and academically in the Philippines, I have actually become more adept in writing in English than Tagalog. Partly because I had more trainings in English writing and grammar than in Tagalog in school since three quarters of my subjects are in English.

This coming August in Manila, research publication for non-anglophones or bilingual authors may be one of the topics at the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Journal Editors (APAME) International Convention.

we are doing research on the writing  influences within a group of bilingual (Italian-German) pupils aged 13-15. To which extend one language influences the writing styles in theother language. We observe that if a student has not acquired a good level of Italian (L1) he is facing difficuties in writing well in German (lack of writing conventions for example) as well, although he grew up and lives in Germany. Anybody here who also does research in the field Italian-German bilingual kinds/pupils/adults? Thanks a million.

Dear professor Marek,

The  research results on L1/L2 transferability have not been conclusive. Different scholars have produced different evidence regarding the issue. Surprisingly in my recent action research (in press),  I personally did not find any facilitative role between L1 and L2 writing. However, I found that turning our attention to process based approaches and highlighting learners' awareness of generic variations defined by different rhetorical purposes can be more fruitful. What I want to say is that L1/L2 transferability is certainly an overriding factor in the learners' inter language development, but in the case of writing , I suppose, it is a lot of effort about nothing.

Yours faithfully,

R.Biria

Dear Professor Marek,

As other researchers pointed out, the results about L1/L2 transferability have not been conclusive. However, talking about scientific discourse, as an article or a thesis, Karen Englander has prooved that there are important differences in discourse structures that may affect written accuracy. In her study, Englander analyzes a Mexican scientist whose discourse structures in his article were sanctionated by the editors, eventhough for Spanish they were accurate structures.

The article I mention is in Spanish, but I also add Englander´s link in ResearchGate 

http://www.dissoc.org/ediciones/v03n01/DS3%281%29Englander.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Englander

Thank you, Elisa!!

 Dear Prof. Michael Marek

Hi

You have mentioned initially: "In a previous question I asked, most people agreed that L1 writing ABILITY correlates with L2 writing ability. "

Could I have this study and benefit from your results? I really appreciate it. Thanks

Yes -- here is the previous question.

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_writing_ability_in_a_primary_language_predict_writing_ability_in_a_second_or_foreign_language

Thanks for your kind attention and response.

Dear professor Marek

Dear Professor Marek,

I would really urge to work with a more differentiated notion of "language", it is much to broad to speak of L1 and L2, this leads to overview differences in genres within one national language with effects on any acquisition process of L2. Some points to make this more clear:

Thank you!

Marie-Cecile Bertau

Article Writing: Movements of the self

Article Voices in text, mind, and society

In my belief, through exposure to authentic texts and a lot of reading,  because the process of writing in a foreign language is culture- and genre-specific.

There are clearly crossover/transfer issues. Working with academics who teach international students in my own university, they find it very helpful to discover that the issues students have writing academic texts in English sometimes have their root in the transfer of academic conventions and language from the student's L1. This can help them to make the UK conventions more visible to their students.

Of course, there are. L1 transference and rhetorical patterns are the most noticeable. Both may hinder the quality of the written paper. 

As for Serbian writers of scientific literature I would say they are heavily relying on the English writing conventions.

I would add, although this point has been drawn upon in the beginning, that L1 aptitude in writing significantly impacts L2 writing. Academic genre conventions can be learned with proper instruction. However, clarity of thought and a natural flow of the prose is something L1 can predict.

Hi,

Your question:

"I am asking this because I am working with some students who have the thesis that conventions for writing in Mandarin Chinese are different from expectations in English writing, particularly in non-fiction informative and persuasive writing, such as would be used in classroom writing assignments.

Does student knowledge of L1 writing conventions influence L2 writing?"

And my answer: I have been working with Chinese post-graduate students at various UK universities teaching them EAP on pre-sessional courses and they all admit that there are enormous differences between producing an academic text in English and in Mandarin. Besides, even at university level they hardly have to write academic texts as the system consists of teachers lecturing - students taking notes and reading/learning the material in (usually one) textbook and finally reproducing the "acquired knowledge" at an exam. It is very rare that these students have any experience in searching for sources and evaluating them in order to use them in their writing. What makes the picture worse is that they try to use the essay writing skills in English learned during IELTS courses, and these are very different from EAP. Thus, the teacher has to fight both with their L1 experience and L2 (English) previous experience.

I agree that writing in English is a different proposition than writing in Bengali, Hindi or Mandarin. We face this language  problem in the Department of Sociology,The University of Burdwan.Students are accustomed to write MA thesis in Bengali but when it comes to Ph.D. they face difficulties. I had to proofread the thesis of one of my doctoral students' before she finally submitted it in order to correct her English. The University of Burdwan has made it compulsory for Ph.D. students to write their dissertations in English .But the UGC has issued no such diktat.One student may have very good ideas but may be unable to express them in English .I put  a question as to whether writing the Ph.D. thesis  in Bengali or native language violates academic norms to our new Vice Chancellor Prof.Nimai Chandra Saha ,at a teachers'  meeting with the VC.. He asked  the science Dean to answer the question.Unfortunately, his reply was far from satisfactory and drew jeers from the assembled teachers. So , we remain in the dark. 

ANIRBAN BANERJEE

Professor of Sociology

The University of Burdwan

1st August,2017.

[email protected]