1st Annual University of Iowa World Languages Graduate Student Conference "Exploring Divisions”

Composing process of a bilingual writer: division and unity of the two languagesElena Shimanskaya

The University of Iowa04/13/2013

Plan1. Theoretical background

2. Think-aloud protocol

3. Writer

4. Prompt

5. Method

6. Findings• Book selection and planning• Backtracking• L1 interference• Focus on upgrading

7. Conclusions/reflections

Theoreticalbackground

Writing in one’s native language (L1-writing) vs writing in one’s second language (L2-writing) – same or different?

Woodall (2002): quantitative

differences

Theoretical Background

Studying writing in general

The influence of topic

Composing processes: backtracking, revising

Particularities of L2 writing

Impact of L2 proficiency

Task difficulty

Interaction between L1 and L2

Language-switching

Composing processes: compensatory processes, upgrading processes

Theoreticalbackground

Example:

Language-switching

Qi (1998): switching for cognitively demanding tasks

Woodall (2002): “…L2 proficiency and task difficulty do not uniformly affect the frequency and duration of language-switch” and can even sometimes have a positive effect

Theoreticalbackground

Example:

Language-switching

Qi (1998): switching for cognitively demanding tasks

Woodall (2002): “…L2 proficiency and task difficulty do not uniformly affect the frequency and duration of language-switch” and can even sometimes have a positive effect

Threads that emerged:

o The influence of topic

o Language-switching

o Composing processes

Theoreticalbackground

Example

Think aloud of solving a math problem:

Think-aloud

Think-aloudImportant methodological problems

of think-aloud research (Smagorinsky, 1994):1. data are subject to idiosyncratic interpretation;

2. assumes that writing is a problem-solving ask (alternatively a stream-of-consciousness activity);

3. do not elicit all cognitive activity;

4. artificial conditions of a time-constrained session;

5. other factors: e.g. affect, linguistic ability.

Important aspects to consider (Smagorinsky, 1994):

1. Researcher-participant interaction2. Participant characteristics3. Coding4. Data analysis and reporting results5. Attention to context6. Reactivity: how the fact of verbalizing

your thoughts influences the cognitive processes

Think-aloud

Think-aloudSmagorinsky (1994) on advantages and

disadvantages of this research methodology:

“… a fundamentally "human" enterprise,subject to personal bias, interaction factors between researchers and subjects,problems of interpretation, and other aspects of human caprice.”

BUT also “… offers a unique glimpse into the workings of the human mind.” (xiii)

Writer• David

• Graduate student in the French

Department

• L1 French L2 English

• No formal assessment of his

proficiency level

• Very fluent (has spent 8 years

in the US)

• Writes mainly in French

Prompt“Write about your favorite book. Please, summarize the plot for me. Why do you like this book?”

MethodPhysical setting: small computer lab, the researcher and the lab assistant present during the data collection session

Preparation: no preparation

Technology: Word (composing), external microphone (voice recording), Camtasia Studio 7 (screen recording)

Time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes + short informal unstructured interview

Instructions: overview of think-aloud protocol, dictionary use

ProductDavid didn’t finish the essay

2 paragraphs of text (2/3 of a

page)

“Les A.N.I. du Tassili” (1985) by

Akli Tadjer

Book selection/planning

“Well first of all what book do I like best? It’s kind of hard to say… I don’t know what I can talk about… a a a a … well see the thing is it is not necessarily the book that I like that come through my head but books that I read for classes and my research… so maybe I think maybe I’ll just do that and so I’ll… yeah … so I know what book I wanna talk about”

“And really quickly I just wanna make sure that before I start writing I’ve got some way of … organizing my thoughts and so… let’s see… I’ll just present the book and ah… and … who wrote it and all and then I’ll just get into the story. I don’t know if I’ve got 30 minutes worth of … information on it but worse comes to worse I can always talk about another book”

Only planned orally

Book selection/planning

When the writer stops writing/typing and repeats/rereads the text that he has already produced by going at least 2 content words back from where he stopped.

≈ 28 minutes on actual writing

22 instances of backtracking (≈2 min 30 sec or 8%)

Backtracking episodes were often followed by a brief pause (preplanning?)

Once thinking ahead: talking about where his writing is going

Backtracking

L1 Interference

6 episodes:

• An instance of language-

switching

• Reflections on spelling

• Lexical searches

L1 Interference• spelling: “pro-lé-ta-rien… pro-lé

Comment on écrit ça? pro-lé-ta-rien »

• Lexical search: “emigrate” in English?

• • Lexical search: “typical”and who himself was born in France. His [pauses] having a French interference. Let me see. I wanna say something like typical but then that’s English more like the way il est typé. Mmm. The way his his appearance I guess we’ll just be general. His appearance mmm… I know I wanna say that he’s being rejected but I don’t want to say it like that by everybody else. His appearance singles him out singles him out as an Arab.

Language switchingfunny thing is that

[pause] that the the the the action in the book does not even take place in the suburbs in the suburbs. In fact not oops not even in France. Le tassili est un un bateau ou un? Ummm un ferry oui c’est ça. Oops Why did I switch to French ? Start writing in French. Le tassili The tassili There. That’s better.

Focus on Upgrading“the… the the something about the… work… the …

the the the working force? The the nope not that not so much where mean… having a problem cause I got a French words in my head thinking about ouvrier and I can’t find a way to say that in English. Mmm… E: Ouvrier? Workers? S: Yeah, but not really… see the thing is ummm… like the labor force? like the proletarian no that agree that is another good word but I’ve already used it. A and b mmm… that’s a little too communist tainted which I did on purpose there because umm… because that Renaud singer guy is very… quite communist also mmm well… at least in the French sense of it not so much in the Russian one. Ummm… so… Nowadays the suburbs are more the place where all of the poor people of immigrant origins are gathered (whether willingly or not) and not so much mmm… where yeah that where all of the … ah… work force would work but I still don’t like all the the the the the nope still blinking. Not so much [pause] I’m sorry I’m having a break down now…”

GrammarThe tone is somewhat similar to the one ( to that) of the singer called “Renaud”.He was ( is) a songwriter/singer who grew up in what used to be a more proletarian environment. Changing tense from present to present perfect: His appearance singles ( has singled) him out as an Arab even though he does not know much about Algeria –even though he doesn’t know the Arab language very well either.Another problem with tenses (pauses to reflect on the problem for 50 seconds): When the story begins, Omar has just tried what he calls a “voluntary internship” which actually just means that he decided to go to Algeria and discover the culture that he has come to believe is ( was) his own.

Interview•The reason for the switch to L1 was the French name• David felt guilty for not verbalizing everything• Not all processes were verbalized: sometimes felt the need to go back and explain some decisions that happened too fast• David did not think in French when he was writing• Would have written differently if he had not been verbalizing

Conclusions/Reflections

• effects of proficiency in

L2

• effects of topic (“It is

kind of hard to write

about a book that is in

French in English”)

• audience (explains

“pieds-noirs”)

• Backtracking (“going

back to move forward”)

Conclusions/Reflections

• •Topic matters: future research compare this type of situation with writing about something culturally specific to the US

• • Record the entire process (as opposed to limiting the writer in time)

Special thanks:

David, the bilingual writer who agreed to participate in the study

Professor Severino for her insightful comments on the workTHANK

YOU!

MERCI!