Writing in Two Languages

Abstract

On seeing the essay quoted here, the off-hand reaction of most teachers would be annoyance. This fourteen year-old teenager – who does not normally do well – has again demonstrated that she is lazy, and that she does not put much effort into her schoolwork. Her essay is only 65 words long, although she had 90 minutes to complete the task. However, since the essay was produced in the context of a research project, requiring students to verbalize concurrently while writing their essays, we know from her verbal protocol that this student actually worked hard on her essay, and that she spent the full 90 minutes. So, what did she do during all this time? At first, she spent a lot of time trying to understand the writing prompt, which was in English. In fact, throughout the writing process, she struggled with language. Although she worked hard trying to solve her problems, she was clearly bogged down by having to write in a foreign language. For her, this task turned out to be more of a jigsaw puzzle than a writing task. The research context opens a valuable window on the hard work that some of the less able students actually put into a meagre product, a luxury not often afforded to teachers.