Javier Marín

A Critical Examination of L2 Writing Process Research

The present chapter is intended as a critical analysis of the most relevant recent research into the cognitive processes underlying second language written composition. After an introduction of the research domain, a number of relevant methodological aspects are briefly discussed. These include the data collection procedures used, the assessment of writers’ command of the second language, the evaluation of written products, the context of the research, the type and number of participants involved, the type of tasks used, and the way reliability has been reported in the different studies. The substantive part of the research has been analyzed by isolating its main theoretical frames. Each of these frames has allowed us to derive a number of research sub-domains under which the studies have been grouped: the comparison of skilled and unskilled L2 writers, the development of L2 writing skill, the comparison of L1 and L2 writing processes, and the relationship between writing ability and L2 proficiency. A systematic analysis of the findings within each category has led us to identify a number of areas in need of further research: the notion of L2 writing skill, the formulation process, the temporal character of composition, the cognitive mechanisms involved in the transfer of writing abilities across languages, and the situated nature of L2 writing.

A Temporal Analysis of Formulation Processes in L1 and L2 Writing.

This cross-sectional study used verbal protocol analysis to compare the temporal distribution of formulation processes of Spanish EFL writers composing L1 and L2 argumentative texts. We studied three groups at different levels of L2 proficiency. Results showed the same total formulation time regardless of whether participants wrote in L1 or L2. L2 proficiency, however, affected times. Higher-proficiency participants devoted less time to formulation, concentrated formulation in the central stages of composing, and increased the interaction between formulation and other subprocesses. Fluent formulation was twice as common as problem-solving formulation when writing in L2 and five times as common in L1; these ratios appeared to be invariant across proficiency. Theoretical and methodological implications for the study of L2 writing processes are discussed.

Name-picture verification as a control measure for object naming: A task analysis and norms for a large set of pictures

The name–picture verification task is widely used in spoken production studies to control for nonlexical differences between picture sets. In this task a word is presented first and followed, after a pause, by a picture. Participants must then make a speeded decision on whether both word and picture refer to the same object. Using regression analyses, we systematically explored the characteristics of this task by assessing the independent contribution of a series of factors that have been found relevant for picture naming in previous studies. We found that, for “match” responses, both visual and conceptual factors played a role, but lexical variables were not significant contributors. No clear pattern emerged from the analysis of “no-match” responses. We interpret these results as validating the use of “match” latencies as control variables in studies or spoken production using picture naming. Norms for match and no-match responses for 396 line drawings taken from Cycowicz, Friedman, Rothstein, and Snodgrass (1997) can be downloaded at: http://language.psy.bris.ac.uk/name-picture_verification.html

Glyoxal and methylglyoxal determination in urine by surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and LC.

AIM Two important markers of oxidative stress, glyoxal and methylglyoxal, are preconcentrated from human urine by surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and separated by LC-fluorescence. METHODS/RESULTS Derivatization was carried out overnight with 0.8 mM 2,3-diaminonaphthalene at 4°C. For surfactant-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, 500 µl buffer solution (pH 10.5) and 25 µl 0.03 M Triton X-114 were added to 2.5 ml of the sample and the mixture was made up to 10 ml before the rapid injection of 75 µl 1-undecanol (extractant solvent) and 0.5 ml ethanol (dispersant solvent). CONCLUSION The method can be applied to analyze glyoxal and methylglyoxal in urine with LOD of 13 and 16 ng/l, respectively, and recoveries in the 88-103% range.

Determination of synthetic phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors by LC-MS2 in waters and human urine submitted to dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

High-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS2) with a triple quadrupole is proposed for determining the synthetic phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, sildenafil, tadalafil and vardenafil, and the active metabolite N-desmethyl sildenafil. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of waters of different origins and human urine samples. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) was applied in the classical way for water analysis, whereas a previous extraction into an organic solvent was necessary for urine samples, the acetonitrile extract being used as dispersant solvent in the DLLME step. The analytes were determined by LC-ESI-MS2 in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Detection limits were in the 5-50 and 15-250ngL-1 ranges for water and urine samples, respectively. The repeatability was calculated using the relative standard deviation, obtaining values of between 3.6% and 10.1%. The enrichment factors were between 75 and 81. Accuracy of the procedure was calculated through recovery assays and average recoveries ± SD (n = 48) of 93.6 ± 3.5 and 91.1 ± 3.5 were obtained for water and urine samples, respectively. None of the samples analyzed contained the target compounds, at least above the corresponding detection limits.

The academic writing process in Spanish universities: perceptions of students and faculty / El proceso de escritura académica en la universidad española: percepciones de estudiantes y profesores

Abstract This paper is intended as an exploration of university faculty and students’ perceptions of a number of dimensions involved in the written composition of academic texts. We analysed the responses to scale 3 in the European Writing Survey (EUWRIT) (in its Spanish version: Encuesta Europea sobre la Escritura Académica, EEEA) by a group of social science and humanities students (n = 1,030) and faculty (n = 230) from nine Spanish universities. We then examined the similarities and differences in their perceptions and established a factorial structure of the different dimensions underlying the writing process. The data indicate that both groups concur in the value assigned to both changing ideas in the course of the composition process (although this process seems to be understood differently by each group) and the revision and feedback processes. The students, however, claim to be involved in more planning and previous reading activities than the teachers perceive them to be. The significance of these results for a process-oriented perspective in academic writing is discussed.