How can we help students to improve their writing strategies?
This project investigates the complex cognitive activity underpinning the planning, formulation, transcription, reading and revising processes involved in the production of academic text in a second language.
The participants are 26 adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at the University of Tokyo. Data were collected through a combination of complementary methods (eye-tracking, keystroke-logging and stimulated retrospective think-aloud protocols) to better understand the difficulties EFL university students face when composing English academic essays in real time, and to identify practical ways in which they can be helped to improve their writing strategies.