Potential Determinants of Successful L2 Academic Writing - A Case Study with Two Novice L2 Writers

Potential Determinants of Successful L2 Academic Writing

  The purpose of the present study was to explore potential factors that might influence the processes of L2 academic writing. With this purpose in mind, a qualitative study based on two novice ESL academic writers was designed. Data were collected from multiple sources such as interview logs and documents, and the data analysis was guided by the grounded theory methods. Findings reveal that the performance of L2 academic writing was influenced by five key factors: cultural influences, meta-knowledge of L2 academic writing, positive feedback, transfer of content knowledge, and time management. These results were discussed in terms of previous literature on L2 writing. Implications for future research were also presented.