Sink or Swim? L2 Writers’ Challenges and Strategic Agency:

A number of previous studies have explored L2 writers’ challenges in their writing practices through the investigation of differences between L1 and L2 writing. To contribute to the scholarship on this comparison, the present study scrutinizes secondary L2 writers’ challenges and strategies by looking into the differences between L1 and L2 writers. The researcher adopts the qualitative approach of a case study exploring the thoughts of two teachers who teach English to both L1 and L2 writers in a junior high school in the U.S. The findings indicate that, from the teachers’ perspectives, the L1 and L2 students exhibit a number of observable differences in their writing and that the L2 writers go through challenges but make every effort to survive in the second language environment. Additionally, various contextual factors of the L2 students create not only distinctions between L1 and L2 writing but also differences across L2 writers’ writing. Finally, these findings hold important pedagogical implications by helping composition instructors better understand L2 writers’ writing and develop effective strategies for dealing with their challenges at the secondary and, further, college levels.