The hallmarks of L2 writing viewed through the prism of translation universals

Rooted in a perception that second language (L2) writing bears neither resemblance with nontranslated counterparts nor relation to translation, this article explores the untested terrain of revealing lexical and textual attributes unique to L2 writers texts, thus identifying their linguistic qualities from the angle of translation universals. Setting plausible parameters to discern translational instances related to lexical and syntactical choices, this article argues that idiosyncratic properties shared by translated English may typify the hallmarks of L2 writing produced by non-anglophone scholars in English disciplines. By compiling the comparable corpora of English journal abstracts consisting of 638,764 tokens, it is shown how salient translational features arise in expert L2 writers texts in compliance with corpus linguistics. Kruskal-Wallis tests are applied to evaluate linguistic indices that make Korean scholars L2 writing distinct from native scholars’ original writing. On a substantial level, a general presumption on the interrelatedness between expert L2 writers English and translational English has turned out to be warranted, meaning that Korean scholars L2 writing can be marked by universals of simplification, normalization, explicitation, and convergence in their broad outlines. It can be deducible from the findings that regardless of L2 proficiency levels, second language writers may be destined to go through a ‘mental translation as an inescapable cognitive mechanism during the L2 writing process, which in turn renders translational manifestations pervasive in the ‘product’ of L2 writing. The terminal pedagogical aim building metacognitive awareness to be mindful of second language processing, thus, this article concludes that expert L2 writers need to equip themselves with metacognitive strategies, thereby being consciously and explicitly aware of what to avoid and what to accept during the process of L2 writing entailing mental translation.