An analysis of the writing of native language-educated and second language-educated nonnative speakers of English

Given the increasing numbers of immigrants with interrupted education in their native language who are forced to complete their secondary schooling in the United States, research on the relationship between first language education and second language literacy is critical for higher education teachers and administrators. This dissertation focuses on both teacher perception and actual linguistic differences in the second language writing of native language educated nonnative speakers (NLE NNSs) (i.e., completion of secondary school in the student's native country) and second language educated nonnative speakers (SLE NNSs) (i.e., 3 to 5 years of secondary school in the United States). Essays from both populations of students were first read by 9 experienced English as a second language (ESL) college-level writing teachers to determine if they could identify which population the essays were drawn from. These teachers were first interviewed, and despite their beliefs that the two groups had distinct characteristics in their writing, the teachers could not accurately identity which population the essays were drawn from; in addition, the majority of the teachers were not in agreement in their identification of the essays.; In the second part of the dissertation, a group of ESL and basic composition teachers rank ordered the essays. Results indicate a statistical difference between the rank order of NLE NNS writing and SLE NNS writing, suggesting that teachers assess the former group as overall better writers. The third and fourth parts of the dissertation examined more closely the linguistic differences between the two populations using measures of fluency, accuracy, complexity, and cohesion. Thirty-nine essays (22 NLE NNSs and 17 SLE NNSs) were independently coded by two coders with backgrounds in applied linguistics. The essays were coded for error-free T-units, s-nodes per T-unit, error count, error classification, and cohesive ties. The results indicate that NLE NNS and SLE NNS essays showed no significant differences in measures of fluency (word count and mean T-unit length), accuracy (percent of error-free T-units, percent of errors per T-unit, error count, and error classification), complexity (percent of s-nodes, per T-unit), and cohesion (number of cohesive ties). The fifth and sixth parts of the dissertation involved holistic/analytic rating of the 39 essays in the following categories: content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics. In addition, a qualitative analysis of a subset (n = 6) of the sample was performed. The results indicate that NLE essays were rated significantly higher than SLE essays in content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and overall mean total score. There were no significant differences in the ratings for mechanics. The qualitative analysis indicates that NLE NNS essays were richer, more complex than their SLE counterpart. Finally, in a subset of the sample (n = 18), there were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to socioeconomic status (SES) and parents' educational background.; In summary, this study points to significant differences between NLE and SLE writing. NLE writers are judged to be better academic writers. The implications for teacher training, student placement, curriculum development, and methodology in the L2 writing classroom will be explored.