| This study throws some light into an area that has been relatively untouched: EFL writing. It analyses how language proficiency, writing strategies and Metacognitive knowledge about writing relates to differences in EFL writing skills. Data were collected from 200 undergraduate university Spanish students enrolled in EFL classes at the Universitat de Barcelona. They were required to take an English test, write an argumentative essay and fill in a structured questionnaire that measured their knowledge about writing in English. Subsequently, four subjects were chosen, interviewed and required to think-aloud as they wrote an argumentative essay.; Findings from the questionnaire as well as the more qualitative accounts of the four case studies suggested several areas in which the MK of the two good and the two poor writers differed. On the whole, these differences pointed to a much broader, more adequate and flexible scope that good writers had about writing, compared to that of the poor writers whose MK often appeared limited and inadequate. Furthermore, the case studies also revealed the clear interaction that exists between the MK of the writers and the strategies they deployed, underscoring the major role played by MK in providing a rationale for the writers' approach.; Differences were also identified in the strategies used by both pairs of writers. On the whole, these suggested that what separated the two good writers from the two poor ones was the more interactive approach and investment of effort which led to a larger number of cognitive and metacognitive strategies displayed by the former. However, writers were also observed to follow different approaches to achieve the same end, making evident not only the complexity of the composing skill, but also the difficulty in defining it in terms of concrete and unique strategies. Finally, concerning language proficiency, the results showed a moderate correlation between language proficiency and writing scores suggesting that although language proficiency contributes to EFL writing, it can not determine by itself whether a writer will have good or poor writing skills. |
