L1 Use In English Composing Process By EFL Learners At Different Proficiency Levels

The study is designed to investigate L1 use by Chinese EFL learners in their English writing process. Twelve subjects at different English proficiency have been chosen to do think-aloud in English writing for the cross-sectional research and longitudinal research. They have been recorded during their English writing process.L1 use in English writing process has been counted and the statistical data have been analyzed through SPSS 13.0. Through the interpretation of the quantitative and qualitative results, we can generate the following findings:1) According to the findings of subjects'L1 use found in the cross-sectional group, we find that subjects at higher English proficiency generally use less L1 than subjects at lower English proficiency in their English writing process. It can be concluded that English proficiency really affects L1 use in English writing. Three group subjects'L1 is mostly used in generating ideas and monitoring. Three group subjects'L1 use in WS and FS does not have much difference, indicating that English vocabulary and syntax is relatively difficult for the subjects to improve. Three group subjects'L1 use in TE, IG, IO and M shows significant differences.2) According to the findings of L1 use found in the longitudinal group, we find that three subjects'L1 use generally debilitates with English writing practice times proceeding. It also proves that incremental English writing practice times have effects on the decrement of L1 use in English writing process. Quite interesting, three subjects'L1 use is mostly used in generating ideas and monitoring each writing time, consistent with the finding found in the cross-sectional group. Three subjects'L1 use in generating and organizing ideas reduces greatly with incremental English writing practice times, while L1 use in searching words and forms does not.3) Compared with findings found in the cross-sectional group and the longitudinal group, further conclusion can be made that in English writing process, subjects always turn to L1 for generating ideas and monitoring; with the improvement of English proficiency, subjects'L1 in generating and organizing ideas reduces a lot, but L1 use in searching words and forms does not decrease much. The problem of Subjects'L1 use in TE needs further research.