PUB TYPE Reports- Research/Technical (143)-- Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

IDENTIFIERS *Writing as a Second Language This paper discusses a study on tile composing processes by which native Japanese, Japanese Americans, and native Americans write technical or business English. Results of the study revealed a specific preference by students for one of the three general phases of composing: pre-writing, writing, or rewriting. Although the process preference did not correlate with native language, it did correlate with measures of product quality: i.e., the texts of pre-writers had greater lexical cohesion, and those of rewriters had fewer grammatical and spelling errors. Native language did correlate strikingly with a major rhetorical difference in the products, a difference apparently related to differing rhetorical expectations that seem to be culturally defined. Three suggestions are provided for teachers of adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students, including: (1) encourage formal pre-writing, even to the extent of offering a question-and-answer template to the fledgling writer; (2) force an awareness of audience and purpose in the business or technical writing process of ESL students; (3) urge ESL writers to focus on rhetorical structure during their rewriting. (Author/GLR) ****************R*********************************P******************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *************************A********************************************* U R DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIO