The Relationship between Attitudes toward Writing and EFL Writing Proficiency

Abstract

Writing in the first language requires the integration of numerous skills and strategies. In written communication, it is the responsibility of the writer to clarify the meaning, have the reader in mind, relate to the reader's needs and culture, and make decisions regarding what is relevant/irrelevant or logical/illogical so that a message is successfully communicated. If such a task is a real challenge for the native speakers of any given language, it is undoubtedly, by comparison, even more challenging for FL or L2 writers (Leki, 1992). Two main reasons make their task more difficult: EFL/ESL writers' lack of proficiency m FL/L2 and cross-linguistic differences in discourse between L1 and FL/L2. These differences can cause misunderstandings, which lead to FL/L2 writing that differs greatly from the discourse norms of the target language. As writing systems are unique, successful writing in FL/L2 requires mastery of the target language encoding and decoding systems as well as rhetorical, lexical and syntactic patterns (Odlin, 1994).

In EFL/ ESL classes, writing is not always practiced m isolation; it is rather practiced in an interdependent way with other modalities. For example, a dictation or note-taking task involves listening and/ or reading comprehension. Also, a listening or reading task may involve writing as a consolidation of what is being learnt