Identifying cognitive processes and strategies when writing in L1 in a group of advanced modern languages students: an auto-ethnographic study

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the different writing cognitive process and personal strategies used by five advanced Modern Languages Students when writing by implementing several data gathering tools and based on “A process theory of writing”, which determines that the act of writing involves three major elements: 1.Task environment which includes all things outside the writer, starting with the rhetorical problem and including the text itself. 2. Writer’s long-term memory, knowledge of the topic, audience, and various writing plans. 3. Writing processes, specifically planning, translating, and reviewing. It was determined that the participants showed similarities and differences concerning the writing cognitive processes and that some of them made use of personal strategies when writing.