ESL Writing Strategies

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The role of writing strategies in the process of writing has become more and more important and differences between more and less proficient learners have been found in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies are applied to the task, and in appropriateness of the strategies for the tasks (Chien, 2010; Hu & Chen, 2007; Mu & Carrington, 2007; Ridhuan & Abdullah, 2009). This implies the interplay of a number of components for successful application of writing strategies. Having a number and range of strategies for instance is useful, but students’ understanding of the requirements of the writing tasks and the operating of appropriate strategies to carry out the task often determine the effectiveness of the strategies used.…show more content…
Among these factors, writing strategies seem particularly remarkable because many researchers (Arndt, 1987; Beare, 2000; Raimes, 1985; Victori, 1995; Zamel, 1982) claim that it is the writing strategies that primarily separate successful from less successful writers. Furthermore, according to Hsiao and Oxford (2002), strategies can “pave the way toward greater proficiency, learner autonomy, and self-regulation” (p. 372). Therefore, it is necessary to explore explicit classification of ESL writing strategies from theoretic stance so that ESL learners can easily access to and acquire to facilitate their writing. However, as Hsiao and Oxford (2002) noted, “exactly how many strategies are available to learners to assist them in L2 learning and how these strategies should be classified are open to debate”( p. 368). Victori (1995) found a myriad of classifications of writing strategies and processes which were termed with different labels. ESL learners are often confused with so many classifications ESL writing strategies. Moreover, few of these classifications have been discussed from a theoretic stance. Thus, this study attempts to fill in the gap. In this paper, I first review theories related to ESL writing so as to provide theoretic foundation for the classification of ESL writing strategies. Then I review prior studies on ESL writing strategies and synthesize them into taxonomy of ESL writing
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