Student writing process, perceptions, problems, and strategies in writing academic essays in a second language: A case study

Abstract

When studying in Australia, international students in general and Vietnamese students in particular meet many difficulties, one of which is writing academis essays/assignments in English. The current case study, applying the cognitivist view, aims at exploring the problems as well as the process of writing academic assignments of a particular Vietnamese student studying at an Australian university. Based on the coding scheme applied by Cumming [1989] and Bosher [1998], the study specifically addresses three major questions: (1) How does the student perceive the requirements of the academic essay? (2) What does he actually do in the process of writing? (3) What are the problems he encounters and strategies he used during the process of writing the essay in English? Data relevant for the study was collected by means of in-depth interviews, stimulated recall, and interpretation of the student’s written products. Data analysis has shown that the subject did not pay much attention to grammatical errors or spelling mistakes and he met many problems and used a lot of strategies to solve them.