Text-generating Strategies of Three Multilingual Writers: A Protocol-based Study

Abstract

This study aims to compare some of the writing behaviours present in the think-aloud protocols of three male Spanish university students while writing in Catalan, their mother tongue, Spanish and English. An analysis of the three subjects' composing behaviours based on the think-aloud protocols shows that their planning and other text-generating strategies are consistent across the three languages. It also shows that each subject approached the three writing tasks in a similar way highlighting his own individuality. The potentiality of individual writing and of think-aloud protocols promoting language and writing process awareness is discussed.