An analysis of the impact of the L1 on bilinguals' writing competence

Abstract

The research fields of second language acquisition in general and L2 writing in particular have been dominated by studies in which English is the language under scrutiny. However, many different researchers have claimed that it is high time to consider languages other than English (LOTEs), since multilingualism is the norm rather than the exception all over the world. In particular, minority languages have been largely overlooked in the literature on L2 writing, a research gap that this study intends to fill in. With this objective in mind, this research examines the impact of the participants’ L1 (Basque or Spanish) on their written production. The sample was made up of 9767 participants from the Basque Autonomous community in Spain, who completed a writing test aimed at assessing the C1 level (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) in Basque in five different points in time. The results revealed differences in writing competence in favour of L1=Basque participants when compared with their L1=Spanish counterparts, especially as far as the criterion of accuracy was concerned. The study concludes by providing insights that will be useful in other international educational contexts in which a minority and a majority language share co-official status.