The Role of First Language Transfer in Second Language Writing and Pedagogical Implications

The influence of first language(L1) involvement in second language(L2) writing has been a theme widely discussed since the research on L2 writing process thrived in the early 1980 s. So far extensive studies have indicated that L2 writing is a bilingual event and the use of L1 is a fairly common strategy among L2 writers. In light of this cognitive characteristic of L2 writing process,a wide range of studies have been carried out,seeking to further reveal what role L1 plays in L2 composing process and how L1 assumes its role during the process. However,there seems to be no consensus reached by the L2 writing researchers so far on whether L1 involvement facilitates or interferes L2 writing,which results in a lot of confusion and frustration in L2 writing teaching practices. Therefore,this paper tries to examine the conflicting views on the role of L1 transfer in L2 writing process and analyze the reasons and theories that may underlie this phenomenon for an attempt to elicit some pedagogical implications for future L2 writing teaching.