Language Proficiency, Writing Ability, and Composing Strategies: A Study of ESL College Student Writers*

This study was designed to examine ESL student writers at different levels of instruction, to describe their writing strategies as shown in think‐aloud protocols, and to compare their composing behaviors with what we know about native speaker student writers. Eight ESL students, four in remedial ESL writing courses and four in college‐level writing courses, were given two different writing tasks for think‐aloud composing. The resulting protocols were coded and analyzed. The data were examined in relation to course placement, holistic evaluation of the students' writing, and scores on a language proficiency test. The study showed that: (1) L1 basic writers and L2 writers had many strategies in common, the main difference being that the L2 writers did not appear to be inhibited by attempts to correct their work; (2) the students in nonremedial courses consistently engaged in more interaction with the emerging texts; (3) there was little correspondence demonstrated among proficiency, writing ability, and the students' composing strategies; and (4) a specified purpose and audience had almost no observable effect on composing strategies.