Abstract/Summary

Development of writing in a second language (L2W) among young learners is an emerging field of study in the area of SLA (Manchón, 2009, 2014; Muñoz, 2006; Pérez-Vidal et al., 2000; Torras & Celaya, 2001), in part due to the digital revolution and its impact on communication Crystal, 2003, 2006, 2011; Hyland, 2019). This is particularly important in the context of Dutch primary and secondary education, where learners have access to a plethora of opportunities to engage in activities in English and where the number of learners starting to learn English at an earlier age (kindergarten) is increasing every year. Both these developments can have far reaching consequences for policy makers, curriculum developers and teachers of English in the Netherlands. Despite this significance there is a paucity of research that investigate the effect of starting age and exposure on L2W development over a longer period of time. The current study among Dutch young learners aspired to fill part of this gap by researching L2W development over an academic year. A longitudinal research design was employed to answer the two research questions that guided the study. The participants (aged 12) were two intact classes (n = 58) in their first year of secondary education. The data were collected at three points in time: the beginning (Time 1, October) middle (Time 2, March) and end (Time 3, June) of that academic year. The longitudinal within participants data were collected using a descriptive and an argumentative writing task at each point of data collection (six tasks in total). The order of tasks was counterbalanced to minimize any potential practice. The second dataset (between-participants) was collected using a questionnaire that was filled in at the start of the project. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Learners reported on their experiences of and starting age in primary ELT (part 1) and on their use of English outside of the school context (part 2). The L2W data were analysed in terms of fluency and syntactic and lexical complexity. Fluency was measured by counting the number of words written in twenty minutes (for each task). Measures of syntactic complexity included mean length of t-unit (MLTU) and ratio of subordination (number of clauses per t-unit) and lexical complexity was measured in terms of type-token ratio (TTR). The questionnaire data were all numerical (e.g. in terms of number times per week). Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyse the L2W data. Factorial MANOVAs were used to investigate the effects of primary ELT experience and exposure to English outside of the classroom on the development of L2W. The results of the study show that no significant differences in syntactic complexity and fluency were observed from Time 1 to Time 2 to Time 3. A significant result was found for lexical complexity (TTR) from Time 1 to Time 3. These results suggest that syntactic complexity and fluency did not develop to a statistically meaningful level from the beginning to the end of the year. However, their lexical diversity increased in a statistically significant way. The results of the first MANOVA show that the starting age did not have a statistically significant effect on the development of L2W. A significant effect was found for exposure to English outside of the classroom on the development of lexical diversity in L2W. These findings have significant implications for the development of L2W among young learners in general and Dutch young learners in particular, which will be discussed in detail.