Intertextuality in foreign-language academic writing in English. A mixed-methods study of university students’ writing products and processes in source-based disciplinary assignments

Abstract

This dissertation explores intertextuality in the writing processes and products of English-language academic writing. Using a mixed-methods approach, it investigates how German university students use the source text when writing in their foreign language (L2) English. Intertextual strategies are analysed in a corpus of reading reports, i.e. disciplinary assignments based on a single source text. Furthermore, six L2 writers’ processes of writing a reading report are studied using screen recordings and stimulated recall data. Intertextual links such as paraphrases as well as strategies of attribution, referencing, reporting, and (strategic) textual borrowing are analysed in order to shed light on how students create and combine intertextual manifestations in L2 academic writing. By combining a corpus and a process study in an innovative study design, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of how novice writers create and conceptualise intertextuality. The study adopts a positive perspective by focusing on proficient source use. It examines students’ strategies and identifies patterns of intertextuality in the writing process and the product. Its results bear important implications for foreign-language writing research and the teaching of source use in academic contexts.