Commonality and Uniqueness in L2 Speaking and Writing Skills

• In Event: Roundtable Session 50
  In Roundtable Session: Communicative Practices and Digital Learning in Multilingual Settings

Abstract

This study identified shared and unique traits in oracy and literacy skills in English as L2. Scores of 92 Korean speakers who participated in the field test of the Pearson Test of English Academic were used as a secondary data analysis. Four communicative skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) and six enabling linguistic traits (written discourse, oral fluency, grammar, pronunciation, spelling, and vocabulary) were analyzed. The greatest overlapping variance was found between reading and writing. When oracy skills were controlled for, the unique variance accounted for by reading in the prediction of writing became marginal. The results of this study demonstrated that L2 oral language skills became increasingly important to L2 writing outcomes as language proficiency improved over time.

Authors

• Hye K. Pae, University of Cincinnati

• Elizabeth Lowrance, University of Cincinnati