Cognitive Models of Writing

This paper reviews models of the cognitive processes involved in writing. It sketches their development from an early emphasis on the thinking behind the text and the impact of cognitive overload on this, through more dynamic models emphasizing the interaction between thinking and text production processes, to more recent models emphasizing the constitutive role of text production in the development of the writer‟s thought. In the course of the review it considers the implications of these models for research on writing in L2. These include a consideration of (i) varying goals and genres in L1 and L2, (ii) the impact of linguistic fluency in L2 on higher level thinking processes, (iii) strategies for managing the writing process in L2, (iv) the maintenance of conceptual representations during text production in L2, and (v) the impact of L2 writing on the development of the writer‟s understanding during text production.