Ameliorating Effect of Bilingualism on Academic Writing Development: Additional Evidence

Abstract

Several studies have shown that bilingual students outperform their monolingual peers intellectually. Accordingly, they refuted the long-held belief that having access to several language codes constitutes a psychological condition, and that bilingualism seems to be destructive rather than constructive. In line with the studies of concern, this study aims to achieve two objectives: Exploring the relation between bilingualism and academic writing development, besides investigating the students' coping strategies when writing their academic writing task.

 The data was analyzed according to Leki's (1995) typology of coping strategies. Additionally, the coping strategies of both groups were compared and the differences were highlighted and discussed. In this study, more evidence is mounting in favor of bilingualism. The extensive range of coping strategies employed by the students has been cited as an explanation for the quantitative rise in writing scores reached by bilingual students. Hence, writing proficiency and the use of coping methods appeared to be directly related to bilingualism.