A Contrastive Investigation into the Non-native Speakers of English Academicians’ Academic Writing Cognitions and Challenges in the First and Second Languages

Abstract

Academic writing has been a focal point for research inquiry in the first and second languages. The present study aims to investigate non-native speakers of English writers’ knowledge, opinions, and preferences regarding academic writing in the first and second languages for publications and to identify the possible challenges these writers meet in their research articles in the first and second languages. The results will help academicians be aware of difficulties in the article sections and challenges in language use to overcome these problems and alleviate their recent experiences since they may be influenced negatively during the writing and publishing of an article. Therefore, this study contributes to the field because the implications may guide academicians while they write. A convergent-parallel design of mixed method designs was adopted. Data were obtained from structured questionnaires filled out by 440 participants and semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 participants. SPSS 21.0 was used to analyze the quantitative data using descriptive statistics and inferential analyses. Content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results showed that the academicians felt more confident when they wrote in their first language. The academicians had positive views about academic writing since they had self-confidence, self-motivation, and awareness of their academic status requirements. The abstract and results were the most manageable sections of the research articles, while the discussion section was slightly challenging. These academicians had more language use awareness in their first language. The study underlined the advantages and necessity of explicit AW instruction.