The Influence of Self-editing on Micro Skills Development in Academic Writing in English as a Second Language

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Self-editing skills are extremely important in foreign language learning; without them university students tend not to write appropriately in academic contexts. These skills are, however, often less developed in school graduates and it is thus essential to understand the challenges faced by university students. The present study was conducted to answer the research question: whether self-editing as a final component of written production can boost the writing micro skills of learners. It analyzes English-language essays written by 50 second-year ESL students in the Faculty of Economics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and reports on the most frequent errors committed in their formal writing. The aim of this study is to focus on the stage of self-editing and identify the role of self-editing in micro skills development. Findings reveal that students are most often weak at producing coherent and cohesive paragraphs; they also lack appropriate argumentation and are often inaccurate in using grammatical structures and lexis. Results also suggest, however, that L2 writing students can improve their own writing by transferring micro skills they learn when editing texts. The present study may contribute to teachers’ views on developing micro skills of student writers.