Transfer of knowledge as a mediating tool for learning: Benefits and challenges for ESL writing instruction

Abstract

By tracking two Korean ESL students' learning trajectories from their freshman ESL writing course to discipline-specific writing courses in the U.S. college context, the present study investigates what prompts transfer of learning outcomes for such students, as well as how knowledge acquired in the first-year course transfers to other writing tasks that come later and bear little resemblance to those initial tasks. A range of qualitative data was examined: the students’ writing, course materials, and interviews with the students and their instructors. Findings show that the degree to which students recognize the difference between previous and new writing practices influences how learning transfer occurs: Automatic Transfer, Expansion, Matching, and Manipulation. The students either use prior knowledge based on perceived similarity (e.g., Automatic Transfer and Matching), or they develop or complicate it based on perceived difference (e.g., Expansion and Manipulation). It is also found that learning transfer is triggered not only by macro-level similarity in genre and task demands, but also by micro-level similarity in specific skills and concepts. Based on the findings, the study discusses implications for teaching and research in second language writing.