Writing technical English: a comparison of the process of native English and native Japanese speakers

Abstract

Results of a study of the process by which technical English was used by native Japanese are presented. Comparing the composing processes of experienced native Japanese and US technical writers showed that the preference for each phase-prewriting, writing, and rewriting-was idiosyncratic to the author regardless of native language. Process preference correlated with measures of product quality. Specifically, the prewriters produced text with greater lexical cohesion and the rewriters produced text with fewer grammatical and spelling errors. It is concluded that formal prewriting should improve the writing products of both native Japanese and US technical writers.<>