Integration across linguistic backgrounds: examining intertextual connections in L1 and L2 academic writing / <i>Integración entre orígenes lingüísticos: análisis de las conexiones intertextuales en la escritura académica L1 y L2</i>

This study examined multiple text integration in the academic writing of L1 and L2 English speakers. Participants read two texts describing the costs of college and rates of college enrollment in Latin America and the United States. Texts were organized either by region (e.g., cost and enrollment rates in the US) or by topic (e.g., discussing cost in both the US and Latin America), requiring students to make either intertextual or intratextual connections to compare regions. Students wrote comparative-contrastive reports, which were scored based on the number of connections (i.e., either intertextual or intratextual) generated. While no differences were found across experimental groups or by language status, supplemental analyses found English L2 students to rate texts about Latin America particularly interesting and comprehensible. Moreover, students were better at describing intratextual and intertextual contrasts rather than comparisons, with this effect also conditional on language status.