Investigating the processing effort in translation students’ L2 writing and L2 translating: evidence from keylogging

Writing and translating overlap in their mechanisms for generating texts, but they remain separate in academic research. This separation has resulted in limited comparative investigations of their dynamics and relationships. This study aimed to bridge this gap by examining how translation students process writing and translating, using a keylogging program. Data were collected from translation students at a university in China. They were asked to complete two tasks: L2 (English) writing (L2W) and L2 (Chinese-to-English) translating (L2T). The processes were recorded by Translog II, a screen recorder, and the think-aloud method. Based on Krings’ (2001) effort framework, which includes temporal effort, technical effort, and cognitive effort, the correlations and differences in processing effort between L2W and L2T were analyzed quantitatively. The results revealed statistically significant correlations between L2W and L2T processing effort metrics, except for the drafting duration and average pause duration at the 10-second threshold. Significantly greater processing effort was observed in L2T in the processing speed, revision duration, miscellaneous events rate, and pause metrics. This study provides potential insights for researchers and teachers into students’ processing effort in L2 text production and possible pedagogical interventions in translator training.