| Abstrakt: |
Individuals make sense of the world by means of categorization. Creating cognitive prototypes--or best examples--is considered an economical way of classifying objects. Much research on cognitive prototypes has been conducted in areas of first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading. Cognitive prototypes have been generally conceptualized as a tool of language comprehension that helps readers to make inferences about what is meant, but not explicitly mentioned. Despite close connections between reading and writing processes, the construct of cognitive prototypes has not yet been applied to the realm of L2 writing. Applying cognitive prototypes can be useful in explaining how writers visualize readers' expectations, needs and likes. This is especially important when readers are not well defined, as is the case for teachers-as-readers. This paper attempts to introduce the concept of cognitive prototypes into L2 writing by drawing on insights from cognitive categorization theory and L2 writing and reading theories. It proposes a framework to think about cognitive prototypes of teachers--asreaders, emphasizing the interrelationship between students-writers and teachers in their roles of readers. Research hypotheses are formulated in the context of L2 writing in Tunisia and followed with pedagogical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
