Does Basic Variety occur in the (naturally acquired) writing of low-proficiency speakers of English as a second language? a description and discussion of Basic Variety utterance patterns found in the writing of adult migrants

This paper examines Basic Variety (BV) utterance patterns found in low-proficiency speakers in a longitudinal, cross-linguistic project carried out by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and asks whether BV also applies to the writing of low-proficiency migrant learners who acquire English outside the language classroom. Thirty-six learners with a range of first languages from three regional groups were given a narrative writing task based on a sequence of pictures. Text analysis showed that BV occurred in the texts of learners from all three regions. Though the scope of the study is small, the results indicate that BV occurs not only in spoken form but also in naturally acquired writing.