Language Transfer and Developmental Factors in the English Expository Writing of Chinese Students of English at the Tertiary Level and Implications for the Teaching of Writing in the EFL Context in China

L1 syntactical expressions and ideas in English expository writing by Chinese English major EFL learners are often attributed to "negative" transfer or " the meaning construction process" in EFL writing classes. In regard to developmental factors, this study suggests that the sampled Chinese EFL learners tended to use some L1 expressions or structures on the sentence-level to cope with L2 writing tasks. The study classifies five types of transfers, namely rhetorical questions, metaphors and similes, citations, shifts in personal pronouns and the political ideology and presents the frequency of occurrence out of 166 sampled essays. The study suggests these transfers are the developmental indicators of writing competence at the current stage, there are more social and psychological factors involved in teaching and learning writing. Teachers of English and educators should be aware of the complexity of transfers and pedagogical implications.