The CATESOL Journal

“Generation 1.5” is a term being used to describe a type of second language (L2) long-term U.S. resident who may demonstrate persistent language-related challenges (Roberge, Siegel, & Harklau, 2009). Among the difficulties commonly noted with Generation 1.5 students are problems in controlling the academic register expected in university writing tasks. Because of the growth of this population in U.S. schools, tertiary instructors need a better sense of whether patterns of language and literacy challenges are present in the writing of Generation 1.5 students. The goal of this exploratory study was to analyze linguistic/textual features of students’ writing. Specifically, this study was designed to determine whether 25 languagerelated measures of Generation 1.5 student writing would distinguish their texts from those of L1 classmates of similar writing proficiency. Results indicate similar patterns of textual features between groups. Implications are discussed in relation to the prevalent claims of Generation 1.5 writing.