Abstract—This study integrates a larger research empirical project that examines second language (SL) learners’ profiles and valid procedures to perform complete and diagnostic assessment in schools. 102 learners of Portuguese as a SL aged 7 and 17 years speakers of distinct home languages were assessed in several linguistic tasks. In this article, we focused on writing performance in the specific task of narrative essay composition. The written outputs were measured using the score in six components adapted from an English SL assessment context (Alberta Education): linguistic vocabulary, grammar, syntax, strategy, socio-linguistic, and discourse. The writing processes and strategies in Portuguese language used by different immigrant students were analysed to determine features and diversity of deficits on authentic texts performed by SL writers. Differentiated performance was based on the diversity of the following variables: grades, previous schooling, home language, instruction in first language, and exposure to Portuguese as Second Language. Indo-Aryan languages speakers showed low writing scores compared to their peers and the type of language and respective cognitive mapping (such as Mandarin and Arabic) was the predictor, not linguistic distance. Home language instruction should also be prominently considered in further research to understand specificities of cognitive academic profile in a Romance languages learning context. Additionally, this study also examined the teachers’ representations that will be here addressed to understand educational implications of second language teaching in psychological distress of different minorities in schools of specific host countries. Keywords—Second language, writing assessment, home language, immigrant students, Portuguese language. I. INTRODUCTION HIS current research in the field of second language (SL) is going in multiple ways that do not encourage consensus concerning assessment procedures and general understanding of the cognitive and academic proficiency of SL learners. We maintained that one of the main arguments is related to the type of target language education. Studies worldwide have been centred, in the last two decades, firstly on English as a SL and as a foreign language, and secondly on studying learning issues of other SL languages, such as Chinese and Spanish. The SL learning process is of upmost importance to S. Figueiredo is with the Center for Psychology Research, Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal (Post-doctoral researcher, corresponding author: e-mail: sandradfigueiredo@ ua.pt). M. Alves Martins is with ISPA – Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal (Full Professor, e-mail: mmartins@ispa.pt). C. Silva is with the University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal (Full Professor, e-mail: csilva@ua.pt). understand the profiles of school immigrant populations and their achievement. This question leads to other crucial effect: the teaching methodologies in specific SL that are not English. There are several materials and teaching tools for learning English as a second language that cannot be transferred to the learning of other languages, such as Romance languages. The Portuguese idiom is widely present in classrooms worldwide, especially at universities, as a second or foreign language. In the last decades, enrolments in Portuguese foreign language courses have increased, after languages such as Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Italian [1]. Our concern is the second language context. Teaching methods in the context of Romance languages are not well known and assessment instruments need to be validated to enable successful learning in young students with migratory experience. The core objective is to provide tools and scientific knowledge to promote the academic stability and involvement of minorities (new writers in SL), and also new knowledge for educational professionals and the research community. School involvement implies that students have the cognitive and emotional predisposition to activate the teaching effect. Second language learning demands other type of attitude mainly related to cognitive adjustments and emotional adaptation. Careful and comprehensive instruments at a first phase of assessment are mandatory, but materials should be developed concerning not only specific differentiated levels but also the diversity of language speakers in the classroom. Variety of home languages, different ages and several exposures to SL will determine performance in a linguistic context. That variability should be included in the scientific rationales that underlie the production of instruments for evaluation and intervention in schools. Standard benchmarks are not the only benefit, and other criteria should be included to enable the various school populations to understand the results and ensure their placement at right settings, inside school, based on the scientific predictors obtained. This empirical study intends to develop a diagnostic test of 15 tasks to be administered to heterogeneous groups of immigrant students, and to provide an explanation of their academic performance and cognitive processing strategies that can be predicted based on this empirical application. In addition, we are committed to disseminating materials and instruction that promote a sort of “pan-European forum”, sharing knowledge and instruments with the European research community and schools. In this article, we focused the writing performance on the specific task of narrative essay Exploring SL Writing and SL Sensitivity during Writing Tasks: Poor and Advanced Writing in a Context of Second Language Other than English S. Figueiredo, M. Alves Martins, C. Silva, C. Simões T World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences Vol:9, No:6, 2015 2141 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 9(6) 2015 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Psychological and Behavioral Sciences Vol:9, No:6, 2015 publications.waset.org/10002254/pdf