Cooperative writing response groups: revising global aspects of second-language writing in a constrained educational environment (original) (raw)
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Cooperative writing response groups
This article describes a cooperative writing response initiative designed to develop writing skills in foreign/second language contexts (hereafter L2). The strategy originated from my desire to cater for my learners’ need to become better writers in English within a constrained educational environment in Argentina. In this article I describe this strategy and show how it has worked in my setting. First, I offer the rationale on which it rests, based on a sociocultural conception of reading and writing. This involves brief considerations about the notions of collaborative writing groups, social responses to texts, and coherence in L2 writing. Second, I describe and explain the strategy in detail, and include one handout with specific written instructions (as my learners received them) for the cooperative writing response groups with a focus on coherence, i.e. global aspects of the composing process. Finally, I exemplify the strategy using one learner’s written text as foundation (disclosed by permission). For a full description and exemplification, see Porto (2001, 2002).
Fluctuations and Directions in Teaching Second Language Writing
The research literature on teaching writing in a L2 (second language) has inspired L2 writing teachers with various sorts of activities in the last few decades and scholars have highlighted multiple aspects of L2 writing on which L2 writing teachers should focus. This paper presents a chronological sketch of the main approaches and trends in teaching and researching L2 writing around the world. It summarizes the components of L2 writing addressed in these approaches and enumerates the dimensions of L2 writing stressed in different approaches including language structure, text functions, themes and topics, creative expression, composing processes, content, genre, and context of writing. Referring to the types of knowledge that need to be imparted to L2 writers, the paper exemplifies teaching activities that can enrich L2 writing classes. The theme that emerges from the discussion is that varied pedagogical implications of the research literature will not be confusing for L2 writing teachers, if they broaden their vision of L2 writing to extend a social view to all dimensions of forms, processes, audiences and L2 writers.
Teaching Writing to Second Language Learners: Insights from Theory and Research
Writing is one of the most difficult skills that second-language (L2) learners are expected to acquire, requiring the mastery of a variety of linguistic, cognitive, and sociocultural competencies. As many teachers attest, teaching L2 writing is a challenging task as well. This paper aims to summarize the main findings of L2 writing theory and research concerning the nature of the writing competencies that learners need to develop in order to be able to write effectively in L2 and how instruction can help them attain these competencies.
Second Language Writing: Theorizing in Instructional Research P–12
& Second language (L2) writing research embraces a plurality of epistemological stances, theories, and occasionally, competing paradigms. Some researchers ask whether it is possible, or even desirable, to develop a comprehensive theory of second language writing (e.g., . This is an important question in view of the fact that students learn their L2 under different circumstances within any given country and across the world (e.g., mandated L2 learning, elective foreign language, L2 imposed as a result of migration, etc.). Theorizing in L2 writing has implications for
2020
38 p. : il. -- Bibliogr.: p. 28-34Collaborative Writing (CW) and its benefits and drawbacks for language learning have been studied by many scholars, mainly concerning adult learners (ALs). Nevertheless, its potential applications to young learners (YLs) of a foreign language (FL) are yet to be examined in depth. The collaborative method is based on such theories as Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (1978) which emphasizes that learning is a social process, Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985) which explains that language learning is achieved via comprehensible input obtained from other learners, Long’s Interaction Hypothesis (1996) that underlines the significance of the interaction and negotiation of meaning among learners that makes the input more comprehensible and Swain’s Output Hypothesis (1995) which highlights the importance of the production of L2 (output) from which students are conscious of their own knowledge. It is also nurtured by the claims made by Swain (2000), who consid...