Teaching Second Language Writing Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Psychology, Computer Science, Second Language Writing, Writing
- by vaddepally prasad
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- Psychology, English Literature, Mathematics Education, Vocabulary

This study reports findings of a comparative corpus-based analysis of informality in L1 and L2 undergraduate student argumentative essays. Data consist of two corpora of student essays: 101 high-rated essays written by L1-English students and 254 high-rated essays written by ESL students in US universities. Based on a taxonomy of the 10 most common informal features cited in style manuals, we compared informal language use in L1-English and ESL undergraduate student essays. Results reveal that overall frequency of informal features is significantly greater in L2 student texts. Findings also indicate that both groups rely on similar informal elements, yet they differ in distinct ways. While ESL student writers tend to employ significantly more anaphoric pronoun it and second-person pronouns, they use most other types less frequently than L1 writers, and generally appear to observe prescriptive rules more strictly. In contrast, L1-English writers tend to adopt a more liberal attitude toward these rules, employing a broader range of informal types, particularly those that have become relatively legitimized in academic writing. The paper concludes with implications for ESL composition pedagogy.

This compilation comprises a few different topic writing paragraphs, and it aims at engaging and enhancing students' writing skills and styles, and above all stimulating them to get started writing in formal English language which is losing battles in its confrontation with technological communication protocols. The students today don't look like struggling for achievement, they become so pragmatic that they adopt the " Law of Least Resistance ". They don't want to exert any additional effort; they just let things happen, smoothly. Like their mobile phones they prefer to be on their saving energy mode so as not to be obliged to recharge every now and then. In order to drag them out of their drowsiness, they need anticipation and motivation. The Baccalaureate students are in need of some sample written paragraphs to take for model in order to stir what remains of their enthusiasm for trying to do something to improve their styles and their writing skills. They are disappointing when they look passive, lethargic and insisting on remaining within their safety zone. They never admit their negativity towards learning writing. They believe it is useless to learn writing while they can express themselves and transmit ideas in better sophisticated up-to-date modern ways. They make allusion to technology which doesn't really require eloquence or rhetoric. When it comes to the writing skill, it is not a question of what to write but how to write it. What to write is personal, but how to write is a system that has to be respected by all " writers " to be clear, systematic and systemic in delivering the output. Many students believe in their ability to write when they can draw the letters and the words. Wrong, writing is a skill that needs practice. If it is not so, why are the authors and novelists better than all those who can write and gather their ideas into sentences to make sense? It is because they are gifted. Wrong again, talent needs nourishment through practice, that is, reading and writing regularly. It is true that the learners are able to draw scripts, but how they can make them accessible to understanding and enjoyment is a craft that has to be learnt in a variety of styles. One way is by paraphrasing other writers trying to imitate them and then step by step they can build their own writing techniques and styles. It has never been a good idea to test writing before teaching it, and teaching writing is a long bidirectional process. The students should learn the same form in order to use it for producing different contents. In other words, they have to learn how a paragraph is constructed to be able to express their ideas through that construction. The more model paragraphs they are exposed to, the better results they achieve.

- by Laura Di Ferrante and +4
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- Open Access Publishing, Conversation Analysis, Applied Linguistics, Academic Publishing

Integrated Language Skills: Writing is a resourceful book for learning and teaching of writing skill by Dr. Naginder Kaur and Ms. Noorazalia Izha Haron, two lecturers at the Academy of Language Studies, Universiti Technologi MARA (UiTM). The book is tailor made for students pursuing pre-intermediate or intermediate level English language courses and a practical guide for anyone who wants to teach English writing skill at the pre-intermediate or intermediate level.

Throughout the history of language teaching and learning, the teaching of writing has been the subject of focus for many teachers and applied linguists. As the pendulum swung from an approach to another, teaching writing skills has been either prioritized or neglected. More specifically, with the rise of the communicative movement, different teachers started to direct their practices mostly to speaking and communicative skills. However, with the increased focus on the learner and with the search for a holistic approach to language teaching which integrates all the major skills, the writing component has become an integrative skill that needs to be fit into any language teaching programme. At the university level, writing occupies a major component; every year, several academic writing textbooks are designed and published throughout the world incorporating different approaches and activities, all of which with a unifying purpose of developing academic writing skills among university students. The present essay endeavors to explore some of the main approaches and techniques used in the teaching of academic writing. First, it is initiated by a discussion of the notion of writing and its relevance to language teaching and learning. Then, the second section will be devoted to explore some of the main approaches that have been adopted in the teaching of academic writing. Afterwards, the third section will be concerned with some practical activities that are used in the teaching of academic writing.

Writing, outside the academic realm, is often seen as a neglected skill in teaching English as a second or foreign language. It is perceived as boring and irrelevant by many students, and teachers, in turn, will often skip the writing sections of the course books. However, the Anglo-Saxon culture arguably relies on the written medium of communication more than many other cultures, so learners need to develop the skill. This paper looks at the practical task rather than theoretical implications of teaching a class to a group of intermediate learners of English (L1 Turkish speakers) where the students approach writing a letter of complaint (an email asking for a refund for faulty goods bought online). Since refund emails fall under the broader category of letters of complaint, which in their turn are types of formal lettersI start by exploring the genre features of these texts. I then proceed to identify the common challenges faced by English learners when faced with writing a formal text (namely, lack of genre awareness, poor proofreading and/or self-editing skills, Lack of both system and process knowledge). Finally, I conclude with putting forward suggestions to teachers seeking to overcome these challenges (these include activities to introduce topical lexis and functional language, to develop the learners' proofreading and/or self-editing skills, pre-writing strategies such as brainstorming).

- by Mubarak Abdessalami
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- Creative Writing, Social Psychology, English language, English

The Pre-Writing Module 1 is a guide to help weaker upper-primary pupils acquire the basic skills of sentence construction through scaffolded writing strategy. It focuses on sentences in Present Continuous Tense and sentences with the ‘There is…/There are’ structure. Using this module, pupils learn each part separately and combine these separate parts to form correct sentences. To support the teaching of sentence construction, the teacher uses ICT + Visualisations, a video project and a song. Pupils’ writing samples were collected to show progress in terms of the quality of the sentences. In the diagnostic test, most sentences written by the pupils were meaningless and unstructured. After two months of using the Pre-Writing Module 1, meaningful and grammatically-correct sentences began to emerge. After six months, pupils’ vocabulary had expanded and their understanding of sentence constructions had progressed in leaps and bounds. The pilot study was conducted in SK Kunak 2 for 7 months, and the findings show that the module had succeeded in improving the basic sentence construction skills among the pupils in the focus group.

- by Casey Keck
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- Teaching Second Language Writing

This article draws from empirical research into how international (EFL/ESL) lawyers develop plain legal style for clear communication in second language English writing. For lawyers operating internationally, communicating with clients across cultures implies a need for transnational legal and linguistic awareness. Whatever the form of legal writing, both legal skills and language skills acquisition forms a vital part of professional education and training in today’s global age.

HOLISITIC DOCTRINE BASED ON RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE by Tarin Christopher Griswold

This LIA International Conference and Cultural Events 2015 proceeding elaborates how a freeware concordancer named AntConc facilitates teaching and learning of grammar to 21st century learners and it suggests some activities to encourage... more

This exploratory study contributes to the field of plagiarism studies by exploring the potential role of culture and educational context on how students understand and interpret source use practices. Participants were first language Chinese university students, one group studying in China (N=100) and another in the US (N=72). Data consisted of participants’ written descriptions in Chinese of five source use practices with varying levels of acceptability (e.g., unattributed copying, a cited paraphrase), thereby placing the concept of plagiarism within the larger framework of overall source use. Five screen capture videos of a fictional student writing a paper and using an online source represented different source use practices. A focus group was also used to explore participants’ understandings of Chinese term(s) that have many meanings in English. Quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal the China- and US-based students describe the source use practices differently. Differences were found in their use of polysemous Chinese words (e.g., yǐnyòng引用) that require several English words for translation, and in the frequency of words indicating plagiarism (抄袭 chāoxí and 剽窃 piáoqìe). Participants’ usage of first language terms related to plagiarism varied with exposure to a different culture and educational context, with participants in the US being more likely to refer to stigmatized practices (e.g., unattributed copying) with value-laden negative terms than were China-based participants. These differences in their usage of their first language illustrate the development of their awareness of academic expectations in the Anglo-American context. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Characterizations and comparisons are made for: (a) native academic culture, (b) academic English writing, (c) strategies for academic English writing, (d) composing for academic purposes, and (e) student metaphors for academic English... more

Learning about grammar doesn't have to be boring and meaningless. This paper starts by dispelling some myths, other wise known as silly grammar ideas. It ends by describing seven activities that can be used to develop students' ability to... more

Approaches that blend brick-and-mortar modes with face-to-face methods in language teaching are recently reshaping the educational landscape across various contexts. Anchored on the tenets of TPACK Framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2009) and Blended Learning Framework (Horn & Staker, 2014), this study explored the viability of using e-mail in facilitating topical discussions via e-mail exchanges among six ESL writing classes of 198 students in a private university in Manila, the Philippines during the first semester of the academic year 2014-2015. Students were first required to have their individual e-mail accounts; then, they were assigned with e-mail exchange partners whom they communicated with on a weekly basis for a total of five weeks. E-mail thread discussion topics ranged from personal to societal issues covering local, national and global concerns. Data from student reflections, interviews, survey and focus group discussions revealed that despite some motivational and technology-related limitations, using e-mail in the classroom may help develop students’ interest and confidence in writing, enhance their technological and social skills, develop learners’ autonomy, and improve students’ attitudes towards English language learning. Pedagogical insights and implications are provided for ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers and researchers in the light of these findings.

This research was done to find out if students' skills in ESL writing could be improved by using Quipper School with Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Also, it was aimed to identify factors that could trigger improvements in the ESL writing skills of students through using CALL. Participatory Action Research (PAR) was used as the methodology in this study. The study attempted to overcome some language problems faced by students at SMKN 1 Langsa, in eastern Aceh, particularly in mastering ESL writing skills. The researchers introduced the teacher and the class of students to be involved in the use of Quipper School for the teaching-learning of ESL writing. Quipper School is a popular internet-integrated virtual classroom that can be used for ESL teaching-learning. Several tests were done with the aim of testing the students' achievements using Quipper School. A multiple choice questionnaire was given to the students to find out their responses to the use of Quipper School with CALL for teaching ESL writing. Field notes were made to record relevant observations: In particular the field notes recorded the manifold troubles that occurred with the school's computer laboratory. The findings of the study proved that almost all of the students achieved the highest score (100) in the three tests. In addition, more than half of the students agreed that Quipper School improved their skills in English, especially their writing skills. From the questionnaire, they also agreed that Quipper School offered them enjoyment, willingness, and easiness to learn English.

Integrating a genre-based approach and task-based instruction into the context of teaching writing skills can help learners learn to write more accurately and appropriately. In essence, a genre-based approach allows learners to see the underlying features of a text which make it both similar to and different from other texts, while task-based instruction allows teachers to design and sequence materials or tasks that best suit the learners' needs and proficiency levels. Although the tasks used in this paper relate to a particular context of teaching (i.e. teaching academic L2 writing skills), the principle is applicable to other teaching contexts as well.

As most learners and teachers described, writing is a challenging task due to its different aspects. Accordingly, learners, frequently, tend to transfer from L1 to L2. Technological development brought various tools to help learners overcome their difficulties that Google Translate (GT) is the ideal option among students. Therefore, this study examines the impact GT has on EFL students' writing performance. The research opted for an experimental design wherein 32 second-year students at Badji Mokhtar-Annaba University were under investigation. Results revealed that students' writings slightly enhanced. They produced more unique words, fewer spelling mistakes, better arrangement of ideas, and longer sentences.

- by Sara LAICHE
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- Machine Translation, ICT in Education, Translation, Teaching Second Language Writing

This study is a partial replication of Joshua Bonzo’s (2008) study on a group of second language learner’s writing fluency in German. Both studies examine whether students write more if their instructor assigns them a topic or if they choose their own topic. 75 Japanese university students in four classes participated in six 10-minute freewriting sessions, three with teacher assigned topics and three with student chosen topics. In addition, students completed a post-study survey on their topic selection preferences. The overall results confirmed the Bonzo findings that students tend to write more when they choose their own topics.

Anchored on the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge or TPACK Framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2009) and Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition or SAMR Model of Technology Integration into the classroom (Puentedura, 2014), this study investigated a corpus of 58 blog posts written by ESL learners through weblogs. It aimed to determine the views of students on the use of blogs in learning English writing skills and to explore students' feedback on the advantages of blogging as a virtual writing platform. Research participants were 58 freshman university tourism students enrolled at a Study and Thinking Skills class in a private university in Manila, the Philippines during the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018. Research data drawn from students' blogs, survey questionnaires and focus group discussion revealed that despite accessibility issues due to technological resources, the learners viewed blogging as a viable platform in learning English writing skills because it affords them freedom to express their thoughts, it develops or improves their writing skills, and it allows them to connect and engage with their peers online, inter alia. Pedagogical implications for ESL writing teachers and researchers are offered based on these results.

- by Romualdo Mabuan
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- Blogs, TESOL, Blogs, Blogging, the Blogosphere, ICT in Education

Culturally-embedded educational context defines how students learn to write academic papers in professional school disciplines that include engineering, law, social and economic sciences. Explicit standards, implicit understandings, and contrasting student/teacher perceptions influence how academic writing and research may be learned, taught, and assessed. Our study discloses findings from culture-specific academic writer research in Russian educational context that does not explicitly teach academic writing at the tertiary level. The focus is Russian student (N=153) and teacher (N=52) perceptions of academic English writing with meanings and interpretations compared. Research uncovers Russian academic context and cultural norms for first language (L1) Russian academic writing that may remain implicit or transfer for students and teachers composing in foreign-language (L2) English, at home or abroad. This research is important because it informs written language use for English teachers and other professionals such as economists, engineers, lawyers, and scientists: that is, professionals in any research discipline where English may be taught and used for academic or career purposes. Characterizations are made for (a) native academic culture, (b) academic English writing, (c) strategies for academic English writing, (d) composing for academic purposes, and (e) metaphors for academic English writing.

- by Inmaculada Ortega Angulo
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- Teaching Second Language Writing

One of the purposes of a topic sentence is to signal to readers what is about to come. Although writing teachers often stress the function of topic sentences, particularly in an ESOL context, I propose that drawing learners’ attention to the grammar and vocabulary of these sentences is necessary in order to provide learners with more support. To illustrate this approach, I will demonstrate a classroom activity that I have found useful in the ESOL classroom.

- by Jeremy Koay
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- Academic Writing, TESOL, Second Language Writing, Teaching Second Language Writing

Studies have shown that most teachers give written corrective feedback to written work in ELT, and that students wish to receive it. However, the debate regarding which type of feedback may be more effective is far from settled. This study reports on action research carried out with intermediate learners in a Chilean university. The teacher/researcher changed from providing direct to indirect, coded feedback and explored the responses of six learners to the two types of feedback. The data collected point to how the learning context and individual differences affected responses. Most students in this EFL setting claimed indirect feedback was more useful as it prompts deeper cognitive processing and learning. There was evidence it may also help reinforce grammatical
knowledge and encourage autonomous learning behaviour.

Brainstorming, as a pre-writing activity, facilitates the process of generating ideas and helps organize learners' thoughts to get involved in writing activities. The present convergent mixed methods study investigated whether the integration of technology and brainstorming could affect the argumentative writing of EFL learners. Initially, 68 university students in three intact classes (n=26, n=23, n=20) were exposed to mobile-assisted brainstorming (n=26), wordle-assisted brainstorming (n=23), and cooperative brainstorming (n=20) in the quantitative phase. For qualitative data collection, each session, some paper strips with three questions on them were distributed among the groups to help the researchers discover the participants' learning processes and perceptions during the instruction. Sixty-five participants who had attended all treatment sessions took one immediate post-test on a seen and one delayed post-test on an unseen topic. Two one-way analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) examined whether there were statistically significant differences between the means of the groups. The results revealed that the wordle-assisted brainstorming group outperformed the two other groups in both post-tests. The findings supported the use of word clouds as a cognitive activity in promoting the argumentative essay writing of Iranian EFL learners. The study has implications for teachers, practitioners, and educators.

- by Mojgan Rashtchi and +1
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- Writing, Argumentative Writing, Teaching and Learning Writing and Reading, Technology-Assisted Language Learning
- by Suresh Canagarajah
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- English language, South Asia, English, Applied Linguistics

This paper reports on an SFL-based writing intervention in a university global histories course and examines differences in developmental trajectories among students after the intervention. Based on our previous research on writing in this course, we developed three Systemic Functional Linguistics-based workshops to explicitly teach valued linguistic resources necessary for meeting the expectations of writing historical arguments. We examine how student writing developed among nine focal students both quantitatively and qualitatively using an SFL-based rubric that we developed for the purposes of this study. We focus closely on two students, a novice and an experienced writer of academic English, by providing a detailed analysis of how they progressed differently towards incorporating the targeted linguistic resources. Our analysis suggests that explicit disciplinary writing instruction can help close the gap between novice and experienced academic writers; however, experienced writers also showed gains. Given the limited research on how intervention studies affect writing, particularly at the university level, this study can help teachers and researchers respond to the needs of the increasingly linguistically diverse students in higher education.

- by Ryan T Miller
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- Academic Writing, TESOL, Argumentation, Second Language Writing

There is a new (enlarged) edition of the same material in the four volume course book from 2017. See a) Veselovská, 2017: English Morphology b) Veselovská, 2017: English Morphosyntax c) Veselovská, 2017: English Syntax 1 d) Veselovská,... more

There is a new (enlarged) edition of the same material in the four volume course book from 2017. See
a) Veselovská, 2017: English Morphology
b) Veselovská, 2017: English Morphosyntax
c) Veselovská, 2017: English Syntax 1
d) Veselovská, 2017: English Syntax 2

The present paper attempts to explore the advantages of using posters in fostering vocabulary as a self-directed learning tool among professional students at the tertiary level. A poster is a printed or manually designed paper/chart/flexi used for presenting a topic/concept/vocabulary item to the audience in an effective manner. As part of the study, the students prepared various posters of different sizes those consist of vocabulary items, grammar topics explained in an interesting manner providing various aspects such as definition, benefits, advantages, techniques and examples. The rationale of posters is to grab the attention of the teacher and their peers. These posters perform as teaching tools for developing language skills especially vocabulary among the students. It can be pasted on the classroom walls that explain a specific educational topic that makes them learn the topic effectively and effortlessly. They are content-based mainly focusing on the theme such as in ESL context, learning simple present, synonyms, idioms, one-word substitutes so on so forth. The sample of the present study was third-year undergraduate students of pharmacy who were studying in their second semester for the academic year 2017-18. Eighty participants took part in the experimental study. The students' questionnaires administered and poster presentations were made by the students on different topics in their classroom. It was found that poster presentations are beneficial for developing vocabulary knowledge and enhancing interest in learning vocabulary. It was suggested that there are some issues to be addressed for maximizing the benefits of using posters in the ESL context. It boosted students' morale and develop their language skills.

- by Bonala Kondal
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- Teaching Second Language Writing

The study aimed to evaluate teaching techniques for non-native speakers in terms of first language composing v/s second language composing. The study holds significance since it discusses different aspects of writing, including deep examination of composing process. The study was conducted among skilled and unskilled L2 writers. The results of the study showed that L1 and L2 writers devoted most of their time to generate ideas that display recursiveness in their composing processes. Results also depicted that brainstorming techniques can be approached in different forms, which can also be a good individual strategy that can be used by the students. Pedagogic recommendations need to be based on accurate and practical theories. Results has depicted that time planning and quality of L2 texts among students are positively affected from translating thoughts. Regarding pedagogical implications, the study has postulated that these techniques should be adapted by L2 students.

- by Norah Almutairi
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- Teaching Second Language Writing

This paper describes the basic elements necessary to help students develop the ability to use writing to express their ideas. Include here are the basics of the writing process, writing workshop, interventions for generating ideas, and... more

- by Andrew Johnson
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- Special Education, Teacher Education, K-12 writing instruction, Teacher Training