Syntactic complexity is considered to be an important device for assessing the quality of writing in a second language (L2), as it indicates the diversity and complexity of production units or grammatical structures. This paper studies the development of Chinese college students' syntactic complexity in essay writing by using an Automatic Writing…

This study compared the effects of teacher feedback (TF) and online automated feedback (AF) on the quality of revision of English writing. It also examined the strengths and weaknesses of the two types of feedback perceived by English language learners (ELLs) as a foreign language (FL). Sixty-eight Chinese students from two English classes…

With massive utilization of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) tools, it is feasible to detect English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' lexical application so as to improve their writing quality. This study aims to explore Chinese EFL learners' lexical application to see if AWE-based writing can bring about positive effects of lexicon on…

As a part of language learning at schools and universities, students write a variety of texts, such as essays, short compositions and reports, which are then read by teachers who typically comment on the content and grammar of these texts to help the students improve their skills as writers. Although teachers can simply use pen and paper, or a…

A comparison of measures of the attained writing proficiency of 45 college-level students of English as a second language is reported. Students were tested by two indirect measures, the Test of the Ability to Subordinate (TAS) and the Revision and Editing Test (RET), and their compositions were evaluated by a direct measure, holistic evaluation.…

After noting that the revisions made by corporate writers contained significant modifications in the original propositions, to the extent that they may have changed the meaning of the proposition, a study was undertaken to see if the same phenomenon occurred among students and teachers. Subjects were Hong Kong secondary school students and a…

Bringing journals into upper-level foreign language classes painlessly involves students in the exploration of the second language and the writing process. The unstructured nature of journal writing allows for a free range of writing exercises that upgrade student language proficiency and help increase their control of grammar, structure, and…

A teacher of writing in English as a second language shares techniques and exercises that have inspired students to revise the rhetoric, vocabulary, and grammar of their own writing. They include: having students write about an unfamiliar classmate and having the classmate check the description for accuracy; distributing a model essay (Bertrand…

This paper discusses a study on the composing processes by which native Japanese, Japanese Americans, and native Americans write technical or business English. Results of the study revealed a specific preference by students for one of the three general phases of composing: pre-writing, writing, or rewriting. Although the process preference did not…

The main tasks of the foreign language writing class should be to focus on the writing process and to help the students see their work as an act of communication with value in itself. An important means of encouraging good writing is the provision of good readers during the composition stage. A Swedish undergraduate course in English as a second…

While vocabulary is the concern of beginning students of English as a second language (ESL) and essays are the focus of advanced students, syntax is the domain of the intermediate course, with an emphasis on sentence combining. One method divides the course into four segments: (1) using, varying, and rearranging connectors; (2) ordering thoughts…

The discussion looks at techniques for communicating effectively with students of English for academic purposes during classroom revision of written compositions. The approach highlighted is to use a word processor projected in the classroom that "sideshadows" comments to the original text. The original text is left untouched while projected in…

Twenty-two reports of research focusing on the composing processes of college students of English as a Second Language are reviewed. The research, reported between 1982 and 1989, consists of case studies of various issues: (1) general accounts of the second language composing process; (2) revision; (3) attention to rhetorical form; (4) monitor…

A student-centered noncredit writing course for students of English as a second language, designed to alleviate the problems of diverse class membership, consists of a series of composition assignments with topics determined by class interests and composition length determined by the student. The entire class participates in prewriting activities;…

While artificial intelligence is far from producing a computer program that can understand English, there are computer applications for teaching composition that go beyond the electronic flashcard and other limited applications. A number of programs designed for use in college freshman English as a second language classes based on the artificial…