Language learners today have access to a much wider choice of resources and language-support tools that aid their writing processes. While research on the convenience and flexibility of the writing resources that learners use in real-life writing activities have argued for a re-conceptualization of writing ability, little is known about the effect…

Designed to gauge the actions, skills, and strategies that students use to identify, extract, and synthesize information from multiple source materials, integrated writing tasks are particularly challenging for ESL writers. Previous research tended to focus on a limited number of integrated tasks, mostly summaries of one or two sources, thus…

In successful writing development, English as a foreign language (EFL) learners not only need to acquire grammatical complexity (GC) features but also know when and how to use them flexibly across communicative contexts, known as register flexibility. The present study, guided by the sociocultural theory of language learning, examines descriptive…

Many L2 learners preparing for high-stakes, on-demand English language tests (e.g., IELTS, TOEFL) undertake classroom-based test preparation involving the provision of teacher written feedback commentary (WFC) on writing that simulates test tasks. The assumption is teachers' knowledge of both the language and testing system helps develop…

In many high-stakes testing situations, test-takers are not allowed to draw on external writing resources while writing, a practice observed more frequently in classroom settings. This may pose problems with the representativeness of test tasks and score interpretations. This study investigates the domain definition of one particular test known as…

Many English language proficiency (ELP) tests used for university admissions and placement now include integrated writing tasks that require examinees to use external sources when writing. Integrated writing tasks improve test authenticity and impact, but they raise several validity questions, such as what academic language skills they engage and…

Since its first appearance in the 1970s, the concept of 'metacognition' has received much scholarly attention. This study aims to examine metacognition as a process related to second language (L2) writing, and presents an attempt to teach metacognitive strategies to students to understand their effectiveness in developing writing skill. A blended…

Lexical items that are encountered more frequently and in varying contexts have important effects on second language (L2) development because frequent and contextually diverse words are learned faster and become more entrenched in a learner's lexicon (Ellis 2002a, b). Despite evidence that L2 learners are generally exposed to non-native input,…

Being a configuration of logically interconnected statements realized in moves and stages, an argumentative essay is built around the notion of textual unity achieved through lexico-grammar and semantic associations. The study attempted to analyze the role of cohesion in the rhetorical structure of undergraduate EFL students. Hence, the 13 moves…

This report describes the development of efficient second language (L2) writing assessment tasks designed specifically for low-proficiency learners of English to be included in the "TOEFL® Essentials"™ test. Based on the can-do descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages for the A1 through B1 levels of…

This research conducted diagnostic assessment of problems in first-year undergraduates' English academic papers and tracked potential sources of the problems to the writing process and strategy use. Data collected include 339 term papers and interviews with 17 students. The samples were manually error tagged and marked against a detailed…

The present study was an attempt to investigate the differential effect/s of three different planning time scenarios (i.e. 0 min, 10 min, & 20 min), as well as three task conditions of (1) topic given, (2) topic and ideas given, and (3) topic, ideas and macrostructure given on EFL learners L2 writing complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF).…

Digital storytelling (DST) is one of the areas which has entered the field of foreign language education and has proved to be beneficial in learning different language skills. However, it remains underexplored whether and how DST can affect learners' writing skill and motivation to write. The present study sought to investigate the impact of DST…

Critical thinking tasks can be useful in teaching and learning foreign or second languages, but they can be something innovative for some learning and teaching contexts. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how EFL learners behave toward these tasks. 42 non-English majors were recruited for the study. They were divided into two groups:…

The present study aims to investigate the direct and indirect contributions of Korean EFL college students' L2 receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge to their L2 writing performances by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis with a goal to explore the pathways of vocabulary knowledge to writing. Data from 178 students were…