ESL Writers Research Articles

How Does Focus on Form Affect the Revising Processes of ESL Writers?: Two Case Studies

This study considers the ongoing “grammar correction debate” in second language writing by examining how a focus on formal accuracy would affect the revising processes of ESL writers and the students’ written products. A case study approach was used to find out how two ESL students would respond in the two different rewriting situations: (a) when there is no explicit expectation for them to produce grammatically correct text, and (b) when this expectation was clearly present. The protocol analysis and interviews with the participants showed that students’ revision processes had not been affected by the kind of instruction and expectation given. In both tasks, students concentrated on building up their content, rather than attending to grammar and mechanics. The explicit instruction to work on the grammar did not result in a better written product in terms of formal accuracy, either. Based on these findings, this study claims that teaching and attending to grammar may not necessarily inhibit students from developing fluency and that ESL students do need guidance in developing skills in both rhetorical and formal aspects of English composition to be able to produce academically acceptable prose.

Learner Agency, Motive, and Self-Regulated Learning in an Online ESL Writing Class

Online learning has become a viable popular alternative to traditionalESL writing classes over the past decade. However, the effectivenessand validity of online ESL learning remains controversial.Furthermore, most researchers have used surveys to assess studentperceptions of online learning. This study presents a case study of twoparticipants in an online ESL writing course at a university in theNortheastern United States. Using activity theory as a framework, Iexplore what makes a successful learner in an online environment andhow learner agency, motive, and self-regulation impact studentperformance and academic achievement in the online learning context.Data from different sources were collected to provide a triangulatedanalysis. Results suggest that learners who employ good self-regulationstrategies and are motivated to learn and adapt tend to benefit morefrom the online learning experience, while students who do not employsuch strategies and are motivated solely to fulfill a degree requirementare more likely to be frustrated. The results also reveal that thephysical distance created by technology could be a challenge for thosewho do not seek assistance from instructors or peers. In other words,learners need guidance and support on how to be self-motivated andself-directed in the online environment. I also discuss how to effectivelydesign and deliver an online ESL course.

Resistance by L2 writers: The role of racial and language ideology in imagined community and identity investment

In the contexts of global English language learning, the ability to use Standard Written English usually symbolizes affluence, good education, and high social class—important social capital (Bourdieu, 1991). As a result, in these contexts language learners desire to acquire such a powerful discourse. This desire to belong to an imagined community (Norton, 2001) of prestige usually encourages L2 students to invest in forms of writing in a second language that reconstruct their identities in the pursuit of symbolic value in U.S. classrooms. The purpose of this study is to show how certain forms of racial and language ideology (i.e., English language privilege and White Prestige Ideology) among Taiwanese students influence their way of learning academic English writing. Adopting a qualitative research paradigm, we share data collected through classroom observations, qualitative interviews with students and teachers, and an examination of student papers from two Taiwanese ESL writers (drawn from a larger study in Liu, 2010) in an intensive English program in the U.S.Results of this qualitative research indicate that multilingual writers in this study exhibit agency through resistance to the practices of the American writing classroom. These strategic choices often involve identity investment with ideological implications about ethnicity, race, and class. This article argues that certain writing practices might be in danger of perpetuating racial ideologies and inferiority if teachers of second language writing ignore the intricate relationship often hidden within the taken-for-granted ideologies student writers bring to the classroom and the impact or reaction the classroom process promotes in the construction of their identities, especially when it creates an identity of inferiority among student writers. It concludes that L2 writing professionals need to be proactive and raise critical language and race awareness with students in both Taiwanese and U.S. writing classrooms.

Innovation in techniques for teacher commentary on ESL writers’ drafts

Recent technological advances make computer and Internet tools an attractive alternative to traditional written teacher commentary on students’ academic writing assignments. This presentation will discuss how one such tool was used for oral teacher commentary on the first draft paragraphs of intermediate level English learners’ (B1 in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) texts. Analyses of texts from treatment and control groups will show the commentary students received on their first draft, the changes they made to their first draft as reflected in their second draft, and the students’ attitudes towards the tool on each of three writing assignments collected at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the term. The presenters will conclude by drawing comparisons between the video-based teacher commentary and recent work on written teacher commentary to discuss potential strengths and weaknesses of the technique illustrated in the study.

ESL writers’ topical depths in persuasive essays: Cross cultural observation in relation to the rated scores

ESL writers’ topical depths in persuasive essays: Cross cultural observation in relation to the rated scores

Formulaic sequences and EAP writing development: Lexical bundles in the TOEFL iBT writing section

Formulaic sequences are widely used in academic writing and are known to be an important aspect of EAP writing development. However, little research has investigated the frequency, function and degree of fixedness of their use by ESL writers across proficiency levels. This study examines the use of lexical bundles in written responses across three proficiency levels in the TOEFL iBT (N = 480). Bundles that were identical to those found in the prompts were analyzed separately. Biber, Conrad, and Cortes' (2004) taxonomy was used to identify bundle functions. Following Biber (2009), the degree of fixedness for each of the four slots in the bundle was investigated in relation to the other three. The results indicate that lower level learners used more bundles overall but also more bundles identical to those in the prompts. In contrast, the functional analysis reveals a similar use of stance and discourse organizing bundles across proficiency levels and very few referential bundles used by any of the groups. In addition, there were few differences in fixed versus variable slot bundles across proficiency levels. These findings have important implications for instruction and assessment of EAP writing.

Novice ESL writers: A longitudinal case-study of the situated academic writing processes of three undergraduates in a TESOL context

This paper explores the situated academic writing processes of three ESL writers as they researched, planned, and wrote three modular assignments over the course of their first academic year on a UK university, undergraduate TESOL programme. Adopting a socio-cognitive perspective it focuses on the changing patterns of textual and interpersonal interactions that constituted the participants' processes. Data were collected over the year from day-by-day audio-recorded activity logs and interviews, triangulated with tutorial records and textual material of various kinds (chiefly, outlines, charts, drafts, electronic correspondence). Data were analysed using qualitative procedures to enable the construction of detailed narratives of developing academic writing processes. The study (a) affirms a view of academic writing as a complex socio-cognitive process implicating a range of textual and interpersonal interactions, and identifies two distinct approaches to the writing of academic texts, both of which may lead to high-quality writing and (b) finds that some novice writers engage in textual interactions which provide information about genre, rhetoric, language and the communities of practice within which they write and that this may be one factor distinguishing more from less successful academic writers.

Presumption of Prefabricated Memes and Controllable Exploration of Meme Variations in the ESL Writing Teaching

The semantic entities which are able to exist independently may serve as language memes according to the user’s intention. As language memes, the imitation or variation are influenced by human values and may be controlled and designed according to human objective. This paper proposes supposition of prefabricated writing meme, considering English as a second language(referred to as ESL) in the context of teaching writing, teacher as the authorities of meme spreading may construct with intended destination and spread the ESL writing memes with the characteristic of replication factor, which is constructed as the minimum unit of input, memory, storage and output. This paper also investigates the strategies of Attention, ‘i+1’ Input and Memeplexes to stabilize the variation of prefabricated writing memes and hence to avoid the negative impact of first language thinking in writing mode. Key words: ESL writing teaching; Meme; Imitation; Variation; Strategy

“Why am I paraphrasing?”: Undergraduate ESL writers' engagement with source-based academic writing and reading

One of the most common and vital areas of coverage in second language (L2) writing instruction is writing from sources, that is, the process of reading source text material and transferring content from that reading to writing. Research as well as everyday practice in the classroom has long shown that working with source texts is one of the most challenging of all academic literacy activities for L2 writers. This is particularly true in the domain of paraphrasing, an important and yet complicated device for the treatment of source text material. While the procedures involved in paraphrasing source text material may appear simple, the enactment of those procedures is a complex and often elusive experience for L2 writers. In this article we discuss a study of two mainland Chinese students' engagement with paraphrasing in an undergraduate academic writing course, with a particular focus on their understanding of the purposes and functions of paraphrasing and how such understanding influenced their paraphrasing practices. Our results reveal a multilayered relationship between the students and paraphrasing and contribute to the paraphrasing literature by drawing greater attention to paraphrasing from students' perspectives.

Customizing A Computerized Text Analyzer For ESL Writers

The number of computerized writing aids has grown dramatically in the past decade. One of the newest and most controversial of these aids is computerized text analysis. This paper reports a study which examined a widely available text analyzer and tested its adaptability for use with a specific population of ESL writers. Though the study found that the text analyzer could be customized to address certain problems ESL writers encounter, important questions remain about the cost and the gains involved in adapting text analysis for the ESL composition classroom.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED TEXT-ANALYSIS FOR ESL STUDENTS

Our very limited objectives for this project were to determine (a) whether or not international students learning English could learn to use computer equipment and (b) whether or not those students felt that the time invested was worthwhile, both in terms of their writing skills and in terms of the cultural experience. Additionally, we hoped to see whether working with the computer system would mitigate three significant problems ESL writers have in writingAmerican academic prose.

ESL Writing Self-Efficacy: Contribution to ESL Writing Skills Development

This case study aims to understand how writing self-efficacy level contributes to the development of learners’ writing skills. The participants of this study consist of three form four learners and their English teacher. Here, teacher’s assistance would act as the mechanism to develop the learners’ writing self-efficacy. In order to gather information on teacher’s assistance, learners’ writing skills and writing self-efficacy, various types of data were collected: observation, questionnaire and interview. Though this research on self-efficacy and writing is not a new area in educational research, the findings still can be the added to the existing body of knowledge. Based on the finding derived from this study, two theoretical implications are discussed in this paper. The first part of theoretical implication centred on the reciprocal relationship of cognitive and behavioural engagement. Then the second part discussed the inclusion of teacher’s assistance component to the self-efficacy framework. Both of these implications had become the additional components to the existing framework which was proposed by Linnenbrink and Pintrich (2003).

Online Forum Discussions and the Development of Opinions in College-Level ESL Writing

Online Forum Discussions and the Development of Opinions in College-Level ESL Writing

The Interaction of Theory, Philosophy, and Practice in ESL Writing Conferences

The Interaction of Theory, Philosophy, and Practice in ESL Writing Conferences

Beyond “ESL Writing”: Teaching Cross-Cultural Composition at a Community College

This article describes the design and implementation of a cross-cultural composition coursewhich was designed to provide opportunities for ESL students and native English-speaking students to learn about cross-cultural literacy practices from each other in a first-year writing context at a community college in the Southwest.

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Lexical Salience and Association in ESL Writing

The current study reviews the concordancer as a vocabulary reference tool for the ESL writing instruction and evaluation of ESL writing quality. Corpus evidence, as studies of corpus-based language learning have argued, can be used to identify typical and atypical usages of vocabulary. The evidence also suggests what words are typically used in the target language writing contexts. Few studies analyzed the actual writing sample text data through empirical research methodology to confirm the arguments. Within a quasi-experimental design, then, the current study analyzes and evaluates the ESL writing sample texts through the corpus linguistic text analysis method and discusses the results of the analysis.

Integrating Social Networking Tools into ESL Writing Classroom: Strengths and Weaknesses

With the rapid development of world and technology, English learning has become more important. Teachers frequently use teacher-centered pedagogy that leads to lack of interaction with students. This paper aims to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classroom and discuss the ways to plan activities by integrating social networking services (SNSs) into the classroom. Data was collected through an online discussion board from TESL students in a state university in Malaysia. The findings revealed that integrating social networking services in ESL writing classroom could help to broaden students’ knowledge, increase their motivation and build confidence in learning ESL writing. The students’ difficulties for concentrating on the materials when they use computer, lack of enough equipment as well as access to internet, and teachers’ insufficient time to interact with the students were regarded as the main disadvantages of integrating social networking tools into ESL writing classes. Therefore, in this new technological era, it is essential for students and teachers to be equipped with technical skills to be competent for life-long learning and teaching. More studies are needed to explore the teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards using ICT in ESL/EFL contexts. Future quantitative and qualitative studies with more participants are needed to provide deeper insight.

A Study of the Teaching of ESL Writing in Colleges in China

In China, ESL teaching constitutes an important part of higher education and ESL writing is a required skill for non-English majors in colleges and universities. However, the teaching of college English writing is unsatisfactory and problematic. The author did a survey on the teaching of ESL writing in five universities in China by using the methods of questionnaire, interview and sample collection. The results of the survey indicate that the students’ deficiency in English writing is due to personal and instructional reasons, such as ineffective teaching, students’ lack of interest in writing, students’ poor linguistic competence, students’ lack of the cultural knowledge of the target language and so on. In the teaching of college English Writing, the teacher should boost students’ motivation, integrate reading with writing, and provide effective feedback to the students.

Linguistic discrimination in writing assessment: How raters react to African American “errors,” ESL errors, and standard English errors on a state-mandated writing exam

Abstract Raters of Georgia's (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style, vocabulary, mechanics, content, and development. This study details how raters react to “errors” typical of African American English writers, of ESL writers, and of standard American English writers. Using a log-linear model to generate odds ratios for comparison of essays with these error types, results indicate linguistic discrimination against African American “errors” and a leniency for ESL errors in writing assessment.

Feedback in ESL Writing: Toward an Interactional Approach

The role of feedback on writing involves complex issues and needs to be considered within the total context in which the feedback is given. The reason studies examining feedback effects are so inconsistent may be a function of the fact that these studies consider feedback issue from a single perspective. To deal with this problem, feedback is first defined from different perspectives, then different aspects of feedback are discussed and after that a discussion of the factors that affect the influence of feedback on second language writing follows and finally a model where all the factors interact to influence feedback practices in second langue writing is presented.