Some previous researchers attempted to bridge the gap between two bodies of research: the role of metacognitive knowledge in second language (L2) writing and L2 collaborative writing (CW). Although recent studies unveiled the positive impacts of learners' metacognitive knowledge on L2 collaborative writing, there is not yet consensus regarding the…

Research on second language (L2) collaborative writing (CW) has proliferated over the recent decade and will continue to bloom due to the changing landscape of writing and learning in the digital age. This article provides a research agenda on CW in L2 classrooms. We illustrate six research themes for future research inquiry by pointing out the…

Many students struggle when they are asked to write. They may feel the lack of ideas, or they believe their ideas are not good enough. Prewriting techniques (e.g., brainstorming, clustering, and freewriting) help students develop their ability to think and their confidence in generating ideas. Collaborative prewriting activities expand students'…

Writing has generally been perceived as a solitary activity, completed by the writer working alone. Yet, over the years we have witnessed a growing interest among researchers and educators in Collaborative Writing, an activity that can be simply defined as the involvement of two or more writers in the production of a single text. This interest has…

The role of grammar instruction within second-language writing instruction has been a subject of debate for several decades. Researchers have debated the necessity of grammar instruction, different methodologies of grammar instruction, and grammar instruction's effectiveness for second-language writing development. Despite research indicating the…

The development of writing skills in L2 contexts has been the focus of researchers over the last three decades with feedback (FB) receiving attention for the positive impact it can have on the learning process. The peer feedback technique (PF) is one tool employed by language instructors that has facilitated the provision of useful FB to learners.…

Finding free, level-appropriate texts that can be shared with students--and that have no copyright issues--is a challenge. English language teachers often have to build their own collection of paper-based or online texts by purchasing them and making copies or creating texts entirely on their own, which takes time that many teachers do not have.…

In cognitivist Second Language Acquisition (SLA), attention and noticing are described as psycholinguistic processes that (may) have a role in language learning. The operationalization of such constructs, however, poses methodological challenges, since neither online nor off-line measures are coextensive with these cognitive processes that occur…

In fall 2016, a group of scholars gathered at the 40th German Studies Association convention in San Diego, CA, in a space called the Eaton Room, for a seminar on multilingualism in German Studies. After three days sharing this space of dialogue, members returned home to their various teaching and research settings and, reflecting further on…

Caribbean students are repeatedly engaged in rigid forms of writing to meet the requirements of external exams, which often leads to negative attitudes to writing. With current shifts to multimodal and multi-literate texts to engage students' multiple literacies in learning, students' creation of graphic novels in Caribbean English classrooms can…

Translation Studies MSc students at the University of Edinburgh take part in a Wikipedia translation assignment as part of their independent study component. The students make use of the free and open encyclopaedia's Content Translation tool which enables them to create translations side-by-side to the original article and automates the process of…

Based on my role as Editor in Chief of the journal Language Learning & Technology since 2000 and on my experiences as a technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) researcher, developer and teacher, I will provide an overview of recent cutting-edge research on the uses of technologies for second language teaching and learning. I suggest that…

The authors review three different strands of work on English writing research and instruction, working to harmonize them into a coherent translingual approach to teaching writing in the postsecondary EFL/EIL/ESL writing classroom. Five principles from English composition research (now often called writing studies) describe the fundamental…

The Work-Integrated Simulation for Translators module is part of a three year undergraduate degree in translation. The semester long module aims to simulate several aspects of the translation process using the Blackboard virtual learning environment's Wikis as the interface for completing translation tasks. For each translation task, one of the…

This paper aims at proposing a technique for students learning English as a foreign language when they collaboratively write an argumentative essay in a wiki environment. A wiki environment and collaborative work play an important role within the academic writing task. Nevertheless, an appropriate and systematic work assignment is required in…