Problems in developing writing often comes from creative processes in developing ideas to write. Outlines are often recommended as a tool to help students organize their thoughts and structure their writing. This study aims to find out students' perceptions and the challenges the students encountered when writing an exposition text using provided…

This study compared English L2 writers' (N =111) performance on an integrated writing task from the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment under three prewriting planning conditions: required self-timed planning required fixed time planning, and suggested (i.e., optional) planning. The participants' integrated essays were scored…

Although a number of studies examined the use of social networking sites (SNSs) in academic writing instruction, these studies mainly revolve around social media centered on microblogging features. Despite living in a visually dominated world, the potential of visual social media such as Instagram whereby the textual, the visual and the social can…

As a reflection of the value attached to interaction in L2 learning, pair and small-group activities have been integrated into different phases in the writing process. Focusing specifically on peer interaction during the planning and revision phases, this "In the Classroom" study explores the relationship between peer interaction and…

This study explores the impact of mind mapping on the writing of English as a Foreign Language [EFL] among Saudi learners and the bilateral effects of mind mapping and other writing processes. Little research has been devoted to the effect of electronic mind mapping as a mediating tool. Despite the cyclical nature of writing processes, the…

Using a smartphone is a very convenient way to learn languages in modern life. To understand the impact of the immersive environment created by a smartphone on essay writing in Chinese for second language learners, a study was conducted on 36 Vietnamese students in their first year at a university in Taiwan. This study adopted an experimental…

This study aimed to investigate the kinds of peer scaffolding behaviors occurring during English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing activities through three steps of writing process. The participants comprised ten English major students in writing classroom in University of Phayao selected by purposive sampling. They were classified into five…

Writing in a second language is complex, and complicated, mainly because of by the addition of new resources and norms (new structural elements of the new language, new rhetorical conventions, and some other things). Teachers therefore, whether they like it or not, have to select the most appropriate teaching methods and strategies in their…

Research comparing the use of retrospective interviews (RIs) and think-aloud protocols (TAPs) as two data sources of writers' composing processes is almost nonexistent. Trying to address this research gap, the present study examined the data obtained from the task-specific RIs and TAPs about the composing processes of 30 second language (L2)…

This study aimed at enhancing the Mandarin essay writing by learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL) in Singapore by using authentic contexts in Second Life (SL). The participants were students in two classes of eighth graders from a junior high school in Singapore, and the study lasted for 5 weeks. A quasiexperimental design was adopted by…

This research investigates the changes in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' psychological attributes in relation to awareness of the lexicogrammatical features and generic structures of a discussion genre essay. This was achieved by implementing a genre-based approach to text-based writing lessons during a 15-week course. The following…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the effects of group-to-whole student-led oral discussion and small-group collaborative drafting as pre-writing tasks on Iranian intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' writing performance. Additionally, the difference between the writing components was examined.…

Much research has been completed that focused on the role of drafting strategies in first language (L1) writing, but its role in second language (L2) writing is missing. The present study investigated the impact of outlining and free writing strategies on L2 academic writing in terms of overall quality, as well as more specifically in terms of…

Cognitive models of the writing process make a distinction between the functions of planning and translation: the first to generate ideas, the second to represent these ideas in written linguistic conventions. For many writers however, ideas do not always appear to precede the act of writing, rather they appear to be discovered through it. This…

This study reports on an investigation into writing strategies of Malaysian university students learning English as a second language. Qualitative data were collected from 21 undergraduate university students aged 19 to 21. The students interviewed reported using a variety of writing strategies. It was also found that all of the participants…