This study examines the efficacy and motivational implications of the word-count tracking strategy as a viable teaching strategy for improving writing output among Saudi EFL undergraduates. An intensive writing program was conducted at the English Department Al-Majmaah University with two groups who were taught through two different approaches.…

Second language (L2) writing research has demonstrated that young learners discuss linguistic issues, make use of feedback, and show a generally positive disposition toward writing tasks. However, many issues deserve further investigation. Regarding task implementation, few studies have been conducted with young learners writing individually, and…

In recent years, the shift in the teaching approaches employed in Thai English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom provides new opportunities and challenges to the teachers and students form Generation Z (1995-2009) and Generation Alpha (2010-2024). This study examines verb errors among Thai EFL learners from Generation Z and Generation Alpha to…

This quasi-experimental study seeks to improve the conceptual quality of summary essays by comparing two conditions, essay prompts with or without a list of 13 broad concepts, the concepts were selected across a continuum of the 100 most frequent words in the lesson materials. It is anticipated that only the most central concepts will be used as…

Multi-word combinations are crucial for the production of various discourse types as well as for the construction of a credible and persuasive academic persona. This study investigates the frequency, structure, and function of the most frequently occurring 4-lexical bundles in writings from the field of linguistics. Following Biber et al.'s (1999)…

In recent years, marked gains in the accuracy of machine translation (MT) outputs have greatly increased its viability as a tool to support the efforts of English as a foreign language (EFL) students to write in English. This study examines error corrections made by 58 Korean university students by comparing their original L2 texts to that of MT…

Although studies on written feedback have confirmed the effectiveness of multiple sources of feedback in promoting learners' accuracy, much remains to be discovered about its impact on other aspects of language development. Concerns were raised with regard to the possible unfavourable impact of feedback on the complexity of students' writing which…

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a structural-cum-communicative approach to the teaching of vocabulary to students possessing a low level of English proficiency. A total of 52 foundation degree students taking a 13-week preparatory reading and writing course participated in the present study. Both the control and the…

Background: Data-driven learning (DDL) has been regarded as one of the promising approaches that could effectively enhance writing performance of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Although extensive research has been conducted on the use of DDL in developing various aspects of writing skill, there exist only few studies to date that…

This article reports on an experimental study that set out to investigate and compare the effectiveness of a direct and an indirect approach to data-driven learning (DDL) in facilitating Chinese learners' mastery of a challenging type of lexico-grammatical resource (i.e. hedges) in an undergraduate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writing…

Syntactic complexity has been extensively approached in the fields of corpus linguistics and academic discourse studies. However, works focusing on disciplinary variation in terms of linguistic complexity and comparison of professional and novice academic writing are scarce. Addressing these issues is likely to have important implications for…

Since the publication of the book Genre Analysis (CUP) by Swales (1990), many studies have focused on the study of the rhetorical organisation of different sections of research articles (RAs). The organisation of RA introductions has received most of the attention. However, the focus has generally been on the structure of introductions without…

Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in automated writing evaluation (hereafter AWE). However, few studies have examined the use of AWE with apprehensive writers. Hence, this study extends research in this area, investigating the effect of using AWE on reducing writing apprehension and enhancing grammatical knowledge. The participants…

This paper investigates the frequency and contextual uses of the metadiscoursal devices of evidentials, code glosses, hedges and boosters in four academic disciplines, namely, linguistics, literature, chemistry and medicine. Hyland and Hinkel's taxonomies of metadiscourse provided the search items. The data analyzed consisted of a corpus of forty…

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…