Integrated writing tasks, which require students to incorporate information from multiple sources into their writing, are gaining attention in language assessment and writing instruction due to their alignment with the expectations of academic and professional writing. Understanding what aspects of integrated tasks are perceived as challenging by…

This experimental study examined the influence of vocabulary and spelling on teachers' perceptions of English as a second language (ESL) essays. Sixty-nine pre-service teachers from Switzerland and Germany rated four upper-intermediate ESL argumentative essays and provided written comments on strengths and weaknesses of the student compositions.…

As teaching moves increasingly online, language teachers are faced with the challenge of how to support dyslexic students in an inclusive manner in and out of the classroom. This paper will focus on an innovative educational multi-modal, mobile application -- Comics for Inclusive English Language Learning (CIELL) -- supporting upper-intermediate…

Although the behavior and impacts of instructor reflection in writing classes have been extensively studied over the past few decades, a significant proportion of the work has concentrated on students' attitudes and utilization of all such responses, as opposed to teachers' perspectives, self-assessments, and actual text comments given. Research…

In this study, I explored the interactions among genre, task complexity, and L2 proficiency in learners' writing task performance. Specifically, after identifying the lack of valid operationalizations of genre and task dimensions in L2 writing research, I examined how genre functions as a task complexity variable, and how learners' perceptions and…

Writing is a very important skill that should be mastered properly by university students, especially pre-service language teachers (e.g. EFL student teachers). In order to present their ideas efficiently in the context of their academic study, they have to be trained well on how to write meaningful pieces (e.g. essays, academic reports,…

Drawing on critical, socio-cultural and sociolinguistic theories of writing, text and voice, this ethnographic study examines the challenges that a mature ESL student and her instructors in a university course on Spanish Language Media face as they co-construct a common understanding of academic literacy and voice in an undergraduate General…