We evaluate the use of a Virtual Exchange (VE) writing task, Stimulus Writing, which we assigned to groups of UK and Finnish business students. There were two learner cohorts in the study: one in the UK (mainly Chinese students), the other in Finland (mainly Finns). The Finnish students wrote authentic case studies about Nordic businesses, while…

We introduced writing activities into a project style third year undergraduate biomolecular science laboratory to assist the students to produce a final report in the form of a journal article. To encourage writing while the experimental work was proceeding, the embedded writing activities required ongoing analysis of experimental data. After…

A study investigated attitudes toward and practices of plagiarism of Japanese college students writing in English. Data were drawn from two senior theses written in English and two in Japanese, 30 other student academic papers, interviews with students, and a questionnaire administered to 46 undergraduate and graduate students. In both…

The workbook is designed to teach college-level writing skills to students for whom English is either the native or a second language. An introductory section for students describes the use of a concordance and provides instructions for the using the workbook. An introductory section for teachers is also included. Six instructional units address…

A study at Hong Kong University explored the use of the word processor as a writing tool in enhancing a process approach to writing instruction and the effect it has on writing performance, student attitudes to writing and revising, and the process by which students revise their scripts. A comparative analysis was done on a control group of 13…

A discussion of the teaching of languages for special purposes (LSP) argues for giving greater attention to the learner's actual language needs. It suggests that conventional English for special purposes (ESP) is inadequate for the unique linguistic context of Papua New Guinea, and that further research be undertaken into implications of such an…

A study at the University of Aizu (Japan) investigated characteristics of technical writing assignments composed in English as a second language on computer workstations and by hand. The in-class workstation essays and hand-written essays of 24 students revealed that while all were of similar overall quality, the workstation essays were not as…

A two-semester course in English composition offered in a Japanese university is described. The course is designed to transition students from minimal skills in communicative writing at program entry to a course in field-specific technical writing by exposing students to several writing genres. Key activities of the course include pre- and…