Giving effective writing feedback can be a challenge for any English instructor. Teaching students how to provide peer feedback can be problematic as well. Both these challenges may seem even more apparent when teaching online during a pandemic. Using Google Docs for collaborative writing feedback is one effective method for addressing both these…

Anglosphere universities are a site of growing concern about students' use of professional English language editing and proofreading services for the correction of academic writing. Students' use of such services raises issues of ethics and academic integrity as well as fundamental questions about how value is allotted to the labour involved in…

The English for Specific Purposes (ESP) field is currently receiving a lot of attention as researchers and practitioners seek to improve the learning experience for the students and raise the quality of the courses. To advance ESP practice, it is crucial that teacher training in ESP is enhanced and supported through exemplary practices. Vocabulary…

Many scholars have conducted research into ways to improve EFL learners' writing proficiency by seeking to address several problems related to achieving this goal (Darani, 2014; Lu, 2013; Thomas, Thomas, & Moltow, 2015; Wang, 2013). However, the issues of learner identity in written communication and the role of the language EFL writers use as…

Three productive TESOL scholars from Indonesia: Nugrahenny T. Zacharias of Satya Wacana Christian University, Handoyo Puji Widodo of Politeknik Negeri Jember, and Willy A. Renandya, who currently works at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, were interviewed to not only showcase their work, but also…

A regular feature of the Nigerian tertiary education context is large numbers of students crammed into small classrooms or lecture theatres. This context had long begged for the creation of innovative learning spaces and adoption of engaging pedagogies. Recourse to technology support and experimenting with the WIKI as a learning tool at the…

Summarizes current views of second-language acquisition, focusing on the types and origins of the problems of nonnative technical writers. Offers suggestions to help editors avoid or alleviate the problems. (PRA)

Describes an exercise to help advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students learn to edit their writing and stick to word limits. The paper explains how to set the word-limit parameters (limiting writing to 100 words), encourage self-editing, define the criteria of the assignment at the outset, and build a layering process. (SM)

A method is outlined for using works of Spanish literature at the intermediate level. This approach is illustrated, using three novels: "El Rapto" (Ayala), "El Tunel" (Sabato), and "Nada" (Laforet). A key passage is studied in depth, topics are assigned for extension of the content, and a composition is written. (CFM)

Reports findings of an investigation of how English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers edit their academic papers. Interviews were conducted with 50 university students: 10 ESL writers (graduate students) whose final drafts exhibited grammatical accuracy, and 40 ESL writers (undergraduates) whose final drafts exhibited frequent and varied…

Describes the peer-editing behaviors of eight undergraduate students in a third-year Spanish composition and grammar review course. Data collected over four months through interviews, participant observation, artifact inventories, and questionnaires revealed a strong tendency among informants to define the peer-editing process in social and…

Investigated university English-as-a-Second-Language students abilities to self-edit texts across three feedback conditions: errors marked with codes from different categories; errors in the same five categories underlined but not otherwise marked or labeled; no feedback. Both feedback groups outperformed the no-feedback group in self-editing;…

Describes a curriculum for teaching writing with computers. The approach is process-oriented and employs low-end technology, requiring only computers equipped with word processing programs, and follows an assignment structure that can be executed by high schools or universities. (Author/VWL)

Ways to develop "creative automaticity" for writing in a foreign language are examined. The paper focuses on transactional writing (i.e., writing with the purpose of transferring precise information by such means as telex messages, business letters, memoranda, and short reports), and its main features of clarity and conventionality. It is noted…

Argues that the best moment for responding to student writing is before any draft is completed. Analyzes ways in which this can be put into practice in the composition classroom and reports on how a group of undergraduate, intermediate-level Portuguese English-as-a-Second-Language writers reacted to this kind of pre-text feedback. (Author/SM)