This opinion paper focuses on foregrounding the issue of the hidden curriculum in L2 writing and how addressing its negative sides can greatly move forward our understanding of students' writing learning experiences and further promote more effective and equal writing teaching. Specifically, this paper argues that the negative sides of the hidden…

Emotional vocabulary is an important element in daily conversations, and knowledge and teaching of this vocabulary in a second language (L2) should be a primary goal in migration contexts. This study aimed to identify the emotional words used in the written productions of 288 adult immigrants from different countries of origin who were…

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbots has created opportunities and challenges for higher education. Extant scholarship has explored GenAI's capabilities and topics involving teachers' and students' perceptions of these tools. However, there is limited research exploring (1) whether second language (L2) learners…

This study examines the influence of alternate topics on syntactic complexity features in argumentative essays produced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. The essays were assessed in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The study employed two automated natural language processing tools that utilized…

Second language (L2) writing researchers have enthusiastically adopted task complexity frameworks in their examination of the effects of complex task features on L2 written performance. However, such research often overlooks the effect(s) of such features on general L2 development as well as L2 writing development. Drawing from Manch?n and…

Multimodal composing, which has sometimes been referred to synonymously as multimodal composition or multimodal writing, is the use of different semiotic resources (e.g., audio, visual, gestural, and/or spatial resources) in addition to linguistic text for making meaning. Notably, multimodal composing is neither a new type of writing nor a new…

This study aims to understand how bilingual college students constructed literacy spaces across their lives rather than an in-school/out-of-school dichotomy. Drawing on Lefebvre's (1991) spatial triad as a lens to examine the participants' spatial literacy practices, the findings show that some participants repurposed planned spaces into literacy…

Considering the universality of writing struggles faced by both the students and teachers, it is an unexpected observation to find that there are most likely only a dozen or so systematic reviews on the topic. Among these reviews, none so far have focused on identifying and discussing English writing instructional models. This paper systematically…

Although a surfeit of research has investigated the technicality and efficacy of feedback, much less attention has been directed towards student engagement with written feedback. In second-language writing scholarship, student engagement is considered the linchpin that connects feedback provision with learning outcomes and is crucial for feedback…

Studies on coherence in the paragraphs produced by English language learners have focused on cohesive devices and their correlation with perceptions of writing quality. Inconsistent findings suggest that other measures of coherence might be at play, one of which is coherence relations. This study aimed to explore coherence relations in learners'…

The present study compared learning gains at both form recall and meaning recall levels across three learning conditions: viewing without note-taking, viewing with conventional note-taking, and viewing with guided note-taking. A total of 134 Chinese learners of English were assigned to three experimental groups and a no-treatment control group.…

While researchers in recent years have exhibited a burgeoning interest in studying writing practices beyond formal contexts, the purpose of informal writing appears to be constrained primarily to recreational activities or interpersonal communication, thus overlooking its potential impact on enhancing formal writing competence. The present…

The present study, which constitutes part of a wider research study, aimed to investigate whether working memory capacity and second language proficiency level affect the quality of second language writing produced by teenagers. To that end, narrative texts were solicited from 30 Greek second-year junior high school students, produced in English,…

Developing spoken grammar awareness is a crucial first step in fostering noticing habits (Schmidt, 1990) in second language learners. Classroom instruction using corpus-informed materials is an ideal way to assist this development, given that these materials are based on research which informs us about the most frequent forms and uses of spoken…

This article reports on a comprehensive synthesis of the literature on the role of working memory in second language (L2) writing. It starts with an overview and clarification of the construct and measurement of working memory, followed by an elaboration of major theoretical models informing the synthesized research. The article then presents a…