To test the predictive power of the SSARC (stabilize, simplify, automatize, reconstruct, and complexify) model of pedagogic task sequencing in second language (L2) writing development, the present study explores the performance of written decision-making tasks with varied levels of cognitive complexity in a simple-to-complex sequence in comparison…

The purpose of this multiple intrinsic case study was to describe how Northeastern United States middle school teachers and students engaged with a new automated writing evaluation tool used to score and provide feedback on extended essay assignments to improve teaching and learning writing. Richard Elmore's (1993) instructional core framework is…

Argumentative writing is a genre of writing that is considered difficult by EFL students at the university level. This study aimed to investigate problems faced by EFL students in writing an argumentative essay and to explain their strategies to overcome the problems. The participants of this study were ten fifth-semester students of the 2023-2024…

Research in metadiscourse has foregrounded the multiple ways in which writers build a relationship with readers through internal discourse. Yet, few studies consider the relationship between the texts writers create and the metalinguistic thinking which informs their decision-making as writers. This paper draws on data from a larger study which…

To determine the impacts of using ChatGPT to assist English as a foreign language (EFL) English college majors in revising essays and the possibility of leading to higher scores and potentially causing unfairness. A prospective, double-blinded, paired-comparison study was conducted in Feb. 2023. A total of 44 students provided 44 original essays…

We investigated spelling errors in English and Spanish essays by Spanish-English dual language learners in Grades 1, 2, and 3 (N = 278; 51% female) enrolled in either English immersion or English-Spanish dual immersion programs. We examined what types of spelling errors students made, whether they made spelling errors that could be due to…

This study was conducted to determine the writing skills of bilingual students whose mother tongue is Kurdish and monoligual students whose mother tongue is Turkish in the fifth grade of secondary school. More specifically, the story and essay writing skills of bilingual students are compared with the writing skills of monolingual students based…

Collaborative writing is widely researched for its effects on students' writing accuracy; however, previous research studies fail to prove its effects on students' writing fluency. Also, none of the previous studies have investigated the framework for students to compose argumentative essays collaboratively. The purpose of this article is to fill…

This paper focuses on automatically assessing language proficiency levels according to linguistic complexity in learner English. We implement a supervised learning approach as part of an automatic essay scoring system. The objective is to uncover Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) criterial features in writings by learners…

Student Approaches to Learning (SAL) have been the focus of much research, typically linking different approaches, e.g., surface and deep, to different assessment types. However, much of the previous research has not considered the different conditions under which different types of assessment occur and the different types of feedback they…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs of students to improve their ability in writing essays in English. One hundred and three students were surveyed after three months after starting classes on fall semester of 2020. A qualitative research approach based on Grounded Theory was used throughout the research process. The data…

Background: In a randomized trial that collects text as an outcome, traditional approaches for assessing treatment impact require that each document first be manually coded for constructs of interest by human raters. An impact analysis can then be conducted to compare treatment and control groups, using the hand-coded scores as a measured outcome.…

Background: Weight bias is a pervasive problem for adolescents in school contexts. Despite evidence of negative attitudes towards students who are overweight, comparatively little research has examined whether teachers provide biased assessments of student work. Aims: The purpose of this study was to experimentally test whether middle and high…

This article examines the results of a 17-week self-narrative portfolio project from a year seven classroom in Turkey. The practitioner research combines the frameworks of Cultural Historical Activity Theory and Figured Words in order to assess the differences in linguistic and identity growth between national and international students. I posit…

Attaining coherence in writing remains a huge challenge for English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners. This study investigated how EFL college students structured their expository essays and attained coherence in a content-based language learning course by comparing the effects of the cognitive and linguistic approaches. Three classes…