Technology often mediates, and thus influences, written language conventions such as punctuation and capitalization. Fifty university students sent two text messages, one with an alphanumeric multi-press keypad mobile phone (i.e., Nokia 1101) and another with a full QWERTY keypad smartphone (i.e., Apple iPhone 4). Compared to text messages sent…

Students in undergraduate and graduate programs offered by community colleges, universities, and colleges of education are generally expected to have basic writing competencies at the outset of their studies based on completion of a high school curriculum and core college composition classes. With more programs and courses online or having a…

In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the…

This article reports on a study which was part of a two year writing project undertaken by a University in South East England with 17 primary schools. A survey sought the views of up to 565 children on the subject of writing. The analysis utilises Ivanic's (2004) discourses of writing framework as a heuristic and so provides a unique lens for a…

This study examines links between essay quality and text elaboration and text cohesion. For this study, 35 students wrote two essays (on two different prompts) and for each, were given 15 minutes to elaborate on their original text. An expert in discourse comprehension then modified the original and elaborated essays to increase cohesion,…

English teachers, especially those who teach summary writing to students with relatively lower proficiency in English face difficulty in teaching summary writing and while assessing their students' performances. In the classroom context, an analytic rubric is pedagogically more helpful than a holistic rubric because the teacher can confirm the…

The purpose of this research was to identify the common errors made in English writing by Malaysian Chinese primary year 6 ESL students and to determine the extent of the influence of the first language, Mandarin in ESL writing. The Mandarin language uses a logographic writing system while the English language is written in alphabetic scripts. The…

Studies in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) indicate that the use of discourse markers (DMs) in the academic writing of second language learners improves the overall quality of these texts by contributing to their cohesion and comprehensibility (Saif Modhish 2012; Jalilifar 2008; Intaraprawat & Steffensen 1995). However, despite the…

In argumentative writing, writers are expected to use hedged expressions and stance devices through specific linguistic expressions to convince their proposition effectively. Yet little research attention has been paid to whether the inclusion of such devices is related to the overall quality of second or foreign language learners' argumentative…

The aim of the action research reported here was to examine the differential effects of the 'writers' workshop' approach on the L2 (English) writing skills of upper-primary students with varying writing abilities. The participants were 31 fifth-grade students (17 boys and 14 girls) aged 10-11, who followed L2 English writing instruction based on…

Prior research has shown that EFL learners who wrote collaboratively with partners using wikis improved the content quality and language accuracy of their L2 individual writing more than students who wrote individually. Drawing on the dataset from Hsu and Lo's study, the current study explores the nature of the students' collaborative dialogue…

Language is the most basic tool for communication. There are four basic areas of skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each skill has a special importance in itself. Therefore, development of all skills will be beneficial for individuals. Writing skill is separated from other skills in that it has permanency. With writing, knowledge…

Just-in-time teaching and peer instruction are two student-centred approaches that have been widely employed in various science subjects but seldom in language classrooms. This research proposed a flipped learning model through technology-enhanced just-in-time teaching and peer instruction and investigated the effectiveness of this model in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the way leisure activities and soft skills relate to creativity in higher education. It determines which activities have a positive impact on the student body's overall education. Previous research evidences the relationship between specific leisure activities and creativity performance in…

Nine high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders received instruction on how to write argumentative essays to self-advocate for their transition-focused needs. A special education teacher and paraprofessional received training on the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model of writing instruction. They provided instruction…