Writing researchers have suggested that students who are perceived as strong writers (i.e., those who generate texts rated as high quality) demonstrate flexibility in their writing style. While anecdotally this has been a commonly held belief among researchers and educators, there is little empirical research to support this claim. This study…

The main thrust of this study was to determine whether a genre-based instruction improve the writing proficiency of Iranian EFL learners. To this end, 30 homogenous Iranian BA learners studying English at Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas Branch were selected as the participants of the study through a version of TOEFL test as the proficiency…

The Common Core State Standards emphasize students writing analytically in response to texts. Questions remain about the nature of instruction that develops students' text-based writing skills. In the present study, we examined the role that writing task quality plays in students' mastery of analytic text-based writing. Text-based writing tasks…

This study, examines two well-known writing pedagogies from the fields of Composition and Rhetoric, and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) for teaching literacy, or reading and writing skills in order to identify intersections for the English Language Learner (ELL) in an EFL learning environment. In addition, I present both quantitative and…

This study's purpose is to seek out methods of improving reading and writing for EFL learners. This one-year study focuses on an enhanced design of extensive reading (ER) towards improving learners' writing abilities. Pre- and posttests used the Jacobs, Zingraf, Wormoth, Hartfield, and Hughey (1981) measurement of writing, including content,…

This article makes a case for using creative writing in a second language course. Creative writing increases students' enthusiasm for writing skills development and supports students' creativity, which is a fundamental aspect of education. In order to engage less motivated students, a series of creative writing assignments was implemented in a…

The psychometric properties of the Student Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI) were examined using a sample of 404 Grade 6 students from an urban Canadian school system. Students completed the SMALSI and school factors included final school grades, attendance records, and language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies…

In this article, we--a former high school language arts instructor and former K-3 gifted resource teacher--reflect on critical experiences with students that, although unique in scope, are bound together through a common concern: How can teachers provide meaningful writing experiences for talented young writers? We advocate for the use of high-end…

Academic writing is perhaps the most important skill required in higher education learning for the purposes of academic communication, academic performance, as well as academic achievement and success. However, many studies carried out in an EFL context showed that the majority of students face difficulties and challenges in acquiring effective…

This study examined introductory journalism writing courses and compared hybrid (part online/part classroom) versus online grammar instruction. The hybrid structure allowed for grammar topics to be taught online, with a pretest following, and then reviewing missed/difficult pretest concepts in class prior to a posttest. The quasi-experimental…

This paper reports on an experimental research study that aimed at investigating the effectiveness of employing a virtual task-based situated language learning (TBSLL) environment mediated by Second Life (SL) in developing EFL student teachers' pragmatic writing skills and their technological self-efficacy. To reach this goal, a control-only…

Plagiarism has been the focus of considerable scholarly research in recent decades, much of which has examined the number of students who are plagiarizing, why they plagiarize, and what instructors can do to teach students to effectively and ethically integrate their own words and ideas with those of their sources. Overlooked in this scholarship…

Writing researchers have suggested that students who are perceived as strong writers (i.e., those who generate texts rated as high quality) demonstrate flexibility in their writing style. While anecdotally this has been a commonly held belief among researchers and educators, there is little empirical research to support this claim. This study…

The process of digital storytelling allows basic writers to take a personal narrative and translate it into a multimodal and multidimensional experience, motivating a diverse group of writers with different learning styles to engage more creatively and meaningfully in the writing process. Digital storytelling has the capacity to contextualize…

The need for the application of technology in education has been increased. One of the new approaches in technology is using email for learning a second or a foreign language. The present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using email in improving writing skills among Iranian EFL students. The participants of the study were 42…