Second Language Writing Systems looks at how people learn and use a second language writing system, arguing that they are affected by characteristics of the first and second writing systems, to a certain extent independently of the languages involved. This book for the first time presents the effects of writing systems on second language reading and writing and on second language awareness, and provides a new platform for discussing bilingualism, biliteracy and writing systems.

Editors and contributors pursue the ambitious goal of including within WAC theory, research, and practice the differing perspectives, educational experiences, and voices of second-language writers. The chapters within this collection not only report new research but also share a wealth of pedagogical, curricular, and programmatic practices relevant to second-language writers. Representing a range of institutional perspectives—including those of students and faculty at public universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and English-language schools—and a diverse set of geographical and cultural contexts, the editors and contributors report on work taking place in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

This unique state-of-the-art volume offers a comprehensive, systematic discussion of second language (L2) writing and L2 learning. Led by experts Rosa Manchón and Charlene Polio, top international scholars synthesize and contextualize the salient theoretical approaches, methodological issues, empirical findings, and emerging themes in the connection between L2 writing and L2 learning, and set the future research agenda to move the field forward. This will be an indispensable resource for scholars and students of second language acquisition (SLA), applied linguistics, education, and composition studies.

This book revisits second language (L2) writing teacher education by exploring the complex layers of L2 writing in non-English dominant contexts (i.e. English as a foreign language contexts). It re-envisions L2 writing teacher education by moving away from uncritical embracement of Western-based writing pedagogies.

What should language and writing teachers do about giving students written corrective feedback? This book surveys theory, research, and practice on the important and sometimes controversial issue of written corrective feedback, also known as “error/grammar correction,” and its impact on second language acquisition and second language writing development. Offering state-of-the-art treatment of a topic that is highly relevant to both researchers and practitioners, it critically analyzes and synthesizes several parallel and complementary strands of research — work on error/feedback (both oral and written) in SLA and studies of the impact of error correction in writing/composition courses — and addresses practical applications. Drawing from both second language acquisition and writing/composition literature, this volume is the first to intentionally connect these two separate but important lines of inquiry.

Provides an accessible, comprehensive and practical introduction to current theory and research in second language writing and their classroom applications.

Assessment in the Second Language Writing Classroom is a teacher and prospective teacher-friendly book, uncomplicated by the language of statistics. The book is for those who teach and assess second language writing in several different contexts: the IEP, the developmental writing classroom, and the sheltered composition classroom. In addition, teachers who experience a mixed population or teach cross-cultural composition will find the book a valuable resource. Other books have thoroughly covered the theoretical aspects of writing assessment, but none have focused as heavily as this book does on pragmatic classroom aspects of writing assessment. Further, no book to date has included an in-depth examination of the machine scoring of writing and its effects on second language writers. Crusan not only makes a compelling case for becoming knowledgeable about L2 writing assessment but offers the means to do so. Her highly accessible, thought-provoking presentation of the conceptual and practical dimensions of writing assessment, both for the classroom and on a larger scale, promises to engage readers who have previously found the technical detail of other works on assessment off-putting, as well as those who have had no previous exposure to the study of assessment at all.

Presents a method for teaching language that shifts away from separating writing and talking, integrating the spoken word into language education to make the transition to the "foreign" language of writing go more smoothly.

This book introduces a new framework for analyzing second language (L2) learners’ written texts. The authors conducted a major study on changes and differences in English L2 learners’ writing performance to advance understanding of the nature of L2 writing development over time, in relation to L2 instruction and testing, and to offer a model that professionals and researchers can use in their own longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of L2 writing development. Grounded in research, data, theory, and technology, this will be a welcome how-to for language test developers, scholars, and graduate students of (L2) writing and assessment.