Understanding, Evaluating, and Conducting Second Language Writing Research speaks to the rapidly growing area of second language writing by providing a uniquely balanced approach to L2 writing research. While other books favor either a qualitative or quantitative approach to second language acquisition (SLA) research, this text is comprehensive in scope and does not privilege one approach over the other, illuminating the strengths of each and the ways in which they might complement each other. It also provides equal weight to the cognitive and socio-cultural approaches to SLA. Containing an array of focal studies and suggestions for further reading, this text is the ideal resource for students beginning to conduct L2 writing research as well as for more experienced researchers who wish to expand their approach to conducting research.

Understanding, Evaluating, and Conducting Second Language Writing Research speaks to the rapidly growing area of second language writing by providing a uniquely balanced approach to L2 writing research. While other books favor either a qualitative or quantitative approach to second language acquisition (SLA) research, this text is comprehensive in scope and does not privilege one approach over the other, illuminating the strengths of each and the ways in which they might complement each other. It also provides equal weight to the cognitive and socio-cultural approaches to SLA. Containing an array of focal studies and suggestions for further reading, this text is the ideal resource for students beginning to conduct L2 writing research as well as for more experienced researchers who wish to expand their approach to conducting research.

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.

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 brings together top scholars on different sides of the important scholarly debate between the translingual movement and the field of second language writing. Drawing on a wide range of perspectives, this volume examines the differences in theory and practice with the hope of promoting reconciliation between the two schools of thought. Chapters address the tensions in the relationship between translingualism and second language writing and explore programs, pedagogies, and research that highlight commonalities between the two camps. With contributions from leading scholars, this book comprehensively addresses the issues related to this contentious debate and offers ways to bring the two camps into conversation with one another in a way that promotes effective teaching practices. By providing a panoramic view of the current situation, the text is a timely and unique contribution to TESOL, applied linguistics, and composition studies.

Chapter 1.Beliefs and realities: a framework for decision making --chapter 2.Contrastive and intercultural rhetoric --chapter 3.Writing in a digital era --chapter 4.What and whose standards for L2 writing? --chapter 5.Paths to improvement --chapter 6.Writing from sources and the dilemma of plagiarism --chapter 7.Assessment --chapter 8.Miscellaneous controversies: critical thinking, individualism, and voice.

This collection is a comprehensive resource on conducting research in applied linguistics involving written genres that is distinctive in its coverage of a multiplicity of interdisciplinary perspectives. The volume explores the central approaches, methodologies, analyses, and tools used in conducting genre-based research, extending the traditional focus on a single framework for defining genres by explicating the major approaches that have been invoked in applied linguistics. Chapters address a mix of commonly used methodologies (e.g., case studies, ethnographic approaches), types of analyses (e.g., metadiscourse, rhetorical move-step analysis, multidimensional analysis, lexical bundles and phrase frames, CALF measures, multimodal analysis), and studies that focus on other areas of second language (L2) teaching and learning (e.g., multilingualism, the Teaching and Learning Cycle). Taken together, the volume provides a theoretically and methodologically diverse introduction to foundational topics in genre-related research, supported by detailed discussions of the challenges and practical considerations to take into account when conducting research involving written genres. This book is a valuable resource for graduate students, faculty, and researchers in applied linguistics, particularly those working in second language acquisition, L2 writing, and genre theory and pedagogy. Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The Handbook of Second and Foreign Language Writing is an authoritative reference compendium of the theory and research on second and foreign language writing that can be of value to researchers, professionals, and graduate students. It is intended both as a retrospective critical reflection that can situate research on L2 writing in its historical context and provide a state of the art view of past achievements, and as a prospective critical analysis of what lies ahead in terms of theory, research, and applications. Accordingly, the Handbook aims to provide (i) foundational information on the emergence and subsequent evolution of the field, (ii) state-of-the-art surveys of available theoretical and research (basic and applied) insights, (iii) overviews of research methods in L2 writing research, (iv) critical reflections on future developments, and (iv) explorations of existing and emerging disciplinary interfaces with other fields of inquiry.

This volume brings together the perspectives of new and established scholars who have connected with the broad fields of first language (L1) and second language (L2) writing to discuss critically key methodological developments and challenges in the study of L2 writing processes. The focus is on studies of composing and of engagement with feedback on written drafts, with particular attention to methods of process-tracing through data such as concurrent or stimulated verbal reports, interviews, diaries, digital recording, visual screen capture, eye tracking, keystroke logging, questionnaires, and/or ethnographic observation. The chapters in the book illustrate how progress has been made in developing research methods and empirical understandings of writing processes, in introducing methodological innovations, and in pointing to future methodological directions. It will be an essential methodological guide for novice and experienced researchers, senior students, and educators investigating the processes of writing in additional languages.

This Handbook, with 45 chapters written by the world’s leading scholars in second language acquisition (SLA) and language testing, dives into the important interface between SLA and language testing: shared ground where researchers seek to measure second language performance to better understand how people learn their second languages. The Handbook also reviews how to best measure and evaluate the second language (L2) learners’ personal characteristics, backgrounds, and learning contexts to better understand their L2 learning trajectories. Taking a transdisciplinary approach to research, the book builds upon recent theorizing and measurement principles from the fields of applied linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, psycholinguistics, psychometrics, educational measurement, and social psychology. The Handbook is divided into six key sections: (1) Assessment concepts for SLA researchers, (2) Building instruments for SLA research, (3) Measuring individual differences, (4) Measuring language development, (5) Testing specific populations, and (6) Measurement principles for SLA researchers.