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Ideology in Composition: L1 and ESL

TERRY SANTOS
Humboldt State University, USA

This article looks at the ideological view of writing in L1 composition and attempts to answer the question of why a similar view has not been propounded in ESL writing. The claim is that the difference can be attributed to: 1) the different affiliations of L1 and L2 composition, that is, L1 with literature and L2 with applied linguistics, 2) the scientific model for L2 research, 3) ESL's primarily pragmatic aims, and 4) the conservatizing effect of EFL. The article concludes by considering whether L2 composition might move in the direction of L1 by developing a similar ideological perspective.

Instructional Routines in ESL Composition Teaching: A Case Study of Three Teachers

ALISTER CUMMING
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada

Findings are reported from a naturalistic case study aiming to identify common instructional routines in the classroom performance of three experienced ESL composition instructors. Six routines were found to account for all of the teaching practices of the three instructors over the period of their courses. Analyses showed frequent alternations between these routines, consistency in the proportions of the routines across the classes documented, little change in their use over the duration of courses, as well as much embedding of the routines within one another. These experienced ESL composition instructors appeared to alternate and embed their uses of these routines to allocate equivalent but varied attention to divergent teaching functions, for example, responding to individual learning while managing class activities. Sequential and conceptual models of these processes are outlined, suggesting that the instruction observed systematically focused on student task performance rather than the presentation of content as in conventional instruction. Implications are cited for future studies of second language composition teaching and curriculum innovations as well as advancing the scope of research on second language composition in educational settings.

Becoming Biliterate: First Language Influences

JOAN G. CARSON
Georgia State University, USA

Since schooling is an important determinant of specific literacy capabilities, it is reasonable to assume that a student's educational background will have an effect on the development of literacy skills. However, in addition to learning the forms and functions of literacy in school, students also learn how to learn literacy skills. As a result, readers and writers develop a sense from their first language educational experiences both of what being literate means, as well as of what becoming literate entails. This paper will explore ways in which first language literacy learning strategies can be understood as either enhancing or complicating acquisition of second language literacy skills. Three aspects of literacy development for Japanese and Chinese elementary and secondary school students will be discussed: (1) the social context of schooling; (2) the cognitive considerations of the written code; and (3) the pedagogical practices most often used in teaching reading and writing. Implications for second language writing classrooms will be considered.

Cognitive Strategies and Second Language Writers: A Re-evaluation of Sentence Combining

KAREN E. JOHNSON
Pennsylvania State University, USA

Despite scant empirical evidence and questionable theoretical support, sentence-combining continues to be one of the most widely used instructional alternatives to formal grammar instruction in second language writing instruction. This study explored the cognitive strategies that second language writers engaged in during sentence-combining tasks in order to determine: 1) the cognitive demands of sentence-combining tasks, 2) if different types of sentence-combining tasks require different levels of cognitive strategies, and 3) the extent to which sentence-combining tasks require second language writers to attend to aspects of cohesion and evaluation. Nine advanced-level second language writers participated in think-aloud protocols (Ericsson & Simon, 1980, 1984) as they completed both controlled and open sentence-combining tasks. The protocols were analyzed according to the type of cognitive strategies used during sentence-combining tasks. The results showed that these second language writers engaged in restating content, constructing meaning, and higher and lower-level planning as they completed sentence-combining tasks. Between-task comparisons indicated that open sentence-combining tasks required significantly more higher-level planning than controlled sentence-combining tasks. Finally, these second language writers evaluated the appropriateness of their constructions but did not attend to aspects of cohesion during sentence-combining tasks. Relevant theoretical and pedagogical implications for second language writing instruction are discussed.

Volume 1, Number 2 (1992)

A Computer Text Analysis of Four Cohesion Devices in English Discourse by Native and Nonnative Writers

JOY REID
University of Wyoming, USA

Nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English in U.S. colleges and universities often have difficulty writing adequate academic prose. One research area which has sought to identify and solve the problems of English as a Second Language (ESL) writing is contrastive rhetoric: the study of texts written in English by native speakers (NSs) of different languages to determine syntactic and rhetorical differences. This study examined 768 essays written in English by native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and English in order to determine whether distinctive, quantifiable differences in the use of four cohesion devices existed between and among the four language backgrounds. The corpus consisted of four essay prompts: two topic types and two topic tasks for each topic. The Writer's Workbench (WWB), a computer text-analysis program originally developed by AT&T Bel1 Laboratories, was used to analyze the four cohesion variables in the corpus. Results of the analyses showed frequent co-occurrence of certain cohesion devices that differed significantly between and among language backgrounds and between topic types.

University Faculty Tolerance of NS and NNS Writing Errors: A Comparison

MICHAEL JANOPOULOS
University of Northern Iowa, USA

University faculty tolerance of NNS writing errors is an issue that has been well researched. However, the question of how a university faculty's tolerance of NNS errors compares to its tolerance of similar errors committed by NS writers is one that has not been systematically addressed. This issue is significant in light of the growing trend within academia toward setting more rigorous standards of literacy, especially as more and more institutions are requiring candidates for graduation to demonstrate writing competency on a standardized writing exam. This article describes a study in which university faculty were asked to rate 24 sentences containing errors commonly committed by NNS writers on a 6-point scale of tolerance. Half the faculty were told they were rating NNS errors, whereas the other half rated errors that were identified as NS in origin. Results, although mixed, indicated that faculty were generally more tolerant of NNS errors than they were of errors they perceived as being made by NS students. These results raise the possibility that NNS university students may not be held to the same classroom standards of writing competence as their NS counterparts, and so may be placed at a disadvantage when obliged to take a writing competency exam.

Research Writing and NNSs: From the Editors

HUGH GOSDEN
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

This article focuses on the varied linguistic and sociopragmatic skills require for effective international research reporting. In order to understand more clearly the demands of the immediate audience many English NNS (nonnative speaker) researchers are writing for, a survey of journal editors in North America and the U.K. was carried out. This article reports the results of this survey of particular interest are the language-related criteria which may most influence consideration of NNS researchers' papers. As a result of survey findings, implications and suggestions for the teaching of research writing to NNS researchers are discussed.

Toward a New Contrastive Rhetoric: Differences Between Arabic and Japanese Rhetorical Instruction

JOANNE D. LIEBMAN
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA

Contrastive rhetoric is being updated to accommodate the new process rhetoric. An expanded contrastive rhetoric focuses not only on finished written products, but on the contexts in which writing occurs and on the processes involved in its production. Two limitations exist in the early theory and research of contrastive rhetoric. First, contrastive rhetoricians had a narrow view of rhetoric, considering only the organization of finished texts. Second, they had a narrow view of Western rhetoric. After discussing these limitations and pointing out the need for a richer view of the contrasts between the rhetorics of different cultures, this article reports on a survey of Japanese and Arabic ESL students to investigate how writing is taught in different cultures. The survey reveals that rhetorical instruction does differ in these two cultures: In Japan, instruction emphasizes the expressive function of writing, whereas in Arab countries, it emphasizes the transactional function.

Volume 1, Number 3 (1992)

An L2 Writing Group: Task and Social Dimensions

GAYLE L. NELSON
JOHN M. MURPHY
Georgia State University, USA

Although peer writing groups are frequently used in ESL writing classes, little research has been conducted on what actually occurs in these groups. This study examined two aspects of L2 writing groups: the task dimension and the social dimension. Using a case-study methodology, we videotaped one L2 writing group for six consecutive weeks. The data collected included (a) the videotapes, (b) transcripts of the videotapes, (c) student compositions, (d) student dialogue journals, and (e) student interviews. Using transcripts of the six videotapes, coders divided the participants' utterances into thought groups. Using a modified version of Fanselow's (1987) classroom observation instrument, we then coded their thought groups using the following categories: study of language, life general knowledge, life personal knowledge, procedure, and format. Two trained raters independently coded the transcripts. An inter-coder reliability of .91 was determined by comparing their ratings. Results indicated that the percentage of utterances relating to study of language ranged from 70% to 80% and increased slightly across the six sessions. These findings suggest that students stayed on task by discussing each other's texts. To examine the group's social dimension (i.e., group dynamics), all data were examined. The literature on writing groups tends to idealize writing group interactions as writers constructively helping each other. This present analysis suggests otherwise. For example, one student was characterized by the group as the attacker because of her sharp, negative comments. Due, in part, to the attacker's critical comments, another student expressed dissatisfaction with the writing group.

Interpersonal Involvement in Discourse: Gender Variation in L2 Writers' Complimenting Strategies

DONNA M. JOHNSON
University of Arizona, USA

This article reports on the use of complimenting as an involvement strategy in peer-review texts. The analysis explores how L2 writers vary their complimenting style according to gender of addressee. The data base is a set of 35 peer-review papers written by advanced L2 women writers. Four complimenting strategies that have been found to contribute to a female-female style are analyzed: positive evaluation, intensifiers, personal referencing, and a framing strategy. For each strategy, a comparison is made between texts addressed to women and texts addressed to men. In addition, the audience accommodation strategies of the L2 writers are compared to those of L1 writers. Results reveal that although L2 writers used some aspects of the L1 writers' female-female complimenting style, they did not vary their language use according to gender of addressee to the degree or in the same ways that the L1 writers did. Implications for second language acquisition and for writing effectiveness are discussed.

Coaching Student Writers to Be Effective Peer Evaluators

JANE STANLEY
International University of Japan

Peer evaluation is used widely in the ESL classroom, although many teachers express reservations about the efficacy of this type of group work. Some of these complaints focus on students' tendencies to respond to surface problems at the expense of more substantive questions of meaning and to offer unhelpful or unconstructive advice to their classmates. Consideration of these complaints leads to questions about the way students are prepared to participate as peer evaluators. Students in this study are prepared for peer evaluation in a fairly lengthy coaching procedure, which includes role-playing and analyzing evaluation sessions, discovering "rules" for effective communication, and studying the genre of student writing. The subsequent peer-evaluation sessions are analyzed for evidence of the effectiveness of the coaching. Drafts are also analyzed for evidence of revision in response to peer evaluators' advice. As a backdrop to this coached group, another group of students is prepared for group work in a shorter, and more typical, procedure of watching a demonstration peer-evaluation session and then discussing it. These students' peer-evaluation sessions and drafts are also analyzed. The participants in this study who receive coaching demonstrate a greater level of student engagement in the task of evaluation, more productive communication about writing, and clearer guidelines for the revision of drafts.

ESL Student Response Stances in a Peer-Review Task

KATE MANGELSDORF
University of Texas-El Paso, USA
ANN SCHLUMBERGER
Pima College, USA

Peer reviews are commonly used in ESL composition classes to enable students to help each other improve their writing. However, little research has been conducted concerning how students actually respond to each other during review sessions and what these responses suggest about their assumptions concerning peer reviews and composition. In this exploratory study, we asked 60 ESL freshman composition students to respond in writing to an essay written the previous semester by another ESL student. We then examined the stances the students took toward the writer of the text, the characteristics of these stances, and what these stances suggest about the students' assumptions concerning written classroom discourse. We discerned three stances in the students' reviews: an "interpretive" stance, in which students imposed their own ideas about the topic onto the text; a "prescriptive" stance, in which students expected the text to follow a prescribed form; and a "collaborative" stance, in which students tried to see the text through the author's eyes. A majority of the students assumed a prescriptive stance, suggesting that they believed that correct form was more important than the communication of meaning. We conclude by discussing how our students' responses to their peers' texts can reflect characteristics of the collaborative stance.

Collaborative Oral/Aural Revision in Foreign Language Writing Instruction

JOHN HEDGCOCK
University of Houston, USA
NATALIE LEFKOWITZ
Michigan State University, USA

Although L1 and L2 writing research has demonstrated the positive effects of revision, few empirical studies have investigated the effects of a collaborative revision-based method in the foreign-language (FL) context. This investigation tests the hypothesis that a multistep, oral revision process carried out in the FL is measurably facilitative in developing basic composition skills and written fluency among adult learners. The study involves two groups of college-level learners of French (L1 = English) who were given two essay assignments, each requiring three separate drafts. In the control group, the instructor alone supplied written feedback; in the experimental group, revision took place in small groups, with participants reading their own papers aloud to their group partners, who responded orally according to a written protocol. Analysis of the final versions of the two essays collected from both groups showed that essays produced by the experimental group received significantly higher component and overall scores than those produced by the control group (p <.05). The findings suggest that systematic, collaborative revision produces in learners an awareness of the rhetorical structure of their own writing and an ability to self-correct surface errors, thereby helping them overcome inhibitions related to the formal aspects of writing.

ESL Essay Evaluation: The Influence of Sentence-level and Rhetorical Features

CAROL O. SWEEDLER-BROWN
San Diego State University, USA

This study compares the relative influences of rhetorical and sentence-level features on the holistic scores assigned by graders who are experienced English writing instructors but who are not trained in ESL. Six intermediate ESL essays were selected from a university developmental writing class in which NS and ESL students were mixed. These essays were transcribed with the ESL sentence-level errors corrected. Both the original and corrected essays were holistically scored by graders who had no ESL training. Graders also assigned analytic scores on two sentence-level and two rhetorical features of the essays. T-test analyses indicated a significant difference between the holistic scores of original and corrected essays. Correlation coefficients revealed that the analytic scores on the sentence-level features of sentence structure and grammar/mechanics correlated with holistic score. Analytic scores on the rhetorical features of organization and paragraph development showed no correlation with holistic scores in either the original or corrected essays. In this study, graders who were experienced writing instructors, but not trained in ESL, placed far more scoring emphasis on the ESL sentence-level errors in these essays than on the essays' strong rhetorical features.

Three Disk-Based Text Analyzers and the ESL Writer

MARK N. BROCK
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong

Among the variety of computer-based writing aids now available to ESL composition teachers, computerized text analysis is one of the most popular and controversial. As its name implies, computer text analysis utilizes computer technology to analyze text and offer suggestions for improvement. This article examines three popular disk-based text analyzers and considers their effectiveness in analyzing texts written by ESL student writers. Results of this examination raise doubts about the effectiveness of computer text analysis as a stand-alone revision aid for ESL writers. The programs examined sometimes offered incorrect advice and potentially could focus the user's attention on relatively trivial surface-level matters rather than more substantial meaning-level problems in need of revision. Teachers who use text analysis with ESL writers should be prepared to offer careful guidance in interpreting and using computer feedback productively.

Comparing Writing Process and Product Across Two Languages: A Study of 6 Singaporean University Student Writers

MARTHA C. PENNINGTON
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong
SUFUMI SO
Ontario Institute of Studies in Education, Canada

A number of studies have attempted to probe the writing process of skilled and unskilled native and nonnative speakers of English. However, very few investigations of the writing process of students learning other languages have been published to date. This article reports a study of 6 Singaporean university students as they produced written texts in Japanese and, for comparison, in their primary written language (English or Chinese). The study examines process and product data separately to see if any relationship exists between an individual writer's process skill and product quality in the two languages. The findings indicate no clear relationship between process and product data in either language, nor between written products in the two languages. At the same time, the investigation uncovers a similarity in writing process for individual subjects across the two languages and a relationship between general level of proficiency in Japanese and the quality of the subjects' written products in that language.

Examining L2 Composition Ideology: A Look at Literacy Education

SANDRA LEE MCKAY
San Francisco State University, USA

This article seeks to clarify the ideological assumptions that presently inform L2 composition research and pedagogy and to suggest several alternate assumptions. In clarifying L2 composition ideology, it is advantageous to consider literacy education. Specifically, the article discusses three widely accepted assumptions in literacy education, namely, that literacy is a social practice, that there exists a plurality of literacies, and that literacy educators must address issues of power. The implications of these assumptions for defining L2 composition ideology are then explored.

Volume 2, Number 2 (1993)

Entering a Disciplinary Community: Conceptual Activities Required to Write for One Introductory University Course

PAT CURRIE
Carleton University, Canada

Although previous research in both first and second language composition has called for the examination of the various intellectual or conceptual activities required for university content courses, this coil has gone largely unanswered. This article presents the results of a study of one introductory university course in Organizational Behaviour, a subcommunity or "forum" within the academic community of business studies. It analyzes the conceptual activities the students were required to carry out in order to write their weekly assignments and shows how these activities determined the nature of the expected discourse. The article argues that learning how to carry out such activities can be profitably transferred from the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classroom to university content classes. It suggests that nonnative-speaking (NNS) students can use these activities to explore their own disciplinary communities and thus facilitate their initiation into those communities. The results of this study also offer important implications for first and second language writing pedagogy as well as for course design and teaching assistant (TA) preparation in academic content classes.

The Design of an Automatic Analysis Program for L2 Text Research: Necessity and Feasibility

DANA R. FERRIS
California State University, Sacramento, USA

Several first and second language (L1 and L2) text researchers have recently utilized automatic analysis programs and computerized corpora to facilitate large-scale multivariate analyses of written discourse (e.g., Biber, 1988; Connor, 1990; Connor & Biber, 1989; Grabe, 1987; Grabe & Biber, 1987; Reid, 1990). Although it is clear that automated analyses make important quantitative research much more feasible, there is a potential problem with applying computer programs to L2 texts: Many lexical and syntactic features of L2 writing are in varying developmental stages, and programs created to analyze L1 texts in "target" form may underestimate and/or mislabel structures in L2 writing. This article explores the necessity for and feasibility of the design of a computer program specifically for the analysis of L2 texts. Using data from a large L2 text analysis (160 texts; 62 variables) in which automatic analysis was not used, it is demonstrated that a program designed for L1 texts would not be accurate enough to capture completely the structures used by L2 writers. Following this analysis, suggestions are made as to how an L2 text analysis program could be created and applied.

Perspectives on Plagiarism From ESL Students in Hong Kong

GLENN D. DECKERT
Hong Kong Baptist College

This inquiry aimed to discover how well students pursuing higher education in Hong Kong can recognize plagiaristic writing, in what terms they perceive it as inappropriate, and how they view students who plagiarize. The study included 170 first-year and 41 third-year Chinese students all majoring in fields of science in one of Hong Kong's tertiary-level institutions. A questionnaire was administered to the first-year students prior to any classroom mention of plagiarism. The results indicated these students had little familiarity with the Western notion of plagiarism and poor ability to recognize it. As for the inappropriateness of plagiarism, their chief concern was its detrimental effect on learning. They expressed less concern for the rights of the original writer or for the effect of plagiarism upon one's classmates, academic institution, or instructors. The questionnaire also determined that these students view persons who plagiarize as weak and lazy. On the other hand, third-year students were more able to recognize plagiarism and showed greater concern for the original writer and the issue of honesty. It is concluded that these first-year students need explicit orientation and training on how to avoid plagiarism when writing in a Western academic community.

The Writing of Southeast Asian-American Students in Secondary School and University

ELAINE TARONE
BRUCE DOWNING
ANDREW COHEN
SUSAN GILLETTE
ROBIN MURIE
University of Minnesota, USA
BEVERLY DAILEY
St. Paul Public Schools, USA

This article reports on a study of the English writing skills of Southeast Asian-American immigrant children in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and in 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade mainstream classes in a public secondary school in St. Paul, MN. Their writing is compared at each level and is also compared to the English writing of Southeast Asian-American immigrant students, international students, and native-speaking undergraduates at the University of Minnesota. All subjects wrote on the same topic, and scores on four writing traits (accuracy, fluency, coherence, and organization) were assigned to each essay. Results show that writing scores for the mainstreamed secondary students were the same at the 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade levels and were the same as the scores of the nonnative university students. Only the native-speaking university students obtained scores which were significantly better. For the public school subjects, a lower age on arrival, a lower grade at entry into the school system, and a higher number of years in the U.S. were all significantly correlated (p = .001) with success in the writing traits measured. Regression analysis indicated that age on arrival was a more important factor than number of years in the U.S. and grade at entry.

Volume 2, Number 3 (1993)

The Sociopolitical Implications of Response to Second Language and Second Dialect Writing

CAROL SEVERINO
University of Iowa, USA

In response to Terry Santos' (1992) "Ideology in Composition: L1 and ESL:" I argue that second language/English as a Second Language (L2/ESL) pedagogy is as politically charged as first language (L1) pedagogy, but its ideological implications need to be openly articulated and discussed-the purpose of this article. As classrooms become more multicultural and ESL students become more difficult to distinguish from non-ESL students, L1 and L2 pedagogies will begin to converge, possibly causing L2/ESL pedagogy to become more expressly political, but also causing L1 pedagogy to become more pragmatic. To demonstrate the political implications of L2/ESL pedagogy and to make connections with L1 pedagogy, I offer a continuum of responses to second language and second dialect writing, based on teachers' political stances on linguistic and cultural assimilation. The three response stances, related to those from ethnic studies, sociolinguistics, and L1 composition, are the separatist, accommodationist, and assimilationist. This response continuum is then used to analyze actual and hypothetical responses to the writing of {a) an ESL international student, (b) an ESL bicultural student, and (c) a Standard English as a Second Dialect (SESD) student.

The Implications of Cognitive Models in L1 and L2 Writing

JOANNE DEVINE
Skidmore College, USA
KEVIN RAILEY 
State University of New York, College at Buffalo, USA
PHILIP BOSHOFF
Skidmore College, USA

Research has suggested that metacognition is composed. of three general dimensions: knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition, and the use of compensatory strategies when cognition fails. The first dimension, knowledge of cognition, can be further divided into three types: personal, task, and strategy variables. Knowledge of these variables is highly interactive in successful task performance, and taken together they constitute an individual's cognitive model of a cognitive task. Although research has investigated the role of metacognition, particularly the impact of cognitive models, in first language (L1) and second language (L2) reading performance, to date there has been little research in writing-L1 or L2-about the role of metacognition If generally or the impact of cognitive models on task performance more specifically. The current study reports on the role of cognitive models in L1 and L2 writing. Twenty first-year college students-10 L1 basic writers and 10 L2 writers from various language backgrounds-were surveyed to elicit information concerning their notions about personal, task, and strategy variables in writing. Based on their responses, writers were determined to possess various cognitive models of writing. Subjects' writing samples were evaluated holistically; further evaluation determined compositional and grammatical proficiency. Analysis reveals that L1 basic and L2 writers hold different cognitive models and perform differently on writing tasks, suggesting that cognitive models have important implications for writing task performance.

A Critical Examination of Word Processing Effects in Relation to L2 Writers

MARTHA C. PENNINGTON
City Polytechnic of Hong Kong

This article offers an assessment of the effects of word processing with reference to writers for whom English is a second language. A review of the findings reported in the published literature on the application of word processing in English first language (L1) and second language (L2) composition leads to an attempt to find explanations for the conflicting results of different studies. Method and context effects are identified which help to account for the differential findings. These effects are attributable to variation across studies in one or more of the following variables: (a) the nature of the students, (b) the abilities and attitudes of the teachers, (c) the setting for computer use, (d) the time span of the implementation, (e) the type and amount of instruction offered in writing and in word processing, (f) the nature of particular word processing software and hardware, and (g) the measures used for assessing the effects and effectiveness of the implementation. It is concluded that word processing can be of value for nonnative writers if it is employed under certain conditions, and recommendations are offered for research with such populations.

Computers, Revision, and ESL Writers: The Role of Experience

MARIANNE PHINNEY
SANDRA KHOURI
University of Texas at El Paso, USA

Four advanced English as a Second Language (ESL) writers enrolled in a second-semester university composition class were observed while they used a computer to write and revise a paper on an assigned topic. The writers were selected for English proficiency (high vs. low) and computer writing experience (one semester vs. two or more semesters). Each student was videotaped for two sessions of writing and revising the paper. The tapes were transcribed and scored using an adaptation of the categories described by Faigley and Witte (1984). The results indicated that experience with the computer was a stronger factor than writing proficiency in determining computer writing strategies. The two inexperienced computer users spent less time revising, made more surface changes, and used the computer functions less than the experienced computer users. In post taping interviews, the experienced users also showed a greater concern for content than did the inexperienced users, who indicated apprehension about using the computer and concern for correctness.

Discourse, Artifacts, and the Ozarks: Understanding Academic Literacy

LINDA LONON BLANTON
University of New Orleans, USA

As we teachers of ESL reading and writing continue our discussions about preparing second language (L2) students for the academic mainstream, we find ourselves on a theoretical and pedagogical frontier that is largely uncharted. In essence, we seem to be moving rapidly toward a broader social view of language with hardly a border check as we cross from one paradigm to another. In order to understand where we are headed and why we should venture there, it seems important to survey the landscape and consider the potential ahead. My survey proceeds as follows: (1) I wrestle with the notion of academic discourse community, for without it we cannot understand or even posit a concept of academic literacy; (2) in light of the socially constructed nature of an academic literacy, I argue for a different way of framing the questions we need to answer as we compose our ESL classes; (3) I discuss the role of personal experience in learning, language acquisition, and academic writing and reading, a role that I claim is essential; and (4) I end with an assessment of the implications for the ESL classroom.

Writing Groups: Cross-Cultural Issues

JOAN G. CARSON
GAYLE L. NELSON
Georgia State University, USA

It may appear that writing groups, used in many English as a Second Language (ESL) composition classrooms, would be familiar to ESL students from collectivist cultures where group work is common in school both as a means of knowledge acquisition and as a vehicle for reinforcing the group ethic. However, writing groups may be problematic for students from collectivist cultures (e.g., Japan, the People's Republic of China) in at least three ways. First, writing groups, as used in composition classes in the U.S., function differently than groups in collectivist cultures: instead of functioning for the good of the collective, writing groups more often function for the benefit of the individual writer. Second, as a result of the dynamics of ingroup relationships in collectivist cultures, ESL students may be concerned primarily with maintaining group harmony at the expense of providing their peers with needed feedback on their composition drafts. Finally, the dynamics of outgroup relationships for ESL students from collectivist cultures may result in behavior that is hostile, strained, and competitive-behavior that is likely to work against effective group interactions.

Process Approaches in ESL/EFL Writing Instruction

BERNARD SUSSER
Doshisha Women's Junior College, Japan

Process has been an important and sometimes contentious concept in both first language (L1) and English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) writing instruction. This article attempts to resolve this contention by defining process approaches and examining their role in ESL/EFL writing instruction. The article first discusses three different meanings of process, showing that the term is not the name of a writing theory, and then describes the two main elements of process writing pedagogies, awareness and intervention. The ESL/EFL writing literature is analyzed to show how process approaches have been accepted in ESL/EFL composition. Finally, this article discusses some problems in implementing process writing pedagogies in ESL/EFL writing instruction.

Examining Expert Judgments of Task Difficulty on Essay Tests

LIZ HAMP-LYONS
University of Colorado, Denver, USA
SHEILA PROCHNOW MATHIAS
Associacao Alumni, Sao Paolo, Brazil

The question to which the writer must respond (commonly called the prompt) is a key variable of an essay test, and research to date has produced conflicting positions on this variable's influence. Essay scorers, and language teachers who prepare students for writing tests, often claim not only that some prompts are harder than others, but also to know which are harder and which are easier. This study investigated these "expert" judgments of prompt difficulty in order to discover whether such judgments could be used as a source of information at the item-writing stage of test development. The results of the study show that "expert judges" share considerable agreement about prompt difficulty, prompt task type, and difficulty of prompt task type. However, the patterns shown by the score data ran in a direction which was the reverse of that predicted by the "expert" judgments. The findings contradict common assumptions in both testing and teaching practice and suggest that close investigation of "expert judges"' assumptions about tasks and other important variables of essay tests can be a valuable research tool in understanding more about test design and test difficulty.

Volume 3, Number 2 (1994)

Evaluating ESL Students' Performance on Proficiency Exams

MARY K. RUETTEN
University of New Orleans, USA

Research suggests that English as a Second Language (ESL) students have difficulty passing holistically scored proficiency exams. To determine why, researchers have investigated the role of error in regular coursework and exams, the nature of the exam and scoring procedure used, and students' writing processes. This study investigates the success of ESL students as compared to native English-speaking (NES) students on an institutional exit proficiency exam. It also compares the source of success (the exam or the appeals folder, a portfolio of writing done during the semester) and the number of attempts required by ESL students and NES students to pass the exam/course. The results indicate that ESL students are twice as likely as NES students to fail the exam, but they compensate for their failure by passing the appeal, giving ESL and NES students a comparable pass rate in the course. In addition, the results show no significant difference in the number of times the two groups attempt the exam/course. This research suggests that holistically scored proficiency exams are difficult for ESL students and that some form of portfolio assessment may be more valid to judge their writing. Suggestions for improving evaluations of ESL writing include training non-ESL faculty to evaluate ESL error during holistic readings.

Journal Writing in the Training of International Teaching Assistants

ISOBEL STEVENSON
University of South Africa, USA
SUSAN JENKINS
University of Cincinnati, USA

Research in international teaching assistant (ITA) training suggests that four areas of competence are critical for success, namely language proficiency, cross-cultural communication skills, teaching skills, and personal and institutional support. Journal writing has been used as a technique for developing language skills, learning course content, and reflecting on educational and personal experiences. Although journal writing has not been widely used in ITA training programs, the uses to which it has been put in other contexts seems to mirror the needs of ITAs in training. This article reports a case study involving a detailed content analysis of the daily journal writing of 20 ITAs to determine whether journal writing could contribute to the previously identified needs of ITAs. Results showed that the students' major focus of concern was language proficiency and the resulting stress in their daily lives. The majority of students approved the assignment and benefited from journal writing, particularly in developing confidence and fluency in language use, and as an outlet for stress management. However, there was little evidence that the instructor's expectations for reflective or analytical journal writing were met. Suggestions for modifying the assignment to appeal to differing student backgrounds and to encourage greater reflectivity are made.

Speaking of Writing: Some Functions of Talk in the ESL Composition Class

BOB WEISSBERG
New Mexico State University, USA

The social interactionist view of emergent literacy holds that a learner's early attempts at writing are grounded in speech and, therefore, that the development of written language is best fostered within a supportive conversational environment. Many second language (L2) teachers recognize that an interactive classroom also benefits L2 writers by providing them with an enhanced oral language environment in which to develop literacy skills. However, the specific roles that oral discourse plays in the L2 writing classroom are not well understood. This article explores the functions of oral language in university English as a Second Language (ESL) composition classes. A case study is reported describing instructional discourse in five ESL writing classes. A set of discourse categories is employed that analyzes classroom conversation specifically as it relates to writing. Findings indicate relatively little classroom talk devoted to topic invention and development or to oral rehearsal of potential written text. The majority of teachers' speech moves functioned either to give direct instruction or to analyze already written texts. Results also point to the critical role that transmission-style instruction and textbook use play in determining the oral discourse characteristics of composition classes. Finally, techniques are suggested through which ESL writing teachers can better manage the role that talk plays in their composition classes and allow for a greater range of classroom discourse styles to best fit their instructional goals. 

Feedback on Feedback: Assessing Learner Receptivity to Teacher Response in L2 Composing

JOHN HEDGCOCK
Monterey Institute of International Studies, USA
NATALIE LEFKOWITZ
Central Washington University, USA

Writing research has generated impressive empirical data on composing processes, including text production, recursive procedures, and the contribution of feedback to revision. Second language (L2) intervention studies further indicate that certain forms of teacher feedback affect text quality more positively than others. Mixed findings suggest that we should look beyond the written product to explore the cognitive effects of intervention as they influence the mediational processes of text construction and modification. Few studies have accounted for learner reactions to teacher intervention behaviors which impact emerging composing skills and ultimate proficiency. This study focuses on the following research questions: (1) How do L2 learners react when they receive teacher feedback? (2) How do these responses affect the evolution of students' perception of text quality and their composing processes? (3) Do English as a Second Language (ESL) and foreign language (FL) learners differ systematically in terms of self-appraisal patterns and responses to feedback? Quantitative data based on an analysis of an in-depth survey of 247 basic L2 (110 ESL and 137 FL) writers' responses to feedback conventions employed by their composition instructors are presented. The findings provide insight into teacher behaviors which function positively and negatively as apprentice writers create and modify text.

Volume 3, Number 3 (1994)

Language Development in Students' Journals

CHRISTINE PEARSON CASANAVE
Keio University, Japan

In this article, I examine changes in the writing of a small group of intermediate English students over three semesters of their intensive language program in Japan. The purpose of the study was to find concrete ways that language development could be demonstrated in students' journal writing, in the absence of testing and systematic instruction in writing, grammar, or vocabulary. T-unit analysis demonstrated that the writing of all the students changed over time, but in a variety of ways not necessarily predicted by the T-unit research. The same individual diversity was revealed with simple measures of coordination and vocabulary. Samples of the students' writing demonstrate that improvement cannot be measured only quantitatively through group averages, but that it must be identified in a variety of ways that differ for individual writers. I conclude that the notion of "improvement" needs to be reconceptualized and that students need to be convinced of the many ways that their English can improve.

Explanatory Variables for Japanese Students' Expository Writing in English: An Exploratory Study

KEIKO HIROSE
Aichi Prefectural University, Japan
MIYUKI SASAKI
Nagoya Gakuin University, Japan

The present study investigated the relationship between Japanese students' English L2 expository writing and several factors that might influence the quality of the writing product. Nineteen Japanese university students provided both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative analysis showed that the students' L2 proficiency and L1 writing ability accounted for a large proportion of variances in L2 writing quality. The finding that L1 writing ability was highly correlated with L2 writing ability is important because it suggests the existence of composing competence across L1 and L2 even for EFL students. There was also a significant interaction between this composing competence and L2 proficiency. Qualitative analysis suggested that the students' composing competence was related to: (a) use of several good writers' strategies, (b) writing fluency, and (c) confidence in writing. Furthermore, probably due to the input-poor EFL environment, the amount of self-initiated L2 writing experiences seemed to play an important role in determining students' L2 writing quality.

Guidelines for Designing Writing Prompts: Clarifications, Caveats, and Cautions

BARBARA KROLL
California State University, Northridge, USA
JOY REID
University of Wyoming, USA

Regardless of the pedagogy of any given writing program, in the academic world, students are frequently evaluated on the basis of writing products they produce in response to various writing topics in a variety of circumstances. In testing situations, the stimulus for the student to respond to is referred to as a prompt. Special consideration should attend the preparation of writing prompts when there is a significant number of test-takers who are nonnative speakers of English. Writing prompts must be carefully prepared by test developers so that the student has the best possible chance to demonstrate accurately his or her true level of writing skills. This article proposes that there are six categories that test developers must consider and control as they develop appropriate prompt items: contextual variables, content variables, linguistic variables, task variables, rhetorical variables, and evaluation variables. Using a variety of examples from topics developed for the Test of Written English (TWE) and for other testing purposes, we show step by step how to distinguish between well-developed prompts and problematic ones by detailed exploration of each of these six variables.

Peer Response Groups in ESL Writing Classes: How Much Impact on Revision?

ULLA CONNOR
KAREN ASENAVAGE
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, USA

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of peer responses on subsequent revisions, comparing comments from the teacher with other sources. The revisions in essays from two groups of freshmen ESL students were evaluated over several drafts. The peer collaboration was audiotaped; written comments by the teacher or others were noted. Faigley and Witte's (1981) taxonomy of revisions was used to identify the types of revisions: surface or text-based. There are six specific types of revisions in each of these broad categories. The results show that the students made many revisions but that few of these were the result of direct peer group response. Students who made the greatest number of changes made predominantly more text-based changes. Students who made fewer changes generally made more surface changes. The results of this research raise questions regarding group formation and types of modeling done for group work.

Assertions and Alternatives: Helping ESL Undergraduates Extend Their Choices in Academic Writing

DESMOND ALLISON
The University of Hong Kong

English as a second language (ESL) undergraduates in various educational contexts are likely to make assertions in their writing that experienced academic readers judge to be unwarranted or unnecessary, or to qualify their assertions in ways that appear inappropriate to subject lecturers and ESL teachers. After reviewing reasons why this should be so, this article presents and discusses short extracts from essays written by first-year undergraduates following an ESL-medium humanities curriculum at the University of Hong Kong. Some of the choices of wording carried what were apparently unintended consequences for knowledge claims and relations with readers. Class and tutorial feedback sessions on students' essays looked into ways in which a writer's factual or evaluative claims might be advanced, qualified, or assumed in linguistic choices from word to sentence level and beyond. The suggestion is made that, in a "general" academic-purpose context, focused explorations of warding can begin to relate writers' textual choices to questions that matter in academic communication.

Designing and Assessing Effective Classroom Writing Assignments for NES and ESL Students

JOY REID
University of Wyoming, USA
BARBARA KROLL
California State University, Northridge, USA

Academic writing is a form of testing; moreover, for most writing tasks across the U.S. college/university curriculum, the designer of the writing assignment is also the audience and the evaluator, and that designer-evaluator expects student-writers to demonstrate specific knowledge and skills. Therefore, like all test designers, designers of writing assignments should carefully consider the purpose(s), the parameters and constraints, and the evaluation criteria for each writing assignment. In this article, we discuss a range of issues in the design and assessment of classroom writing tasks assigned in courses across the U.S. college/university curriculum. We use a framework we designed previously to discuss the preparation and evaluate the design of writing tasks. We then analyze successful and unsuccessful writing across the curriculum assignments, particularly from the perspective of English as a second language writers, and offer suggestions that will enable teachers to design and assess effective writing tasks.

Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Proficiency Exams, and the NNS College Student

MICHAEL JANOPOULOS
University of Northern Iowa, USA

The growing trend in American universities toward establishing stricter standards of writing proficiency is an issue that directly affects students who are nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English. Traditionally, institutions have attempted to address NNS writing needs through a variety of means, including special composition courses and Writing Center-based tutorial assistance. However, the adequacy of such methods is now being tested as NNS students attempt to satisfy new and presumably more stringent institutional writing requirements. In brief, where it may once have been possible for NNS students to graduate without being expected to write as often--or as well--as students who are native English speakers (NESs), today's Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programs mandate (theoretically, at least) that they be held to the same standards of writing proficiency as native speakers. This article explores issues concerning instruction and evaluation of NNS students in institutions employing WAC programs. It examines faculty expectations of NNS writing quality, NNS performance on Writing Proficiency Exams, and support options available to NNS students, and concludes that NNS students are being held to o double standard that places them at risk. Finally, it discusses alternatives for recognizing and dealing with discrepancies in WAC policies and practices on both the individual and institutional levels.

Objective Measurement of Low-Proficiency EFL Narrative Writing

SANDRA ISHIKAWA
Osaka University, Japan

Two groups of low-proficiency English as a foreign language students were given different practice tasks (writing out or answering questions about the same picture stories) in order to determine which task type was more related to increase in writing proficiency. One task forced a holistic approach, while the other allowed students to focus on shorter, unconnected segments. Since no suitable objective measures for low-proficiency levels have been established, 24 measures and a high criterion level for significance (p < .001) were used. The class which practiced writing out picture stories (the holistic approach) showed more improvement. To determine which of these objective measures would best discriminate between extremely low and extremely close levels of second language writing, the data obtained in this study were reanalyzed. Scores for each student on each measure were converted to z scores and summed. The sums were correlated with scores on each of the 24 measures to determine which measures showed the highest and most reliable correlations with the z-score sums. The best measure was found to be total words in error-free clauses. The next-best measure was the number of error-free clauses per composition. These measures discriminate well among samples of low-proficiency writing.

Volume 4, Number 2 (1995)

Teachers' Conceptions of Second Language Writing Instruction: Five Case Studies

LING SHI
ALISTER CUMMING
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada

We interviewed five experienced instructors weekly about their ESL writing classes in selected courses over 2 years at a Canadian university, aiming to document the qualities of their thinking about their pedagogical practices as well as the ways in which three of the teachers' thinking accommodated a specific instructional innovation. Analyses of 48 tape-recorded interviews showed each instructor's conceptions to be highly consistent in their individual, expressed views about their teaching practices but also individually grounded in a specific set of personal beliefs about teaching ESL writing. The instructors using the pedagogical innovation focused much of their attention initially on composing processes (seemingly in response to the innovation). This focus then declined markedly over time as they incorporated the innovation into their existing beliefs about teaching ESL writing. These findings suggest that curricular changes in second language writing necessarily need to be situated in reference to the individual qualities of teachers' pedagogical conceptions as well as long-term views on the accommodation of pedagogical change.

L2 Writers and the Writing Center: A National Survey of Writing Center Conferencing at Graduate Institutions

JUDITH K. POWERS
JANE V. NELSON
University of Wyoming, USA

Writing centers have become increasingly important resources for L2 academic writers across the United States. This article reports and analyzes the results of a survey of writing centers at 75 graduate institutions nationwide regarding their work with L1 and L2 graduate writers. It discusses the kinds of L2 writers writing centers serve, the training of writing center staff for L2 conferencing, the types of assistance L2 writers most frequently request, the differences writing centers perceive in working with L1 and L2 graduate writers, and the difficulties they encounter in meeting the needs of L2 clientele. Survey results suggest that collaborative efforts between ESL and writing center specialists, particularly in the area of tutor training, would greatly increase the benefits of writing center conferencing for L2 writers.

The Relationship of Lexical Proficiency to the Quality of ESL Compositions

CHERYL A. ENGBER
Northeast Missouri State University, USA

The extent to which impartial readers take into account lexical richness and lexical errors when assigning a quality score to compositions written by learners in an intensive English program is discussed in this article. For placement purposes into both ESL programs and academic programs, the writing of these students is often assessed by anonymous readers who base their judgments on timed writing tasks. Much remains to be known, however, about the relationship between language proficiency, specifically lexical proficiency, and reader judgments of the overall quality of timed essays. This study reports on the role of the lexical component as one factor in holistic scoring. Sixty-six placement essays written by students from mixed language backgrounds in the intermediate to advanced range of an intensive English program were holistically scored. These quality scores were then compared to four lexical richness measures: lexical variation, error-free variation, percentage of lexical error, and lexical density. High, significant correlations were found for (a) lexical variation, that is, the ratio of the number of different lexical items to the total number of lexical items in the essay adjusted to length; and (b) lexical variation minus error. The latter measure, error-free variation, correlated best with score.

ESL Composition Program Administration in the United States

JESSICA WILLIAMS
University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

A survey of 78 colleges and universities was conducted (a) to ascertain the degree to which native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) are instructed separately in composition classes, and (b) to discover what kinds of instructors generally teach the NNS composition courses. Results show that academic NNS composition classes are still generally isolated from NS composition programs and that they continue to be viewed as remedial at many institutions. In addition, a well-prepared, permanent staff for the NNS courses appears to be the exception rather than the rule. Most instructors are hired part-time and from term to term, often with limited experience in teaching writing to this population. Suggestions are given for improvements in teacher preparation and modification of instructional strategies.

Volume 4, Number 3 (1995)

Reexamining the Affective Advantage of Peer Feedback in the ESL Writing Class

SHUQIANG ZHANG
University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA

Various arguments have been made on affective grounds to justify peer feedback in teaching composition in English as a first language (L1). Those arguments have had considerable influence on the teaching of English as a second language (ESL) writing. Based upon current assumptions about the affective values of teacher-, peer-, and self-directed feedback, hypotheses were formulated concerning the relative appeal of the three types of feedback in the ESL writing process. Eighty-one academically oriented ESL learners who had experienced the three types of feedback responded to a questionnaire, and their preferences were statistically analyzed. The results show that claims made about the affective advantage of peer feedback in L1 writing do not apply to ESL writing. ESL students overwhelmingly prefer teacher feedback. The findings are discussed in conjunction with the larger issue of the appropriateness of L1 writing theories as guidelines for ESL writing research and instruction.

A Contrarian View of Dialogue Journals: The Case of a Reluctant Participant

VICKI LO HOLMES
MARGARET RO MOULTON
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA

Dialogue journal writing has become a much heralded activity by researchers and practitioners alike, yet few studies explore the efficacy of this practice from the students' perspective. Still fewer studies examine the benefits of dialogue journal writing with adult English as a second language (ESL) students in a university setting. This study reports the case of Dang, one of 21 university ESL students who participated in an ethnographic study exploring students' perspectives on dialogue journal writing. Dang's case is described because he represents a view contrary to currently made claims about the benefits of dialogue journal writing. While Dang benefited from and enjoyed formal writing assignments, he resisted and disliked the informal writing of the dialogue journals. Implications from the case of Dang suggest the need for researchers and practitioners to consider students' perspectives when employing nontraditional writing assignments like dialogue journal writing. 

The Use of Metadiscourse in Good and Poor ESL Essays

PUANGPEN INTARAPRAWAT
MARGARET S. STEFFENSEN
Illinois State University, USA

A text is composed of two parts: propositional content and metadiscourse features. Metadiscourse features are those facets of a text which make the organization of the text explicit, provide information about the writer's attitude toward the text content, and engage the reader in the interaction. In this study, we analyze the metadiscourse in persuasive essays written by English as a second language (ESL) university students. Half of the essays received good ratings and half received poor ratings. Differences between the two sets were found in the number of words, number of T-units, and density of metadiscourse features. When features were analyzed as a proportion of number of T-units, differences were found in all categories. Furthermore, the good essays showed a greater variety of metadiscourse features within each category than the poor essays. It is proposed that skilled writers have an awareness of the needs of their readers and control the strategies for making their texts more considerate and accessible to the reader. Poor writers, on the other hand, are not able to generate considerate texts.

NNS Performance on Writing Proficiency Exams: Focus on Students Who Failed

PATRICIA BYRD
GAYLE NELSON
Georgia State University, USA

An increasing number of U.S. universities require students to pass a writing proficiency examination before receiving undergraduate degrees. It is often assumed that these exams present special problems for nonnative speakers of English (NNSs). Johns (1991) reported on a case study of one student's difficulties with a writing proficiency exam. The student performed well in other courses but failed the required writing exam twice-and had not passed it prior to publication of the study. In our study, academic records of 191 NNSs who took a writing examination in 1991 were analyzed to assess their performance on the writing examination at Georgia State University (GSU). In addition, profiles of the students who failed were compiled, in part to determine how common the type of student profiled by Johns is at GSU. Of the original 191 NNSs, 16 were shown in the Registrar's record keeping system as still not having passed the writing exam by December 1994. The analysis shows that only 3 of these 16 students closely match the Johns profile. Of the remaining 13, 4 have C averages and 9 have failing grade point averages (GPAs). For these nine, failing the writing exam is part of an overall pattern of academic difficulty. Questions remain about the relationship between English proficiency and academic preparation and about responsibilities for academically weak students.

Chinese Students' Perceptions of ESL Peer Response Group Interaction 

JOAN G. CARSON
GAYLE L. NELSON
Georgia State University, USA

This study investigated Chinese students' interaction styles and reactions to one particular pedagogic technique: peer response groups in ESL composition classes. In a microethnographic study, three peer response groups in an advanced ESL composition class were videotaped for 6 consecutive weeks. After videotaping, the interviewers met with individual Chinese-speaking (n = 3) and Spanish-speaking (n = 2) group members. The Spanish-speaking students were interviewed in order to have a point of comparison. In each of the sessions, the interviewer and the student viewed the videotapes of the peer response group in which the student had participated and discussed the group's interactions. The interviews were audiotaped, and the tapes were transcribed. The transcripts from the interviews were examined recursively by the researchers; merging patterns or theses were noted; the data were analyzed again using these themes as coding categories; and the data were organized according to these codes. This analysis yielded a description of the key Informants' perceptions of their construction of peer response group interaction. The analysis indicated that the Chinese students' primary goal for the groups was social-to maintain group harmony-and that this goal affected the nature and types of interaction they allowed themselves in group discussions. The Chinese students were reluctant to initiate comments and, when they did, monitored themselves carefully so as not to precipitate conflict within the group. This self-monitoring led them to avoid criticism of peers' work and to avoid disagreeing with comments about peers' or their own writing.

Audience and Voice in Current L1 Composition Texts: Some Implications for ESL Student Writers

VAI RAMANATHAN
University of Alabama, USA
ROBERT B. KAPLAN
University of Southern California, USA

Many freshman writing programs use an inductive approach to writing instruction. Students are encouraged to discover form in the process of writing. This approach views the acquisition of writing skills as a tacit, unconscious process we find problematic for students whose first language is not English. Drawing from 10 widely used freshman writing textbooks, our study demonstrates the problem of implicitness which exists in regard to two notions central to writing instruction in the United States: "voice" and "audience." Both notions, as presented in these textbooks, are predicated on a set of assumptions that do not translate well in L2 classrooms because they draw heavily on shared cultural knowledge that is often inaccessible to non-native students. Our article calls attention to ways in which textbook presentations of these concepts disadvantage L2 student writers. We propose that a discipline-oriented approach to freshman composition will facilitate an easier grasp of these concepts. Such an approach will expose students to the particularities of specific disciplines and provide a more clearly defined discourse community within which to form their views and responses. Knowing for whom they write will create a clearer sense of audience for these students and enable them to present clearer and strongly individualized voices.

ESL Writing Assessment Prompts: How Students Choose

CHARLENE POLIO
MARGO GLEW
Michigan State University, USA

This qualitative study examines how ESL students choose a prompt from several options on a timed-writing exam. This issue is worth investigating for several reasons: Little is known about the writing process on timed-writing tests; previous quantitative attempts to examine factors affecting student choice have been inconclusive; and opinions vary on whether or not students should be given a choice. Twenty-six students were observed taking a writing exam and were interviewed upon completion. We conclude that students spend little time making a decision; that several factors including their own background knowledge, question type, and specificity of the topic influence their decision; that attention to the time factor is an overriding consideration. 

Peer Revision in the L2 Classroom: Social-Cognitive Activities, Mediating Strategies, and Aspects of Social Behavior

OLGA S. VILLAMIL
MARIA C. M. DE GUERRERO
Inter American University of Puerto Rico

Little is known about what actually happens when two L2 students are involved in peer revision of written texts. This article reports the results of a study conducted among Spanish-speaking students in Puerto Rico which sought to investigate (a) the kind of revision activities students engage in while working in pairs, (b) the strategies peers employ in order to facilitate the revision process, and (c) significant aspects of social behavior in dyadic peer revision. The participants were 54 intermediate ESL college students enrolled in a writing course. Interactions between pairs of students during two revision sessions were recorded and transcribed. Analysis of the transcripts yielded seven types of social-cognitive activities the students engaged in (reading, assessing, dealing with trouble sources, composing, writing comments, copying, and discussing task procedures), five different mediating strategies used to facilitate the revision process (employing symbols and external resources, using the L1, providing scaffolding, resorting to interlanguage knowledge, and vocalizing private speech), and four significant aspects of social behavior (management of authorial control, affectivity, collaboration, and adopting reader/writer roles). Results reveal an extremely complex interactive process as well as highlight the importance of activating and enhancing cognitive processes through social interaction in the L2 writing classroom.

Volume 5, Number 2 (1996)

ESL Students in First-Year Writing Courses: ESL Versus Mainstream Classes

GEORGE BRAINE
Chinese University of Hong Kong

In first-year writing courses, ESL students are usually mainstreamed or placed in specially designated ESL classes. Although ESL writing specialists, backed by research into second language writing, strongly advocate the placement of ESL students in ESL classes, mainstreaming appears to be the norm. This article is based on a year-long study conducted at a medium-size university where ESL students have the option of mainstreaming or enrolling in ESL classes in first-year writing courses. The study describes the preferences of ESL students for ESL or mainstream classes, their performance on a holistically scored exit examination, and the reasons for the high rate of withdrawal of ESL students from mainstream classes. The study shows that the majority of ESL students preferred to enroll in ESL classes and performed better on the exit exam in these classes.

Verbal Reports of Japanese Novices' Research Writing Practices in English

HUGH GOSDEN
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

This article presents interview data from a group of Japanese novice researchers who were asked to comment on their writing practices in preparing their first scientific research articles to be published in English. The verbal reports and subsequent commentary and analysis provide insights into cross-cultural aspects of academic writing from a social-constructionist perspective under the headings: (a) the construction of NNS novices' research article drafts; (b) translation from L1 to L2; (c) revision in response to external critique and the concept of audience. To better understand the language and subculture of the scientific community, findings stress the importance for both EAP practitioners and for NNS novices of feeding relevant background literature from the fields of sociopragmatics and the sociology of science into advanced courses in English for Academic Purposes. 

U.S. Academic Readers, ESL Writers, and Second Sentences

Joy REID
University of Wyoming, USA

Traditionally, ESL writing teachers have taught the concept of the topic sentence to introduce academic paragraphs. However, ESL students frequently develop paragraphs that do not fulfill the expectations of native English speaker (NES) readers proffered by the topic sentence. Recent writing-reading connection research suggests that different contextual and rhetorical schemata may result in ineffective ESL written communication. This article describes exploratory research focusing on the sentence that immediately follows the topic sentence in an American-English paragraph and seeks to answer the following: Can second sentences be (a) consistently predicted by experienced NES readers; (b) successfully predicted and written by inexperienced and/or experienced NES student writers; (c) successfully predicted and written by inexperienced ESL student writers? Results indicated that whereas NES inexperienced writers sometimes used unexpected, inappropriate second sentences, NESs were able to appropriately predict the "expected" second sentences nearly twice as often as ESL writers. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

Do English and ESL Faculty Differ in Evaluating the Essays of Native English-Speaking and ESL Students?

BAILIN SONG
ISABELLA CARUSO
City University of New York-Kingsborough, USA

This study investigates the degree to which differences exist in the rating of two NES and two ESL essays by 32 English and 30 ESL professors in the English Department of CUNY's Kingsborough campus. The two faculty groups were divided into subgroups, one rating the four essays holistically on a 1 to 6 scale and the other rating them on a 1 to 6 scale but in light of 10 specifically categorized features, 6 comprising rhetorical and 4 language features. The results indicated that in holistic evaluation, English and ESL faculty raters differed significantly, with English faculty assigning higher scores to all four essay samples. In analytic evaluation, the two groups did not evidence significant differences in rating the specifically categorized features. Raters with more years of experience in teaching and holistic evaluation tended to be more lenient in their holistic evaluation, whereas with respect to analytic evaluation, experience in the two areas was not an influencing factor. Also, in holistic evaluation, English faculty seemed to give greater weight to the overall content and quality of the rhetorical features in the writing samples than they did to language use.

Volume 5, Number 3 (1996)

Tutoring Second Language Text Revision: Does the Approach to Instruction or the Language of Communication Make a Difference?

ALISTER CUMMING
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada
SUFUMI SO
Carnegie Mellon University, USA

This study describes the dynamics of problem solving through spoken discourse in one-to-one tutoring of second language writing, aiming to determine if these processes might vary according to the instructional approach or the language of communication utilized. We tutored 20 adult students of English as a second language (ESL) in 4 sessions of text revision on 4 similar compositions they had written, alternating these sessions between provision of (a) conventional error correction versus procedural facilitation and (b) use of the second language (English) or learners' mother tongues (Cantonese, Japanese, and Mandarin)-forming a 2 (Approach to tutoring) x 2 (Language of communication) factorial design. The discourse of tutoring seems to have been highly normative in this context, sequenced into transactions of problem identification, negotiation, and resolution that did not vary appreciably across any of the conditions for tutoring. Tutors' and students' cooperative efforts to solve problems in the students' draft compositions focused primarily on local levels of the compositions (i.e., grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation), guided mainly by the tutors' decision making, in all of the experimental conditions. This finding parallels what has been found in most previous studies of text revision. However, individual tutors tended to differ from one another in the extent to which they solicited students' input to the discourse, suggesting this is an important factor to be considered in future studies of the impact of tutoring on ESL students' writing.

Explaining Hong Kong Students' Response to Process Writing: An Exploration of Causes and Outcomes

MARTHA C. PENNINGTON
MARK N. BROCK
FRANCIS YUE
City University of Hong Kong

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate student reactions to the attempt on the part of their English teacher, a native Cantonese speaker, to apply the innovation of process writing in 3 multiple-lesson units. Answers to a questionnaire revealed a variable reaction to the units across 8 classes of Cantonese-speaking secondary-school students. For two groups in academically achieving all-girl classes, the experience was judged as positive, for two in lower achieving mixed-gender classes as negative, and for the four other classes as mixed positive and negative. The teacher judged at the beginning of the project to hove had the most positive attitude toward process writing taught the students who evaluated the experience as most positive. The class that evaluated the experience as most negative had the teacher judged at the outset as having been most conflicted about process writing. There is evidence that in the two classes where the students had the most positive reaction the teacher made a fuller adoption of the process approach than in the two classes where students had the most negative reaction. In the former, the teacher integrated elements of process writing into an overall teaching routine, whereas in the latter, the focus was on traditional language exercise and grammatical accuracy, and process approach elements were not well integrated into the teacher's instruction. The results illustrate the complex pattern of cause-and-effect relationships existing between teachers' and students' attitudes and behaviors in the context of an innovation. They further demonstrate how an innovation can be reinterpreted when implemented in a new culture.

Issues in Using Multicultural Literature in College ESL Writing Classes

STEPHANIE VANDRICK
University of San Francisco, USA

Multicultural literature, and multicultural textbooks, are increasingly used in college ESL writing classes. This is an appropriate and welcome development, but it is essential that such literature and texts be chosen and taught carefully and thoughtfully. ESL professionals need to define multiculturalism, and multicultural literature, as those terms apply in ESL education and particularly in the context of the writing class, and understand and prepare for the fact that some students as well as fellow academics find such concepts controversial. This article discusses the following related issues in the ESL context: the "canon wars," the purposes and benefits of teaching multicultural literature, possible pitfalls in emphasizing such literature with ESL students, the selection of textbooks with appropriate reading selections and editorial apparatus, and possible problems arising during such teaching.

Second Language Learners' Processes of L1 Writing, L2 Writing, and Translation from L1 into L2

KOZUE UZAWA
Western Washington University, USA

This study compares second language learners' L1 writing, L2 writing, and translation from L1 into L2, focusing on writing and translating processes, attention patterns, and quality of language use. Thinking aloud, 22 Japanese ESL students studying at a Canadian college performed 3 tasks individually. These think-aloud protocols were analyzed, supplemented by observational notes and interviews, and the writing samples were evaluated. The data were analyzed with attention to theories of composing processes (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987), Schmidt's "conscious attention" (1990), and Swain's "i + 1 output" hypothesis (1985). It was found that (a) most students used a "what-next" approach both in the L1 and L2 writing tasks and a "sentence-by-sentence" approach in the translation task, (b) attention patterns in the L1 and L2 writing tasks were very similar, but quite different in the translation task. Attention to language use in the translation task was significantly higher than in the L1 and L2 writing tasks and, (c) scores on language use in the L1 and L2 writing tasks were similar, but scores on language use in the translation task were significantly better than in the L2 writing task.

An Argument for Nonadversarial Argumentation: On the Relevance of the Feminist Critique of Academic Discourse to L2 Writing Pedagogy

DIANE D. BELCHER
The Ohio State University, USA

The feminist critique of academic discourse has begun to heighten awareness of the agonistic, competitive nature of much academic writing in English. This article considers what the implications of this gendered discoursal consciousness may be for L2 writing educators, both as teachers and as academic writers themselves. Vignettes of two L2 writers who have successfully negotiated nonadversarial academic texts are presented and discussed. Finally, guideposts for a nonadversarial model of academic discourse are suggested.

Dictionary Use by EFL Writers: What Really Happens?

KIEL CHRISTIANSON
University of Aizu, Japan

All of the words that 51 Japanese EFL university students had looked up in their dictionaries were identified in a 41 ,024-word corpus of student writing. Forty-two percent of these "dictionary words" were found to have been used incorrectly in some way. An analysis of the errors themselves and of interviews with more and less successful dictionary users was conducted in an attempt to better understand why these errors were committed and what can be done to assist students in avoiding such errors. The findings indicate that successful dictionary users, regardless of their level of English proficiency, employ a variety of sophisticated look-up strategies. Furthermore, this research brings into question some of the claims of previous studies into FL dictionary use.

Contrastive Rhetoric in Context: A Dynamic Model of L2 Writing

PAUL KEI MATSUDA
Purdue University, USA

The notion of contrastive rhetoric was first proposed as a pedagogical solution to the problem of L2 organization, and the subsequent development in research has generated, among other valuable insights, three explanations for the organizational structures of L2 texts, including linguistic, cultural, and educational explanations. However, the contribution of contrastive rhetoric to the teaching of ESL writing has been limited because of the underlying assumptions that have guided the early pedagogical approaches. This study identifies a static theory of L2 writing that has been widely used in teaching organizational structures and considers how the pedagogical application of insights from contrastive rhetoric studies have been limited by this theory. To overcome the limitations of the static theory, an alternative model of L2 writing is proposed, and its implications for further research and the teaching of L2 writing are discussed.

The Etiology of Poor Second Language Writing: The Influence of Perceived Teacher Preferences on Second Language Revision Strategies

GRAEME K. PORTE 
University of Granada

Much previous L2 writing research has sought to compare the so-called "skilled" and "unskilled" writer, suggesting that one of the major differences between them may lie in their respective approaches to revision. Specifically, unskilled writers have been seen to revise from a narrow outlook and make changes addressing the surface grammatical structure of compositions, usually at the level of the word, rather than deeper issues of content and organization. However, the issue of what may lead unskilled writers to concentrate more on certain aspects in their revision remains unexplored. Specifically, we have little information about how underachieving EFL writers perceive the act of revision in academic writing contexts, and we remain unaware of the possible effect of these opinions and contexts on their revision strategies. This descriptive study focuses on what was revealed from semistructured interviews over a 9-month period with 71 underachieving EFL undergraduates about their attitudes toward revision and the possible effects of perceived teacher preferences in methodology, feedback, and evaluation on revision strategies. The majority of participants were able to reflect on their revision behavior and describe their current revision strategies, which were often observed to be pragmatically based and derived from perceived teacher preferences in past or present classroom practice and from feedback on writing. Revision of compositions was generally described as involving little more than a proofreading exercise. Evidence was found that local teaching strategies and evaluatory procedures might reinforce these pragmatic, yet ultimately restrictive, revision practices. As a result of these findings, suggestions are made with regard to revision strategy training with underachieving learners.

Volume 6, Number 2 (1997)

Acquiring Disciplinary Literacy: A Social-Cognitive Analysis of Text Production and Learning among Iranian Graduate Students of Education

ABDOLMEHDI RIAZI
Shiraz University, Iran

The problem addressed by this study was: how do non-native speakers of English acquire domain-specific literacy suitable to their academic discipline in a graduate program? The participants were four (one female and three male) Iranian doctoral students of education in their second year of residency. To investigate the problem, I used a naturalistic qualitative approach, collecting data from four participants through questionnaires, interviews (structured, unstructured, and text-based), written documents (texts produced by the participants, their professors' feedback on the papers, and course outlines), and process logs. I followed the participants through their graduate seminars over a period of five months as they were preparing for and performing assigned academic writing tasks in their second language (L2), English. Weekly face-to-face interviews focusing on participants' behaviours, decisions, and concerns were the central data gathering method for the study. This study adds to the literature that suggests that achieving disciplinary literacy in an L2 in a graduate program such as education is fundamentally an interactive social-cognitive process in that production of the texts required extensive interaction between the individual's cognitive processes and social/contextual factors in different ways.

The Impact of Writer Nationality on Mainstream Teachers' Judgments of Composition Quality

DONALD L. RUBIN
University of Georgia, USA
MELANIE WILLIAMS-JAMES
Texas Department of Health, USA

Teachers' evaluations of student writing are susceptible to the influence of extraneous factors, including stereotyped expectations based on students' ethnolinguistic identities. Even teachers' detection of surface errors in student writing is vulnerable to such expectancy sets. Non-native speakers of English (NNSs) who exit sheltered ESL classes may therefore be subjected to unduly negative evaluations due to mainstream teachers' negative expectations. On the other hand, it is possible that mainstream teachers overcompensate and are especially lenient with NNSs. The present study attributed fabricated student identities to a standard set of essays into which specific errors had been intruded. The fictional students were either Southeast Asian, Northern European, or U.S. native English speakers (NESs). Mainstream composition teachers evaluated the writing samples using rating scales, and they also wrote marginal comments and signs. Analyses indicated an advantage favoring the Asian writers over the NES writers in ratings of overall composition quality. No differences in the number of errors detected for each writer nationality were found. On the other hand, teachers' ratings of NNS writing were best predicted by the number of surface errors they detected. Ratings of NES writing, in contrast, were justified by marginal notations and comments; teachers tended to write longer comments when they judged the writing to be poor. The significance of the study is to enjoin composition teachers to reflect on their differential dependence on surface error when evaluating NES and NNS writing.

Teacher Commentary on Student Writing: Descriptions & Implications

DANA R. FERRIS
California State University, Sacramento, USA
SUSAN PEZONE
American River College, USA
CATHY R. TADE
Winters High School, USA
SHAREE TINTI
Sacramento City College, USA

Teacher response to student writing is a vital, though neglected, aspect of L2 composition research. The present study adds to the previous research through the development and implementation of an original analysis model, designed to examine both the pragmatic aims and the linguistic forms of teachers' written commentary. This model was used in the examination of over 1500 teacher comments written on a sample of III essay first drafts by 47 advanced ESL university students. It was found that the teacher changed her responding strategies over the course of two semesters, that she provided different types of commentary on various genres of writing assignments, that the amount of her feedback decreased as the term progressed, and that she responded somewhat differently to students of varying ability levels. The study raises several implications for L2 writing instruction as well as for analyses of teacher commentary.

Qualification and Certainty in L1 and L2 Students' Writing

KEN HYLAND
City University of Hong Kong
JOHN MILTON
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

A major problem for second language students writing academic essays in English is to convey statements with an appropriate degree of doubt and certainty. Such epistemic comments are crucial to academic writing where authors have to distinguish opinion from fact and evaluate their assertions in acceptable and persuasive ways. Despite its importance however, we know little about how second language writers present assertions in their writing and we often measure their attempts to master appropriate forms against the work of expert writers. Based on a corpus of one million words, this paper compares the expression of doubt and certainty in the examination scripts of 900 Cantonese speaking school leavers writing in English with those of 770 British learners of similar age and educational level. A detailed analysis of the texts reveals that these L2 writers differ significantly from the NSs in relying on a more limited range of items, offering stronger commitments, and exhibiting greater problems in conveying a precise degree of certainty. The authors highlight a number of issues raised by the research and make some pedagogical suggestions for developing competence in this important pragmatic area.

Volume 6, Number 3 (1997)

Traditional Chinese Text Structures and Their Influence on the Writing in Chinese and English of Contemporary Mainland Chinese Students

ANDY KIRKPATRICK
Centre for International English, Curtin University of Technology

It has been argued that traditional Chinese text structures, in particular the four-part qi-cheng-zhuan-he and the ha gu wen (eight-legged essay) structures continue to influence the written English of Chinese students. In this article, the origins of these two traditional Chinese text structures will be described and examples of them given. In considering their influence upon the contemporary writing of mainland Chinese students, it will be argued that, as these structures do not influence the writing in Chinese of these students, they are unlikely to exert a great influence upon their writing in English. A survey of contemporary Chinese textbooks on composition suggests that the prescriptive advice given in these texts reflects contemporary " Anglo-American" rhetorical style more than traditional Chinese style. 

Student Annotations: What NNS and NS University Students Say About Their Own Writing

NEOMY STORCH
JOANNA T APPER