This article reports on an experimental study that set out to investigate and compare the effectiveness of a direct and an indirect approach to data-driven learning (DDL) in facilitating Chinese learners' mastery of a challenging type of lexico-grammatical resource (i.e. hedges) in an undergraduate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writing…

This study compares the effect of ZPD feedback with explicit feedback on accuracy in second language (L2) writing. It also examines the effect of focused vs. unfocused ZPD feedback on L2 writing development during teacher-student tutorial sessions. Four participants wrote five persuasive essays and were provided with ZPD or explicit feedback…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exposing learners to authentic online reading materialson their written outputs (writing summaries and reflective essays). The quantitative method specifically the one-shot pretest-posttest experimental design was adopted. An online course was designed learners writing through reading…

Being able to read and write in English as a second language (L2) in the globalized world has been increasingly considered important to gain greater personal, academic, and business achievement. This study investigates English (L2) reading and writing abilities in relation to first language (L1) reading and writing abilities, L2 vocabulary…

Academic language proficiency, particularly academic writing, appears to be significantly related to academic achievement. The aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between written language proficiency and academic achievement, and to investigate the effects of a remedial academic writing programme. Academic writing was assessed…

The purpose of this Indonesian-based study is to assess students' perceptions of their written communication competence and their writing performance. Third-year undergraduate accounting students who had completed an introductory, content-oriented auditing course participated in the study. The analysis included descriptively scoring questionnaires…

Providing both effective feedback applications and reliable assessment practices are two central issues in ESL/EFL writing instruction contexts. Giving individual feedback is very difficult in crowded classes as it requires a great amount of time and effort for instructors. Moreover, instructors likely employ inconsistent assessment procedures,…

Writing is one of the four important skills in learning a foreign language. However, most high school students find it uneasy to write due to many different both objective and subjective reasons. Finding effective solutions to this problem is always appreciated. This study, therefore, hopes to investigate whether peer feedback has any positive…

Since its first appearance in the 1970s, the concept of 'metacognition' has received much scholarly attention. This study aims to examine metacognition as a process related to second language (L2) writing, and presents an attempt to teach metacognitive strategies to students to understand their effectiveness in developing writing skill. A blended…

This article reports on a qualitative secondary data analysis of a study of upper elementary students' narrative writing progress in U.S. rural schools. It compares students working online in pairs with those working alone. We explain why the intervention had some positive effects for struggling writers but few effects for skilled writers. The…

"Biometrics" are physical or behavioral human characteristics that can be used to identify a person. It is widely known that keystroke or typing dynamics for short, fixed texts (e.g., passwords) could serve as a behavioral biometric. In this study, we investigate whether keystroke data from essay responses can lead to a reliable…

Writing is one of the productive skills for language learners. This study was conducted to design a unit for language students who were enrolled in the School of Foreign Languages in one of the most prestigious Turkish state universities located in Istanbul. These learners had been taught different academic essay types in this educational…

In this study, I investigate whether three A2 Key for Schools practice tests from Cambridge Assessment English for 6th-graders (11-12 years old) in Argentina measure growth and produce scores that are meaningful. Drawing data from three consecutive years, I analyze the scores of 80 children over a school year and consider whether the tests are…

Writing is an important language skill, and learning to write is not an easy endeavour, especially for English as a foreign language (EFL) students. An effective EFL writing instruction, therefore, plays a significant role in helping EFL students deal with writing problems efficiently and approach writing tasks effectively. Based on this premise,…

The present contribution aims at presenting an assessment tool (i.e., the TALK-assessment) built to evaluate the language development and school readiness of Italian preschoolers before they enter primary school, and its predictive validity for the children's reading and writing skills at the end of the first year of primary school. The early…