This article explores the value of dynamic assessment (DA) for college English writing (CEW), a required course for millions of students in China that typically enrolls 50 students in each class. An interventionist approach to DA, in which mediation and administration are standardized, was selected and supplemented with a…

Exemplars are powerful in clarifying assessment criteria, and their positive impacts on criteria understanding and performance have been empirically verified. However, the implementation modes are highly varied, resulting in a complicated class context which calls for further investigation. Less is known as to how exemplar-based instruction works…

Summary writing is an important tactic for learning from text and the summaries provide information on students' comprehension and learning processes. We investigated the nature of the summaries produced by bilingual adolescents, and whether their summaries were related to their reading abilities in their first and second languages. In each…

While studies on teacher written feedback and automated writing evaluation (AWE) feedback have proliferated in recent decades, little attention has been paid to how AWE-teacher integrated feedback would influence students' engagement and their writing performance in second language (L2) writing. Against this backdrop, a quasi-experimental design…

The present study investigated the profiles of motivational regulation strategies for writing (MRSW) and examined the relationship between learners' use of MRSW and their English writing performance across different profiles. L2 Writing Strategies for Motivational Regulation Questionnaire (L2WSMRQ) was administered to examine the potential…

Task design has been viewed to be essential in the context of language assessment. This study investigated whether increasing task complexity affects learners' writing performance. It employs three writing tasks with different levels of complexity based on Robinson's Componential Framework. A cohort of 278 participants was selected using a simple…

This programme evaluation study examined the changes in writing motivation, self-regulation and integrated writing task scores of international students over the course of a pre-sessional course on English for academic purposes (EAP). In addition, the study also investigated the relationship between writing task motivation, self-regulation, and…

Several barriers hinder students from producing clear and impactful written work. Writing assignments are often given on an individual basis, similar to homework, and without any assistance. Students in a classroom context have access to both their classmates and the teacher while they are working in groups or pairs as part of their assignments.…

This paper discusses the application value of the writing teaching mode combined with the mixed teaching mode in college English writing teaching against the background of big data. Focusing on production-oriented approach (POA) theory, this paper proposes a mixed learning writing model for English teaching and applies the POA mixed learning…

As an important instructional affordance, teacher written feedback is widely used in second language (L2) writing contexts. While copious evidence has shown that such a pedagogical practice can facilitate L2 learners' writing performance, especially their writing accuracy, little is known about how novice writing teachers conceptualize and enact…

English writing plays a vital role in language teaching and learning and is compulsory in Chinese secondary education. Chinese EFL junior high school students need to master English writing. However, in the process of English writing teaching and learning, the Chinese EFL students still face problems in writing ability and self-efficacy even…

This empirical study explores metacognition and its relationship with writing performance. Through multivariate analyses, the study investigates the role of metacognitive knowledge and regulation in mediating writing performance. Participants were 882 students from eight universities in China who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL).…

This study examines the relationship between developing writer's vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and writing abilities. Participants were EFL Chinese junior-high students, of whom there were 120 Grade 8 and 147 Grade 9 students. Measures included tests of vocabulary size, word association, and morphological awareness. Students' writing…

The reactivity of think-alouds (TAs) (i.e., their effects on thinking) has remained an inevitable concern whenever their use is considered or evaluated. This paper reports findings from a study that involved 85 Chinese sophomores, who, having received some instruction in diction, and then written a narrative in English as a baseline task,…

The study uses a pre-test, post-test experimental randomised control group design to examine the effects of a blended learning environment on Chinese adult learners' English acquisition. At the initial stage the study constructed a blended learning environment composed of three parts: task-based online learning, group-based peer learning and…