This study examined writers' use of their first language (L1) while writing in their second language (L2). Twenty students each wrote four short argumentative essays in their L1 (Dutch) and four in their L2 (English) under think-aloud conditions. We analysed whether L1 use varied between writers and tasks, and whether it was related to general…

This study investigates the types of sources that English composition students use in their research essays. Unlike previous studies, this project pairs an examination of source citations with deeper analysis of source use, and both are discussed in relation to responses gathered in focus groups with participating students and teachers. The…

Although arguments about the personal essay in the writing classroom have been taking place since before composition studies even existed as an academic field, the author thinks that in light of a renewed interest in autobiographical writing in the academy and in popular culture, it is important to take another look at this type of writing.…

Background: It has been hypothesized that L2 (second language) readers are not able to draw on their L1 (first language) reading skills for the successful development of L2 reading skills until they develop a certain proficiency in L2 because a lack of proficiency blocks transfer of L1 reading skills to the reading of L2 texts. This minimum degree…

This study examined the relationship of different measures of syntactic complexity with rated quality for two genres of text produced by middle school students. It was hypothesized that different measures would be associated with distinct aspects of syntactic complexity; words per clause with greater use of structures more typical of expository…

In this article, the author examines various publications published in 1963 in an attempt to look for relevance in a changing publication scene. The author considers Gordon Parks's reportorial photographs and accompanying personal essay, "What Their Cry Means to Me," as an act of publishing with implications for the teaching of written…

A multiple-probe across-subjects design was used to examine persuasive writing performance of six 2nd- through 5th- grade students with emotional/behavior disorders (EBD). Students' writing was evaluated before and after self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instruction for the POW (Pick my idea, Organize my notes, Write and say more) + TREE…

Two studies assessed student writing in a critical thinking course. The first study examined initial and final versions of a term paper. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) analyses of essays revealed significant differences in linguistic variables and some differences in cognitive variables. The second study examined student essays at the…

"Creative nonfiction" is gaining ground as the descriptor for what has also been called "the fourth genre." The first word gives some people fits. They get all caught up in "creative" and assume it only means "invented." Instead of using "creative" as the qualifier, some call the genre "literary" or "narrative" nonfiction. Those are both…

In recent years, memoir and the entire genre of creative nonfiction have received some negative publicity and some harsh criticism. Many have dismissed the "fourth genre," as it's called, as a form for the narcissistic and self-involved. Matters certainly are not helped when high-profile writers of memoir are revealed to be frauds and fiction…

While the college admissions guidebook industry has churned out numerous books and websites telling students what their essays should and should not do, most of those are written by former admissions officers, not by writers or teachers of writing, and almost all rely heavily on providing models of top admissions essays. As a result, students who…

Text analysis traditions in France and the United States include discourse analysis, critical linguistics, French functional linguistics, Bakhtinian dialogics, and "generous reading." These frames have not been used, however, in cross-cultural analysis of university student writing. The author presents a study of 250 student texts from…

This mixed methods study combining a single-subject experimental design with an embedded case study focuses on the impact of a visual treatment on the handwritten and typed output of a struggling male writer during his 5th through 7th grades who has undergone a longitudinal remedial phase of two and a half years creating text-only material as well…

Managing to communicate one's thoughts and ideas coherently and fluently remains a challenging task for native and non-native student writers alike. This challenge corresponds to the very nature of the writing act, which calls upon multiple and sophisticated cognitive operations. The major aim of this study was to investigate the writing…

The study investigates whether the informal interactive written discourse in instant messaging (IM) is permeating the more formal writing of English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) college students, and how students' identities are constructed in terms of English multiliteracies in Taiwan. The study is designed as a qualitative case study. The…