This chapter offers an integrated review and discussion of the major advances in theory and practice in the area of literacy, with particular focus on the work since 2014 onward. For the purposes of this review, it approaches Literacy as the ability to read and write. For reading, the chapter highlights theoretical advances that expand the view of…

In an international culture of performance-based funding systems for higher education institutions (HEIs), research productivity and output are essential for the ability of HEIs to continue. While many institutions have performance targets for the next performance assessment, few institutions have an operational strategy for how staff are to…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine the relationship between focused keyboarding instruction and the required standardized assessments mandated by Federal and State authorities. Initial mandates required that the first assessment to be administered online would be the Writing Assessment by year 2014. The assessment given in…

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…

Inspired by appraisal theory, the current study looked into the effect of using evaluative language on high- and low-graded post-graduate students' academic writing in an EFL context across male and female groups. Participants were 60 MA students of TEFL who were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 30) and control (n = 30) groups. Attitudinal…

In US-based postsecondary education, first-year students commonly have their compositional ability consequentially assessed on the basis of standardized tests. As a result, students who score above certain thresholds on ACT, SAT, or AP exams often are placed into honors or remedial courses; receive credit remissions; and/or test out of general…

This research was an investigation of the application of genre instruction to the unique purpose teaching Thai secondary students to write personal statements for undergraduate university admission. The goals of this small-scale case study were to 1) investigate the effects of genre-based instruction on students' writing abilities and 2) examine…

Writing is one of the most crucial skills for EFL students and also one of the most difficult to acquire. Many students face difficulties when it comes to writing in English. To address this challenge, this study examined whether or not combining inquiry-based learning with visual literacy could enhance EFL students' writing proficiency in four…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the effect of experiencing computer-mediated peer review (CMPR) on pre-service EFL teachers' writing performance, their peer comments, and their revisions. The study also explored their perceptions of CMPR and computer mediated communication (CMC) features (i.e., "Microsoft…

Both Native English-Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) may have advantages as writing instructors, yet little is known about how they actually influence writing in EFL contexts like South Korea. To address this issue, 76 high proficiency Korean EFL university students from the International Corpus Network…

Student's low reading and writing proficiency in higher education has been the subject of a large body of research (e.g., Bahr, 2011; Bailey, 2010; Carlino, 2005, 2010, 2012; Flink, 2017; Jaggars, 2014 Pacello, 2014; Perin, 2011; Perin et al., 2013). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how students in a first-year developmental…

This article reports the findings from an institutional case study into the work placement experience of undergraduate international students studying at a UK-based university. Given the centrality and importance of the employability and internationalisation agendas in higher education, little published literature considers both and how they…

This dissertation explores three novice nonnative English-speaking doctoral students' experiences with academic speaking and writing practices and speaking-writing connections during their first year of doctoral study in the language education program at a Research One university in the U.S. By adopting the sociocognitve theoretical framework…

An important component of academic writing in English is the word combinations or collocations writers use while expressing meaning and performing various rhetorical functions. It is essential for second language (L2) writers to gain command of these lexico-grammatical combinations (Cortes, 2004; Hyland, 2008a, 2008b) as they develop their L2…

Research Findings: The current study examined whether collective small-group behavioral engagement and teacher behavior management during small-group instruction predicted print knowledge, phonological awareness, letter writing, and expressive vocabulary gains for preschoolers at-risk for literacy difficulties. This study, part of a larger…