Chapter 2 - Research on second language writing: An overview of what we investigate and how

Summary

The main job for teachers of writing, whether their students be native speakers of the target language or second language learners, is to work with their students to help them achieve improved writing proficiency in accordance with student needs and course goals, advancing beyond their current skill level. How best to do this is, understandably, a concern that sits at the heart of the teaching enterprise. Many teachers are thus drawn into becoming researchers, wanting to investigate one or more of the many components that contribute to understanding writers and what is involved in promoting proficiency in writing.

Teachers who do not personally carry on their own research studies might additionally be drawn to research findings through interest in reading about the work of others whose questions under investigation help them better understand their own work as writing teachers. Even teachers who might claim that they are not researchers and are not research oriented nevertheless directly or indirectly tap into research findings as they choose textbooks, plan curricula and syllabi, work with student writers, and otherwise carry out their teaching lives. Thus, all writing teachers need to have a solid grounding in knowing what research investigations have already illuminated for us about the nature of writing, learning to write, and being a writer. Further, when they become knowledgeable enough about aspects of research design to be able to keep abreast of new developments, they are also able to reject claims that lack credibility, often as a direct result of flawed research design.