19 - Teaching writing for academic purposes

Summary

The study and teaching of second language writing has gained status as a sub-discipline of both applied linguistics and composition studies over the past decade (Silva, Leki and Carson, 1997). In addition to the emergence of an entire journal devoted to the topic (the Journal of Second Language Writing), a number of books and articles have been published which focus on a wide range of general and specific issues related to the description of second language writers and texts, the teaching of L2 writing, and the preparation of L2 writing teachers (e.g. Belcher and Braine, 1995; Byrd and Reid, 1997; Carson and Leki, 1993a; Connor, 1996; Connor and Kaplan, 1987; Connor and Johns, 1990; Ferris and Hedgcock, 1998; Grabe and Kaplan, 1996; Hamp-Lyons, 1991c; Harklau, Losey and Siegel, 1999; Johnson and Roen, 1989; Kroll, 1990; Leeds, 1996; Leki, 1992; Purves, 1988; Reid, 1993; Tannacito, 1995; Zamel and Spack, 1998).

Though there are many theoretical and practical issues that emerge from these sources, some are particularly salient to the endeavour of teaching L2 writing for academic purposes: (1) how L2 writers are similar to / different from L1 writers; (2) variation across differing L2 populations (e.g. immigrant vs. international students); (3) the controversy over discipline-specific or general-purpose academic writing instruction; (4) teacher response (written or oral) and peer feedback; (5) error correction and grammar instruction for L2 writers; and (6) issues surrounding assessment and grading in L2 writing.