The Effectiveness of Peer Feedback in EFL Writing

Based on the students' capability of assessing peers' essays, this paper attempts to analyze the effectiveness of peer feed-back in EFL writing. Significant improvements can be made in writing proficiency, especially for the students who review others' essays. The reviewers may not only improve their peer's papers but also improve general writing skills and learn to self-evaluatetheir own writing.

Language Transfer in Chinese EFL Writing

Language transfer has been a key issue in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and language teaching for at least a century. Within the last few decades, however, its importance has been reassessed several times. The paper focuses on the phenomena of language transfer in Chinese EFL writing, expecting to provide implications for Chinese English learners and teachers.

A Study of the Effects of Student Self-assessment on the EFL Writing of Chinese College Students

To get more insight into using self-assessment in writing instruction, the present study intends to explore the effects of student self-assessment on students＇ EFL writing by adopting writing assignments, analytic scoring rubric, questionnaires and interviews. It is found that students are able to make judgments about the overall quality of their writing in a manner consistent with those made by the teacher and students made significant improvements in content, organization, and mechanics of their writing after the practice of self-assessment while qualities concerning vocabulary and language use have been improved but not to a significant level. Moreover, the study demonstrates that the practice of self-assessment has exerted positive influence on students＇ perceptions of their writing skills in terms of organization, language use and mechanics while it does not result in any change of students＇ perceptions of their writing skills in content and vocabulary. These implications are conductive to working out a set of new models of the teaching of writing and helping further intensify the innovations of Chinese foreign language teaching.

The Study of the Application of Metacognitive Strategies in EFL Writing in China

EFL writing in China is tended to be de-emphasized with the emphasis on oral proficiency in communicative approach.There is ample evidence to indicate the insufficiency in EFL writing course and the ineffectiveness of students’efforts to develop writing competence.To integrate metacognition into EFL writing instruction will benefit writing instruction by laying emphasis on both approaches to writing instruction,and to train teachers as well as students to teach and learn with metacognition,raising EFL writing instructors’self-awareness in teaching and training students to become self-regulated learners.

The Inspirations of LIFT on Marking of EFL Writing in Chinese Secondary Classrooms

What constitutes the most effective marking of EFL learners' writing in secondary schools is still the focus of EFL teachers. Traditional feedback is not as successful as it is expected to be because students haven't concerned themselves with the teacher's comments too much.LIFT(Learner Initiated Feedback Technique), as a creative means of enhancing marking, has been tested and adopted in foreign language teaching. Through the introduction of current conditions of marking of EFL writing, selfcorrection, peer-marking and feedback workshop in EFL secondary classrooms are proposed in light of the theory of LIFT.

A Taxonomy of ESL/EFL Writing Strategies:A Synthesizing Study

Compared with well-established research on language learning strategies in second language acquisition, writing research is still inadequate in terms of studies on taxonomies of specific writing strategies. Therefore, by reviewing and synthesizing empirical studies on writing strategies, this paper tries to map out the theoretical bases of previous taxonomies and to identify inherent methodological problems in past studies, so as to arrive at a better and fuller understanding of the nature and categories of writing strategies and to come up with feasible suggestions for classroom writing instructions.

Comparison Between Peer Mediation and Teacher Mediation in Dynamic EFL Writing Assessment:A Case Study

The present case study explores the effects of mediation of dynamic assessment （DA） on EFL writing development of English majors. Two junior English majors and their English writing teacher in a Chinese university were involved in a DA writing task. Student B was asked to write an application letter in English of around 500 words during her spare time. Student A and the teacher, as the mediators, tried to help her improve the essay based on her Zone of Proximal Development （ZPD）. The dialogues in the two mediation processes were recorded and transcribed. Analysis of the data from Student B＇s compositions and the recorded talks during the mediation process showed that there are some similarities between the two mediations including making more use of implicit prompts to guide the learner and playing a positive role to facilitate EFL language growth, especially grammar. The.analysis, however, also showed great differences. The teacher tutor attempted more prompts and more implicit strategies than the peer to show that the teacher could do a better job in exploring the learner＇s ZPD. Even so, the peer might be of important help in improving the language and content before a teacher mediation in the DA process.

A STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF THE PROCESS-ORIENTED APPROACH ON THE EFL WRITING PROFICIENCY OF CHINESE NON-ENGLISH MAJORS

This study was designed to study the effects of the process-oriented approach on the EFL writing proficiency of Chinese non-English majors.In this study,two research designs were employed:the quantitative design and the qualitative design.In the quantitative design,two classes participated in an 8-week experiment.An interview was employed in the qualitative design to find out students' attitude towards process-oriented approach.The result of the study showed that students generally held positive attitudes towards this approach and it was more effective in improving students' EFL writing proficiency and could thus be adjusted to teach writing.

A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF METACOGNITION IN EFL WRITING OF CHINESE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

国内外学者对元认知的构成及其发展性问题,还存在诸多的争议。本研究历时十个月,交叉使用问卷、周记和写作测试等研究工具。研究对象包括实验组和对照组共118名大学英语学习者。研究结果表明,写作元认知由元认知策略、元认知评估和元认知体验三大要素构成,而且,正式的写作元认知课堂教有利于加强学习者的元认知意识,并促进学习者写作能力的提高。

The Influence of Chinese Rhetorical Patterns on EFL Writing:Learner Attitudes Towards This Influence

This paper explores the extent to which Chinese rhetorical patterns influence EFL writing, the reasons behind such an influence, and how Chinese EFL learners think about this influence. A multivariate method was used to achieve this purpose： discourse analysis, text-based interviews, a questionnaire, and an analysis of high school textbooks in China. The findings show that only one third of the 26 students who participated the study exhibited ＂circular＂ or ＂indirect＂ characteristics （Kaplan, 1966）, and, more interestingly, these characteristics were not directly influenced by the ＂eight-legged essay＂ pattern （Matalene, 1985） but rather derived from the modern Chinese prose. The learners held that it is beneficial to know English rhetorical structures, but it is also important to preserve Chinese writing conventions.

A SURVEY ON CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING INSTRUCTIONS AND DISCOURSE COHERENCE IN CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS' EFL WRITING

This paper describes an action research project undertaken to look into the effectiveness of tasks designed to raise learners' awareness of different writing modes in terms of coherence between English and Chinese.The goal was to test whether tasks and direct instructions aimed at promoting learner awareness of coherence differences and coherence devices at the discourse level had any impact on the students' writing performance.Results and feedbacks from the participants in the experiment shows that it was a success because the students were better helped to organize the compositions on the English discourse patterns and compose smoother English writings.The paper ends with suggestions to implement conscious-raising instructions among Chinese colleges.

Chinese University EFL Teachers’ and Students’ Beliefs About EFL Writing: Differences, Influences, and Pedagogical Implications

This study investigates Chinese university EFL teachers' and students' beliefs about what determines the text quality of EFL writing via a mixed-method analysis of data collected by questionnaire, interview, and diagnostic and self-diagnostic feedback on students' essays. The results indicate that: First, both the teachers and students attached much importance to language, but the teachers put significantly more emphasis on organization and content whereas the students put significantly more emphasis on vocabulary;Second, the beliefs of students were heavily influenced by their conceptions of the purposes of EFL writing tasks and the assessment criteria adopted to mark their writing;Third, the disparity between teachers' and students' beliefs caused them to emphasize different aspects of an essay when giving feedback;Finally, students' beliefs had a negative impact on the development of effective writing strategies. Pedagogical implications are suggested.

Resolving the Terminological Mishmash in Teaching Link Words in EFL Writing

One of the characteristics of good writing is appropriate use of cohesive devices, which many learners often find difficult to do. Although there is a substantial body of research on cohesion in writing, little has been documented on how to teach it to EFL students. The present study was an attempt to address this under-researched issue by taking a terminological approach, as the diverse and vague terminology used to describe link words has been found to be more of a hindrance than a facilitator in the teaching/learning process. A total of 16 cohesion-related terms were surveyed to find out about the quality and quantity of their use in a self-built corpus of 14 grammar books of different levels. Furthermore, a test was run to measure students＇ familiarity with these terms, and field-notes were taken while scoring the students＇ papers in their presence. The findings, in addition to giving insights into the usage points regarding each of the 16 terms, led to drawing a terminological network, which, if used consistently, could help in teaching and learning to use cohesion effectively.

INTEGRATION OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE WRITING AND PROCESS WRITING APPROACHES IN TEACHING EFL WRITING

This paper adopts a pedagogical approach to theteaching of English writing to EFL learners of interme-diate or advanced level in China.The teaching ofwriting has been a problem to Chinese EFL teachers fora long time.On the one hand,they want to make anattempt to adopt fashionable and effective Englishwriting approaches,like process writing.On the otherhand,they are frustrated by the traditional Chinesewriting method.Some of our language educators arealways struggling against the influence of our tradi-tional Chinese writing method.A negative attitudetowards our mother tongue writing approach has beenestablished or accepted by most of our EFL teachers,which result in the EFL learners’panic in their Eng-lish writing course because they are afraid of being ac-cused of writing a Chinese composition in Englishwords.Needless to say,this kind of teaching stylecannot be effective and is frustrating instead.The au-thor presents an integrated and practical solution tothis problem and discusses the applicability of the ap-proach.The author discusses how we can effectivelyintegrate the traditional Chinese writing method andthe popular process writing approach in teaching Eng-lish writing.

An Exploration of a Systematic and Effective Mechanism of Delivering Feedback on EFL Student Writing

In China, it is widely believed that teacher feedback plays a crucial role in EFL writing course, exerting a great impact on the improvement of Chinese EFL students＇ writing abilities so that teachers have been required to deliver feedback on students＇ writings. Teachers, consequently, spare no pains to give feedback, expecting their students would make progress in their writing, but it seems that things go contrary to their wishes. Although there are various complicated factors contributing to the situation, one of the important factors lies in the teachers, a number of whom do not grasp a systematic and effective mechanism of delivering feedback on EFL student writing. Much importance has been attached to Chinese EFL student writing, however, rare attention has been paid to conducting research on concrete ways of delivering feedback on Chinese EFL student writing in China. Therefore, this paper serves to fill the gap, mainly devoting itself to exploring concrete methods of delivering teacher feedback on EFL student writing.

Web Quest and EFL Critical Reading and Writing

This study aimed at investigating the effect of using a Web Quest program on developing some EFL critical reading and writing skills of the first year experimental secondary school students. The participants of the study were 60 students from one of the Experimental Secondary Schools in Egypt. Instruments of the study were EFL critical reading and writing tests. Students in both the experimental and the control groups were pre-tested using the critical reading test and the writing test. Then, students of the experimental group were using Web Quest. Finally, students in both groups were post-tested using the same instruments. The study showed that there was statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the pre and the post critical reading test and writing test of the experimental group in favor of the post tests. This difference can be attributed to using Web Quest.

English as a Foreign Language Teachers’Beliefs and Practices of Teaching Writing:The Case of Context Impact

Writing learning has a vital role in learning a foreign language.As a result,the way teaching writing is approached is also of great value.Moreover,the role of context in teaching writing is of significance when it comes to public and private teachers.Thus,the present study carried out to investigate the differences between second language(L2)writing teaching self-perceived beliefs(SPB)and self-perceived practices(SPP)of public and private English as a Foreign Language(EFL)teachers.Firstly,a questionnaire about EFL teachers’beliefs and practices of teaching writing and type of university was launched on Google using Google Form.Secondly,a group of universities teachers were sent the link of the questionnaire to fill it out.The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the total scores of beliefs and practices of teachers in terms of L2 writing teaching.However,there were significant differences between the majority of item scores of SPB and SPP.The results also revealed that public and private teachers did not differ significantly in terms of their SPP and SPB total and item scores.The important implications of the findings for EFL teachers’beliefs and practices research and writing pedagogy are discussed.

How does Alignment Work in the Continuation Task by Advanced EFL Learners:A Case Study

The continuation task (Wang & Wang, 2014) proves to have language learning potentials by many empirical studies (Peng, 2018). This study intends to explore its underlining alignment mechanisms through two continuation tasks on English materi-als called Chon and Charles by two Chinese linguistics-major graduates (EFL learners). The results show that alignment is ubiqui-tous both linguistically and thematically, and the reading and writing are tightly coupled. This indicates that the continuation task will significantly benefit second language writing pedagogy if applied appropriately.

You Blog： An Exploratory Study of EFL Students＇ Blogging Experience in the Thai-Japanese Weblog Exchange Project

Weblogs, writing logs on the web, have been popularly used as an instructional tool to facilitate, reading and writing instructions in ESL （English as a Second Language）/EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classrooms. This study employed weblogs to support the writing process of Thai EFL students and provided an opportunity for them to participate in a Thai-Japanese weblog exchange project. The results showed that student bloggers： （1） enjoyed blogging due to their perceived reading and writing incentives, the exchange of cultural knowledge, and networking; and （2） employed the writing process to complete their written assignments. Findings suggest that weblogs can foster EFL learners＇ motivation, development of reading and writing skills, and development of cultural knowledge, and facilitate their writing process via cyberspace.

Gender Differences in Non-English Major Graduates＇ English Compositions——A Study Based on the Use of Oral/Written Register Features

This article applies the theories of gender differences in language use, makes a survey of non-English major graduates＇ English writing, and analyzes the gender differences in EFL writing proficiency and particularly in the use of oral/written register features, aiming to provide suggestions for gendered teaching in EFL writing.