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Laura Allen is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Science of Learning and Educational Technology Lab at Arizona State University. Research conducted in the SoLET lab addresses questions regarding theoretical explanations of cognitive processes such as text comprehension, writing, and knowledge acquisition.

Writing in a second language is a difficult skill that can be highly demanding on students. To ensure that students are not overwhelmed, teachers must aim to establish best practices for writing instruction in the classroom. Specifically, second language writing instructors should place an emphasis on providing students with explicit writing strategy instruction and formative feedback, all while maintaining their engagement during extended practice sessions.

Strategy Instruction

For second language writers, strategies can serve as effective tools that work to reduce the complex demands that are associated with the writing process. Providing students with explicit strategy instruction for planning, drafting, revising, and editing has been shown to dramatically increase the quality of their writing. Strategy instruction is most effective if it follows a clear progression, where the teacher first describes the strategy and its general purpose, demonstrates how to use the strategy in various situations, and finally provides students with practice applying the strategy to their own writing. Additionally, this instruction is most beneficial when teachers clearly relay the importance of the writing strategies and provide praise for their use (see Harris, Graham, Mason, & Friedlander, 2008 for more information about writing strategies that can be used in the classroom).

Formative Feedback

An important feature of effective strategy instruction is that students are provided with formative feedback on their writing. In direct contrast to summative feedback (i.e., final grades, exam scores, etc.), formative feedback helps students understand the criteria by which they are being assessed, and identify the factors that contribute to the quality of their performance. Teachers can reinforce the strategies taught in the classroom by paying careful attention to the feedback that they provide to students. In particular, teachers should avoid simply quantifying the quality of an essay (i.e., just providing an overall grade); rather, they should provide feedback that is specific, actionable and relates back to the strategies that students have been taught (see Shute, 2008 for a list of guidelines for constructing formative feedback).

Educational Games and Student Engagement

Despite its effectiveness, writing training can often be repetitive and boring, leading students to disengage over extended practice sessions. One way that teachers can combat disengagement is with educational games. Educational games leverage students' intrinsic enjoyment of gaming to increase their motivation and persistence to complete learning tasks. Importantly, students' motivation can increase even with the simplest of educational games. Thus, even if teachers do not have access to sophisticated, professional games, they can improve student motivation by adding game elements, such as a narrative or points, to basic writing assignments. As long as the game features are not overly distracting from the educational content, they can increase students' interest and, consequently, their learning outcomes. These game elements can be particularly important for second language learners, because writing in a second language can be extremely complex and frustrating; thus, having game elements might provide the motivation that students need to persist in training sessions.

References

Harris, K.R., Graham, S., Mason, L.H., & Friedlander, B. (2008). Powerful writing strategies for all students. Baltimore, MD: Brookes

Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on formative feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78, 153-189.