University of Mississippi - Teaching L2 Literacy

Weijia Feng       As  instructors of  English as a second language (L2), most of us have more or less experience teaching writing. For writing teachers, one important aspect of instruction is giving feedback. Hendrickson (1978) addressed five central questions about corrective feedback: Should learners’ errors be corrected? When should learners’ errors be corrected? Which errors should be corrected? How should errors be corrected? Who should do the correcting?        As we all know, giving feedback on writing is a significant responsibility, as proper feedback is essential and necessary for L2 learners. Rod & Natsuko (2014) describe corrective feedback as " it signals that something the learner has written does not conform to target language norms, in this respect it contrasts with other forms of input that provide the learner with positive evidence". For corrective feedback in spoken situations, instructors have the o...

Micah Russell When learners have an opportunity to write, they often end up facing many similar issues. Whenever instructed to write, unless given a particular task or topic, they often resort to the excuse that they do not know what to write about. Because brainstorming is the first step in the typical presentation of the writing process, it is an important process. However, if it is difficult for a native speakers of a language to produce writing ideas during brainstorming, it must be even more difficult for non-native speakers of a language. Therefore, it would be of benefit for instructors to assist the students in learning how to brainstorm effectively, as well as providing a resource for them to use when brainstorming. This will allow students to begin an interactive writing notebook which will be used as a starting point for a collection of resources for the aspiring writer. Whenever the learner is having issues with writing or with a particular aspect of it, they w...

  Caylee Hope These days, teachers are constantly reminding their students to put away their smartphones during class. Smartphones often become a source of distraction in the classroom, but there is a way that writing teachers can use them to their advantage. Second language or foreign language writing classes can benefit greatly from the use of mobile instant messaging apps (mIM). Mobile instant messaging apps, such as WeChat, Facebook Messenger , and Whatsapp are already widely popular and commonly used among many ESL/EFL students, meaning that teachers can easily take advantage of a system that students already have some familiarity with.   Why Should ESL Teachers Use mIM Apps?             Research supports the finding that mIM apps can benefit second language writing students. A study conducted using Whatsapp showed that students who wrote in the app displayed a significant decrease in writing errors, including g...

Let’s Make Use of Peer Feedback   Author: Neema Loy What is feedback and what are its potential sources? “Feedback is information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc. which is used as a basis for improvement” (Google dictionary). Feedback in second language (L2) writing or even in first language (L1) writing is important in helping learners improve or develop their writing skills. In my experience, feedback is one of the core elements of improving writing. Yet, over the years, studies (such as Rollison, 2005; 2013) have shown that feedback has not served its utmost potential role in improving students’ writing due to several issues such as inadequate quantity in the drafting stages. For example, in the case of product writing,  it is provided at the end along with a final grade or comments for future consideration, and this makes it ineffective (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2013). Furthermore, it is not surprising that learners may usually refer to...

Suhyeon Lee      Writing, like all other skills, is communicative in nature. We write e-mails, lists, notes, letters, reports, assignments, essays, all of which have a communicative purpose and a target audience. Writing is one of the richest, most rewarding, and most powerful forms of human communication, but we often forget and neglect its communicative essence in our classes. Here are some ways to encourage your students to focus on content in their writing and make the writing we do with learners more communicative.  Get students to think about 'why' they write and 'who' they are writing for.     Each time we write something in our real lives, there is an ‘audience’ in mind and a ‘reason’ for writing. When students learn to write for a specific audience, their writing becomes far more communicative than when they write only to display some grammar or vocabulary they have learned in class. Having an ‘audience’ in mind helps in getting the students to thi...

 Beyza Cayli Practicing L2 Writing Online   Second and Foreign language teachers of English often hear their students’ complaints about having difficulties in writing in English. Among all the other language-related skills, writing in a second language might be the most challenging one to master especially when students cannot relate themselves to the given topics. Practice, on the other hand, is known to be the most effective way of improving writing skills in any language, but how can we encourage students to practice more? Even though writing tasks that favor imitation of textual models used to be very popular, recent research show better results of the process approach. Boas (2011) states that the process approach enables a student-centered teaching atmosphere which in fact boosts student interest and involvement. By choosing a topic that is relevant to students’ cultural backgrounds, one can apply the basic principles of writing even online.  Every step of writing in...

    Holly Prather  Writing can be frustrating for anyone, particularly for those operating in a second or foreign language. Understandably so, it is a difficult discipline to master. It can become especially so when the interference from the L1 requires a lot of effort to overcome. However, society measures intellectual aptitude through one’s ability to effectively express themselves in written communication, so improving such a skill, while strenuous, is necessary to succeed and thrive not only in academia, but in all spheres of life.  That being said, it does not make writing any easier to teach. Trying to improve students’ skills in the three major areas of vocabulary, grammar, and style—all critical components of successful writing—can be challenging to adequately cover in a semester class without overwhelming or boring the students (Ferris and Hedgcock, 2014). How do you as the teacher take a difficult task and motivate your students to complete it without becom...

                                                                                                                                                                                                            An L2 writing class poses various challenges for both instructors and L2 novice writers. Many times, interaction is limited to questions and answers, rendering some learners wit...

Lance Herrington  Although students of L2 writing typically have no hesitation in thinking of themselves as the consumers (i.e., readers) of coherent writing, even in their native languages do they rarely consider themselves as responsible for (or capable of) producing coherent writing. Before embarking upon a new writing assignment with L2 students of English language, I have found it beneficial to increase students awareness of coherence by drawing their attention to the variety of linguistic ‘ingredients’ that work together to cohere a written text: topic sentences; repetition; pronoun antecedents and agreement; connective transitions; et al. Even at the level in which learners can construct meaningful sentences grammatically, many students need practice in presenting their ideas logically and in ways that are easy for readers to follow. The interactive problem-solving activity that I have developed over the years taps into students’ critical thinking skills in order to make sen...

The Role of Diaries in Improving EFL/ESL Learners' Writing   Abdullah Balbaid             In EFL/ESL classes, teaching productive skills such as speaking and writing represents a challenge to many language teachers. These skills require language learners to practice either in verbal or written forms. In writing, one of the challenges teachers face is how to make students write without being worried or concerned about getting bad scores or undesirable feedback. As a result, teachers may assign journals and diaries to provide an environment that enables and motivates their learners. Journals allow students to develop their professional skills and have a positive attitude towards learning, especially when paired with participating in an English language community (Porter et al. 1996). Also, writing diaries regularly will develop learners' skills and accelerate writing speed as it becomes hab...

  Hanna Kim              One of the main goals of English as a Second Language (ESL) writing teachers is to improve students’ accuracy in their writing. Error correction may aid second language (L2) writing accuracy, and this can be provided by the teacher, other peers, or the L2 learner themselves. The effects of written corrective feedback have been highlighted as this strategy can support L2 learners avoiding fossilization and develop their target language (TL) accuracy (Doughty & Varela, 1998). However, Truscott (1999) challenged the effects of written corrective feedback in that the process of error correction takes time which distracts from forming L2 students’ ideas. Furthermore, the process of teacher-driven corrective feedback on L2 writing is passive (Hojeij & Hurley, 2017). To deal with this limitation, ESL teachers may focus on self-editing strategies for ESL learners. This is because self-editing may p...