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ED 309 645 FL 018 117

AUTHOR Xu, George Q.TITLE ESL/EFL Composition: A Selected Annotated

Bibliography.PUB DATE 89

NOTE 27p.

PUB TYPE Reference Materials - Bibliographies (131)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Annotated Bibliographies; *English (Second

Language); Information Sources; Second LanguageInstruction; *Writing (Composition); *WritingInstruction

ABSTRACTAn annotated bibliography of articles, dissertations,

papers, and books written since 1983 on the teaching of compositionto students of English-as-a-Second-Language contains 84 citations.The list includes ERIC document numbers and Dissertation Abstractsnumbers. (MSE)

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ESL/EFL Composition

ESL/EFL COMPOSITION: A SELECTED ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

George Q. Xu

Clarion University of Pennsylvania

-PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

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ESL/EFL Composition:A Selected Annotated Bibliography

Writing has attracted more and more attentionfrom teachers and researchers of English as asecond/foreign language in recent years.Researches on all aspects of ESL/EFL writinghave been emerging in large numbers, leadingto a better understanding of the specialproblems of teaching writing to non-nativespeakers of English. This bibliographyincludes a selection of titles publishedsince 1983, with detailed annotations, toprovide a quick. informative look at thelatest contributions to the field.

Adams, Katherine, & Adams, John. (1985). Write, readand edit! ESL theory in the basic writingcurriculum. Writing Instructor, 4(3), 116-122.

Exarines Stephen Krashen's recent research on secondlanguage acquisition and shows how it applies todevelopmental native English-speaking students. It

also discusses some successful strategies, such assmall group activities, to use in basic writinginstruction.

Aghbar, All A. (1984). Guided impressionistic scoringof ESL compositions. WATESOL working papers, No. 1.

EED 242 1957 16p.

Describes an ESL composition scoring method--amodification of Virginia Pritchard's method ofimpressionistic scoring. The procedure is detailedand the results of a correlational study reported.The method is found to be both reliable and time-efficient.

Aghbar, Ali A., & Trump, Kathy. (1985). When theory andintuition meet: An approach to compositioninstruction. WATESOL working papers, No. 2. EED267 5877 21p.

Discusses, in a dialogue format, the essentialaspects of writing and writing instruction withreference to second language acquisition,composition theory and personal experiences.

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ESL/EFL Composition 2

Suggests ways to quiet the conscious self, use themonitor optimally, overcome the writer's block,write to discover, learn to write through writingrather than learn about writing, and practicewriting in non-judgmental situations.

Al-jabr, Abdulfattah Mohammad. (1987). Cohesion intext aifferentiation: A study of hr,glish and Arabic.Dissertation Abstracts International, 49, 09.(University Microfilm Order No. BRDX80343).

Finds that fictional narratives largely coherethrough pronominal co-reference, editorials andscience texts derive much cohesion from lexicalrepetition. English opts for economy in the use ofcohesive devices, whi3a arabic largely coheresthrough the redundant effect created by the highfrequency of most of those devices.

Anakasiri, S. (1987). Indicators of quality in secondlanguage written communication. DissertationAbstracts International, 48, 03A. (UniversityMicrofilms No. 87-12, 840).

Finds that better quality essays had moresubordinates per T-unit, more reference andsubstitution cohesives, and fewer global errors.

Elshushabi, Muhammad Attia Hasan. (1988).Substitution and lexical cohesion in the editorialargumentative discourse of Arabic and AmericanEnglish. Dissertation Abstracts International, 49,07. (University Microfilm Order No. DA 8817559).

Finds that the cohesive devices of synonym andpronominalization occur with a higher frequency inArabic than American English whereas contrastivesand semantic domains occur with a greater frequencyin American English than Arabic.

Basham, Charlotte, & Rounds, Pat. (1984). A discourseanalysis approach to summary writing. TESOLQuarterly, 18(3), 527.

Reports on a study on summary writing by advancedESL students. The summaries and the primary textsare compared, using a system of discourse analysisproposed by Kintsch and van Dijk. Problems areidentified, and cultural causes of these problems


discussed.

Beene, Lynn, Hall, Chris, and Sunde, Karen. (1985).Text linguistics and composition: Research andpractical connections. Urbana, IL, RIE/ERIC. CED272 863] 72p.

Examines what text linguistics is, what it cancontribute to composition theory, and how insightsfrom text linguistic studies can be applied. Twospecific applications of theories from textlinguistics are presented: one using Grice'sCooperative Principle and the other applying schematheory.

Boss, Roberta. (1985). Play on words: Teachingsentence expansion and modification by computer.WATESOL working papers, No. 2. CED 267 589] 7p.

Reports on a study that uses sentence-expansion forcollege-level remedial English, treating writing asa process of problem-solving throughexperimentation. Students expand a two-sentencestory by experimenting with different alternatives.A teacher-authored microcoputer word-play programcan be used to facilitate on-screen comparison ofalternative sentence structures and provideanimated words and special graphics.

Clarke, Mark A. (1984). On the nature of techniques:What do we owe the gurus? TESOL Quarterly, 18(4),577-594.

Describes "the blackboard composition," a techniquefor teach4ng ESL writing, and uses it as the basisfor a discussion of the complex, dynamic, variablenature of technique. Then the author traces histeaching behaviors to five gurus (R. B. Kaplan,Francis Christensen, Daniel Fader, Donald Murray,and Earl W. Stevick). Finally he discusses therelationship between the prescriptions of gurus andthe classroola behaviors of teachers: the gurus'teachings are important, but thr.: classroom teacheris the only person who is in a position to takeadvantage of those teachings tznd select theappropriate moment to apply them.

Clarke, William G. (1986). The ESL student in thefreshman composition class. Teaching English in the

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Two-Year College, 13(1), 12-19.

Claims that, to help ESL students in the compositionclass, the instructor has to understand the processby which they acquire English as a second language,avoid underestimating their control of English, andprovide a secure, comfortable environment forlearning to write.

Connor, Ulla. (1987). ResearcL frontiers in writinganalysis. TESOL Quarterly, 21(4), 677-696.

Describes recent advances in writing analysis.Claims that text analysis of written products,complementing process-centered research, is neededfor an integrated theory of writing. Reviewssentence-based and process-based empirical studiesin writing analysis, and examines relevantpedagogical implications.

Cook, Marjorie Leona. (1988). The validity of thecontrastive rhetoric hypothesis as it relates toSpanish-speaking advanced ESL students.Dissertation Abstracts International, 49, 09.(University Microfilm Order No. DA 8826125).

Claims that results of paragraph structure analysesand analyses of students' use of overall organizingstructure indicated that Kaplan's hypothesis thatwriting by Spanish-speaking people is digressivedoes not hold.

Cumming, Alister. (1984). Simulation or reality? Agroup project in writing. Carleton papers inapplied language studies, Vol. 1. (ED 264 726]12p.

Reports on a study that uses a fictitiousadministrative letter, as an assignment, requestingESL students to form a committee to prepare a jointreport on the university's contribution to thecommunity. The students had to compile data,deliver oral reports, write the research report,revise drafts, document sources, and do peerediting. They held class meetings to outlinestrategies, discuss problems and methodology, andgive progress reports.

Cumming, Alister. (1985). Responding to the writing of

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ESL- /EFL Composition 5

ESL students. Highway One, 8(1-2), 58-78.

Analyzes the responses of 10 experienced teachers toan essay written by an ESL student, finding thatmost teachers continue to mark only surface errors.

Dunbar, Shirley. (1985). CAI and English compositionfor the multi-cultural/lingual student. Paperpresented at the 20th Annual Meeting of theNortheast Regional Conference on English in the Two-Year College, Portland, ME. [ED 268 5253 8p.

Reports on an ESL program at Bunker Hill CommunityCollege, MA, which uses CAI (computer assistedinstruction) to teach students to like to write anddeals with the tedious process of rewriting anediting. Using "Volkswriter" software, a series ofsteps was designed to help students write paragraphson IBM personal computers. Students spend threehours in the classroom plus two hours in thecomputer lab each week. They are also required toimprove their skills at recognizing sentence errors,improving their vocabulary, and developing readingskills.

Gibson, Deborah. (1986). A student-centered writingcurriculum. TESL Canada Journal, spec. iss. 1, 255-265.

Describes a student-centered noncredit writingcourse for ESL students. It consists of a series ofcomposition assignments with topics determined byclass interests and length determined by thestudent. The students do prewriting activities,drafting, peer critiquing, and rewriting. Theinstructor reads the papers, noting successes andproblems as well as grammatical errors.

Green, Peter S., & Karlheinz. (1985). Native and non-native 'valuation of learners' errors in writtendiscourse. System, 13(2), 77-97.

Reports on a project that administered acommunicative writing task to German school learnersof English and native English pupils. Students'papers were assessed by their respective teachers.The researchers compared the .rman students'performance and their teachers' assessments with theEnglish students' performance and their

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teachers' assessments. They raised questions aboutthe appropriate performance model for communicativetasks and the role of usage in teacher assessments.

Greenberg, Karen L. (1986). The development andvalidation of the TOEFL writing test: A discussionof TOEFL research reports 15 and 19. TESOLQuarterly, 20(3), 531-544.

Claims that the strategies and measures used todevelop the TOEFL writing test are sound andcomprehensive, resulting in deciding upon twowriting tasks for testing (comparison/contrast, witha defense of a position, and description andinterpretation of a graph or chart) on the basis ofsurveys of faculty and administrators. Although theauthor has doubts about the two tests' validity asalternate forms of the test, he believes that theprototype tests are far sounder than many otherwriting tests. Moreover, the two research reportsrepresent a major contribution to the field ofwriting assessment.

Gregg, Joan. (1986). A reader reacts: a comment onBernard A. Mohan and Winnie Au-yeung Lo's "Academicwriting and Chinese students: Transfer anddevelopmental factors." TESOL Quarterly, 20(2),354-358.

Argues that Mohan and Lo should not have dismissedtraditional conventions of writing in Chinese as asignificant source of interference in the expositoryprose of Chinese ESL students. The value system ofClInese society and the linguistic charac4aristicsof the Chinese language shape a culture-specificexpository style--nonpejorative, imitative,inculcative, and indirective.

Halsall, Sharon Weber. (1986). An ethnographic accountof the composing behaviors of five young bilingualchildren. Paper presented at the 67th AnnualMeeting of the American Educational ResearchAssociation, San Francisco, CA. (ED 273 967] 35p.

Reports on an ethnographic study of bilingualchildren's composing behaviors. The researcherobserved 5 bilingual students in kindergartenthrough third grade for 145 hours, conducted formaland informal interviews, and analyzed their


descriptions of what occurred in their day-to-dayenvironment. She iLentified 12 composing behaviors,three of which--reading back, asking confirmationquestions, and concealing writing--were found to bespecific to bilingual students.

Hanania, Edith, & Shikhani, May. (1986).Interrelationships among three tests of languageproficiency: Standardized ESL, cloze, and writing.TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 97-109.

Reports on three tests (cloze, AUB test, andcomposition) administered to 1,572 students.The scores, along with information on studentbackground, were computerized for data analysisusing the SPSS program. Results showed that acombination of cloze test and AUB test improved thepredictability of language ability as indicated bywriting scores. The combination of any twoof the three tests improved the predictability ofthe third. Furthermore, the cloze and writing testsappeared to measure in common some aspects oflanguage ability beyond those that they share withthe AUB test.

Har.-is, David P. (1983). The organizational patternsof adult ESL student narratives: Report of a pilotstudy. Paper presented at the 17th AnnualConvention of TESOL, Toronto, Canada. [ED 275 150]10p.

Reports on a study in which a group of adult nativespeakers of English and a group of adult ESLstudents wrote brief narrative accounts of a storythey had seen on film. A comparison of theorganizational patterns of their writings indicatesthat the writings of native speakers clearly coveredthe six critical elements of the short story,whereas some of the ESL students omitted openingscene-setting elements.

Heath, Robert W. (3985). Teaching information sequencein scientific writing to primary ESL students inSingapore. Paper presented at a regional seminar ofthe SEAMEO Regional Language Center, Singapore. [ED262 602] 17p.

Suggests methods for teaching informationorganization: (2) Bra= -,stormina followed by

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reorganization; (2) a study oi reading passagesleading to parallel writing; and (3) constructingmatrices for discourse organization.

Herrmann, Andrea W. (1985). Word processing in the ESLclass: Integrating reading, writing, listening, andspeaking skills. Paper presented at the AnnualMeeting of the Modern Language Association, Chicago,IL. CED 274 980] 12p.

Advocates creating a writing workshop atmosphereusing computers in the ESL classroom improves theopportunities for integrating all language skills:listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Thecomputer also represents a new way of learning,emphasizing students' problem solving strategies andlearning processes.

Homburg, Taco Justus. (1984). Holistic Evaluation ofESL compositions: Can it be validated objectively?TESOL Quarterly, 18(1), 87-107.

Reports on a study that explores the relationshipbetween holistic scoring and objective measures ofESL writing. 30 compositions were randomly selectedwhich had been holistically graded 5 through 7 on a10-point scale in the Michigan Test of EnglishLanguage Proficiency. Objective measures of thosecompositions included length, subordination andrelativization, sentence connectors, and number andtypes of errors. Statistical processing indicatedthat the objective measures accounted for 84% of thevariance of the subjective grades. The article alsoproposed a funnel model of subjective grading of ESLwriting proficiency.

Horning, Alice S. (1987). Teaching writing as a secondlanguage. Carbondale IL: Southern IllinoisUniversity Press.

Interprets second language acquisition theory andapplies it to writing instruc ion to basic writers.It begins with an attempt to develop a cohesivetheory of writing acquisition that incorporates theredundancy of language and facilitates the processof language acquisition. Deals with academicdiscourse as a separate linguistic systemcharacterized by particular psycholinguisticfeatures, analyzes the behavior of basic writers


with respect to written form, discusses the relevantaffective factors, and details S. D. Krashen'sproposals for a comprehensive theory of secondlanguage acquisition.

Horowitz, Daniel M. (1986). Process, not product: Lessthan meets the eye. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 141-144.

Argues that the process approach fails to preparestudents for an essential type of academic writing,that its inductive orientation is suited only tosome writers and some academic tasks, that itignores the fact that other orientations to asituation could be equally successful, and that itgives students a false impression of how universitywriting is evaluated.

Horowitz, Daniel M. (1986). What professors actuallyrequire: Academic tasks for the ESL classroom.TESOL Quarterly, 20(3), 445-462.

Reports on a study on writing assignments at WesternIllinois University showed that university. Findsthat, generally speaking, the academic writer's taskis not to create personal meaning, but to find,organize, and present data according to fairlyexplicit instructions. Makes a few pedagogicalsuggestions as to how writing teachers can createtasks which simulate the essential characteristicsof real university writing assignments.

Indrasota, C. (1987). A comparison of the writtencompositions of American and Thai students.Dissertation Abstracts International, 48, 07A.(University Microfilms No. 87-21, 663).

Finds narratives written by Thai students in Englishwere more similar in structure to Tnai narrativesthan to English-language narratives.

Intaraprawat, Puangpen. (1988). Metadiscourse innative English speakers' and ESL students'persuasive essays. Dissertation AbstractsInternational, 49, 07. (University Microfilm OrderNo. DA 8818713).

Indicates that the metadiscourse features can beused as an indication of writing proficiency since


the high-rated texts, ESL and NES alike, includemore metadiscourse with wider range of features ineach type than the low-rated counterparts.

Janopoulos, Michael. (1986). The relationship ofpleasure reading and second language writingproficiency. TESOL Quarterly, 20(4), 763-768.

Reports on a study in which 79 internationalgraduate students at Ohio State University in Fall1985 produced a 1-hour writing sample and completeda questionnaire on time spent on pleasure reading.The researcher conducted a loglinear contingencyanalysis of the proficiency levels determined of thebasis of the writing samples and the amounts of Lland L2 pleasure reading. The researcher found apositive correlation between writing proficiency andpleasure reading in English, but no significantcorrelation between totn1 pleasure reading (L144,2)and L2 writing proficiency.

Johns, Ann M. (1986). Conerence and acaden_ic writing:Some definitions and suggestions for teaching.TESOL Quarterly, 20(2), 247-266.

Posits that coherence can be defined as both text-based and reader-based. Therefore, instructors havean obligation to teach coherence comprehensively,taking into account text-based as well as reader-based features. A teaching unit of, at least threelessons is suggested on the basis of moderncoherence principles: encouraging students to learn,through discussing a fellow student's work, torevise drafts from the "top do,:,a," evaluating thethesis in relationship to the prompt and theassertions within the essay and analyzing theinformation structure intended to guide readersthrough the text.

Jones, Stan. (1985). Problems with monitor use insecond language composing. In Mike Rose (Ed.), Whena writer can't write: Studies in writr's block andother composing-process problems(pp. 96-118). NewYork: Guilford.

Discusses how the use of the monitor affects thewriting process: the relation between pausing andmonitor use and that between revision and monitoruse. Concludes that monitoring is not necessarily


.n effective second language strategy.

Jones, Stan, & Tetroe, Jacqaline. (1983). Composingin a second language. In A. Matsuhashi (Ed.),Writing in real time (pp. 34-57). New York: Ablex.

Uses real-time data from think-aloud protocol tocompare the planning and goal-setting processes ofsix adults in their first, proficient language(Spanish) with those in their second, lessproficient language (English). Reports findings asto how writing processes transfer from the first tothe second language.

Kameen, Patrick T. (1983). Syntactic skill and ESLwriting quality. In A. Freeman, I. Pringle, & J.Yalden (Eds.), Learning to write: Firstlanguage/second language (pp. 162-170). New York:Longman.

Reports on a study at at Syracuse University inwhich 50 compositions by ESL students wereholistically graded and analyzed in terms of lengthof writing units, incidence of passive voice, typesof Joining devices between writing units.Statistical analyses indicated a correlation betweenincidence of certain syntactic factors and holisticscores. T-unit length, mean clause length andincidence of passive voice were found to be indexesof writing quality holistically evaluated. However,number of subordinate clauses and mean incidence ofvarious types of clauses did not correlate withholistic grakla's.

Kaplan, R. B. (1983). Contrastive rhetorics: Someimplications for the writing process. In A.Freeman, I. Pringle, & J. Yalden (Eds.), Learning towrite: First language, second language (pp. 139-161).New York: Longman.

Posits that speakers of different languages usedifferent devices to present information, toestablish the relationships among ideas, to show thecentrality of one idea as opposed to another, toselect the most effective means of presentation, todevelop topic and realize focus, topic and focusbeing two principal controlling mechanisms in adiscourse.

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Kaplan, R. B. (1986). Culture and the writtenlanguage. In Joyce Merrill Valdes (Ed.), Culturebound: brid ing the cultural a in lan ua eteaching (pp. 8-19). Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Traces the history of spoken and written language,exploring the impact of the invention of writing andtechnological developments on the relation betweenhuman beings and information and on the structureand content of language. He then indicates a closeconnection between the culture of a society and thewritten language it chooses to use, and callsattention to the effect written language and spokenlanguage have on each other.

Kaplan, R. B. (1988). Contrastive rhetoric and secondlanguage learning: Notes toward a theory ofcontrastive rhetoric. In A. C. Purves (Ed.) ,Writing across languages and cultures: Issues incontrastive rhetoric (pp. 275-304). Beverly Hills,CA: SAGE Publications Inc.

Traces the history of contrastive rhetoric, explainsthe relationship between contrastive rhetoric andtext analysis, enumerates the evidence thatcontrastive rhetoric examines, and fin..11y suggestspedagogical implications.

Khalil, Aziz. (1985). Communicative error evaluation:Native speakers' evaluation and interpretation ofwritten errors of Arab EFL learners. TESOLQuarterly, 19(2), 335-351.

Reports on study conducted to evaluate thecommunicative effect cf a selected sample of errorsin written English made by native Arab learners, bydetermining the effect of error type(grammatical/semantic) and immediate linguisticcontext (in and out of context) on two types ofmeasures: evaluation (intelligibility andnaturalness) and interpretation. The resultsindicated that semantically deviant utterances wereless intelligible than grammatically deviantutterances, that context did not affect nativespeakers ability to interpret the writer's intent,and that there was no association between nativespeakers' judgments on the two measures ofintelligibility and interpretation (comprehension).

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Krashen, S. D. (1984). Writing: research, theory, andapplications. Oxford: Pergamon Press.

Reviews the literature of research on writing,attempts to present a coherent theory of theacquisition of writing ability, relates this theoryto pedagogy, and finally, in an appendix, discussesthe research on and instruction of ESL writing.

Lieber, Paula Ellen. (1980). Cohesion in ESLstudents' expository writing: A descriptive stucly.Dissertation Abstracts International, 41, 02.(University Microfilms Order No. 8017509).

Finds little change over 14 weeks in the use ofdifferent categories of cohesive devices. Studentsrelied most heavily on lexical devices. They alsoused a considerable number of reference items, and,to a lesser extent, conjunctions. (Developedanalysis unit: the functional unit of discourse, orF-unit, comprising the set of clauses and clauseequivalents serving an identifiable rhetoricalfunction in written discourse.)

Aatalene, Carolyn. (1985). Contrastive rhetoric: AnAmerican writing teacher in China. College English,47(8), 789-808.

Argues that a culture's rhetoric constitutes aninterface where the prescriptions of the languagemeet the practices of the culture. The writingsystem of the Chinese language mandates memorizationas the central process of education, and memory isthe most important component of Chinese rhetoric.As the Chinese culture values uniformity and socialharmony, to achieve social harmony and to expressthe views of the group referring to tradition andrelying on accepted patterns of expression are thecentral purposes and practices of Chinese rhetoric.To be indirect in discourse, to expect the audienceto infer meaning is a defining characteristic ofChinese rhetoric.

McDaniel, Barbara A. (1985). Rating vs. equity in theevaluation of writingg. Paper presented at the 36thAnnual Meeting of the Conference on CollegeComposition and Communication, kineapolis, MN. LED260 4597 24p.

ESL/2FL Composition 14

Reports on a study analyzed 2,000 essays by ESL andnon-ESL students which have been evaluatedanalytically in three categories: (I) contentdevelopment acid organization, (2) sentences, and (3)words. Results suggested that evaluators of largescale essay tests do not appear to respond in thesame way toward essays written by ESL and non-ESLstudents.

McKay, Sandra. (1983). Some limitations in teachingcomposition. Paper presented at the 17th AnnualConvention of TESOL, Toronto, Canada. EED 275 151]9p.

Argues that teaching ESL composition is limited bythe degree to which students can be providedknowledge about +he writing topic; their informationabout the .expectations of the audiences; theteacher's ability to involve students in the writingprocess sufficiently to enable them to consciouslyselect methods to suit their writing intentions; andthe degree to which students can be encouraged toappreciate self-evaluation.

Mohan, Bernard A. (1986). Response to Gregg: Onevidence for cross-cultural rhetoric. TESOLQuarterly, 20(2), 358-361.

Argues that Gregg does not give evidence to supporther claims about the different characteristics ofAmerican prose and Chinese prose, yr transfereffects on Chinese students writing in English.

Mohan, Bernard A., & Lo, Winnie Au-yeung. (1985).Academic writing and Chinese students: Transfer anddevelopmental factors. TESOL Quarterly, 19(3), 515-534.

Challenge Kaplan's claim that organizationalproblems in ESL academic writing are due to cross-cultural differences in rhetoric, and posit thatdevelopmental factors may be responsible for theproblems. They find that the organizational patternof Chinese writing does not differ markedly fromthat of English, after examining classical texts anda few modern works on Chinese composition.Therefore they infer that language transfer is not

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the cause of problems. In order to probe thedevelopmental factors, the authors surveyed Englishteachers in Hong Kong and British Columbia as wellas 30 Chinese students from Hong Kong who arestudying in Vancouver. They conclude from theirfindings that the source of the differences inorganization lies in the emphasis of the Englishlanguage instruction to which the students areexposed.

Nelson, Marie. (1985). Teaching "writing" to ESLstudents: A process-based approach. WATESOL workingpapers, No. 2.

Presents a college-level ESL composition course thatuses a "freewriting" technique and de-emphasizesrules and structures to emphasize writingstrategies. The method is modeled on the teacher'sown writing method, classroom experience, andwriting theory.

Norment, Nathaniel, Jr. (1982). Contrastive analysesof organizational structures and cohesive elementsin English, Spanish (ESL) and Chinese (ESL)students' writing in narrative and expository modes.Urbana, IL: RIE/ERIC. CED 269 764] 33p.

Analyzes writing samples to determine thedifferences and similarities between theorganizations of written English by Chinese-,English- and Spanish-speaking college students.Results indicate that (1) there was a distinctorganizational structure in the sample of allstudents, (2) the organizational structure wasproduced across modes, (3) the frequency andpercentage of use of cohesive devices were distinctfor each language group, (4) all the subjectsproduced more sentences and used more cohesivedevices when writing in the narrative than in theexpository mode.

Norment, Nathaniel, Jr. (1986). Organizationalstructures of Chinese subjects writing in Chineseand in ESL. Journal of Chinese Language TeachersAssociation, 21(3), 49-72.

Reports on a study conducted of the organizationalstructures of 30 Chinese students' writings in bothnarrative and expository modes in Chinese and


English. The Milic Logical Categories were used toidentify ,sentence types and organizational patternsin the writing samples. Results indicated strongsimilarities in organizational structure acrosslanguages and across modes.

Perkins, Kyle. (1983). On the use of compositionscoring techniques, objective measures, andobjective tests to evaluate ESL writing. TESOLQuarterly, 17(4), 651-671.

Outlines the assumptions, procedures, andconsegrences for the use of composition scoringtechniques, objective measures, and objective teststo evaluate ESL writing ability. Discusses eachtechnique or measure's strengths, weaknesses, andrecommended uses.

Perkins, Kyle. (1984). A regression analysis of directand indirect measures of English as a secondlanguage composition. Paper presented at theInternational Symposium on Language Teaching,Colchester, England. (ED 275 170] 13p.

Reports on a study on the strength of relationshipsbetween direct measures (holistic scores for freewriting samples) and indirect measures (the Test ofAbility to Subordinate) of attained writingproficiency in ESL. Finds substantial correlationsbetween the two measures. Stepwise multipleregression analysis indicated that both direct andindirect measures of writing accounted forsubstantial variance in a direct measure variable.Offers explanations of the remaining variance in thedependent variable.

Peyton, Joy Kreeft. (1986). Literacy through writtencommunication. Passage, 2(1), 24-29.

Argues that dialogue journals serve as conversationsbetween teacher and student, providing a student-centered, communicative activity in which literacyskills can develop naturally, adaptable to a varietyof learning situations and learner needs, and tostudents at all levels from beginning literacy tohigh proficiency, including ESL learners.

Purves, Alan C. (1986). Rhetorical communities, theinternational student, a d basic writing. Journal

18


of Basic Writing, 5(1), 38-51.

Claims that the International Association for theEvaluation of Education Achievement study findsnational rhetorical communities. Writing fromdifferent national rhetorical communities may varyalong several continua: Personal-Impersonal,Ornamented-Plain, Abstract-Concrete, Single (point) -Multiple (points), Open-Closed, Propositional-Appositional, characterizing-narrating, andinductive-deductive. The variation may also reflectpower-distance index. A teacher should be aware ofthe difficulties international students experiencein moving from one national rhetorical communityinto another, and should teach them the conventionsof the new community.

Raimes, Ann. (1983). Techniques in teaching writingNew York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Surveys the different approaches to teaching writingin ESL classas, before it presents techniques inplanning the class, using pictures, using readings,using all language skills, teaching practicalwriting, using controlled writing, teachingorganization, and responding to students' writing.Specific classroom activities are offered for eachcategory of techniques.

Raimes, Ann. (1983). Anguish as a second language?Remedies for composition teachers. In A. Freeman,I. Pringle, & J. Yalden (Eds.), Learning to write:First language/second language (pp. 258-272). NewYork: Longman.

Argues that many ESL composition courses havestressed the rule-governed forms of the secondlanguage: grammar, syntax, and rhetorical patterns.As a result, the primary functions of composing-thinking and expressing ideas--are neglected.Offers a few remedies: giving carefully chosenassignments that include suggestions as to how to goabout writing them; responding to the ideasexpressed when marking papers; and providingreadings that help students see exactly what isinvolved in writing well.

Raimes, Ann. (1985). What unskilled ESL students doas they write: A classroom study of composing.


TESOL Quarterly, 19(2), 229-258.

Reports on a classroom study of eight ESL students'composing processes, employing the think-aloudprotocol method. Finds that unskilled L2 writersbehave differently than unskilled Ll writers,showing a greater commitment, a lesser fear ofmaking errors, a greater concern with getting ideason paper, and an evidence of the act of writingserving "to generate language."

Reid, Joy. (1984). The radical outliner and theradical brainstcrmer: A perspective on composingprocesses. TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), 529-533.

Argues that there are different composing processesrather that one single process. Students in acomposition class may be all along the continuumbetween the radical outliner and the radicalbrainstormer. Writing teachers should heightenstudents' awareness of their individual writingstrategies and make the instruction of writing moreflexible.

Richmond, Kent. (1985). Prose models and the ESLwriting lesson. Paper presented at the 16th annualmeeting of CATESOL, San Diego, CA. CED 263 765711p.

Claims that the process-centered approach to writinginstruction has a number of drawbacks, and prosemodels can overcome some of them. Properly designedmodels can be used to show how writers with limitedEnglish proficiency can solve a communicationproblem in an acceptable, idiomatic, and concise way.Exposure to a great number of models can helpstudents increase the range of content areas, andbuild up an inventory of adaptable cliches.

Robb, Thomas, Ross, Steven, & Shortreed, Ian. (1986).Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFLwriting quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 83-95.

Reports on an empirical study which, involving 134Japanese college freshmen, investigated the relativemerits of indirect and direct feedback on error bycontrasting four types of error treatment differingin salience of information for making revisions.Negligible differences were found among the groups


of subjects on most of the criterion measures.However, the researchers believe that the resultssuggest that less time-consuming methods ofdirecting student attention to surface error maysuffice.

Sanchey-Excobar, A. (1984). A contrastive study ofthe rhetorical patterns of English and Spanish.Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 05A. (UMNo. DA 8417036).

Finds that Spanish writers write paragraphs andsentences with more words, but that American writerstend to use more subordinate sentences and moresubordinate and mixed paragraphs.

Santos, Terry. (1988). Professors' reaction to theacademic writing of nonnative-speaking students.TESOL Quarterly, 22(1), 69-0.

Reports on a study on the reactions of 178professors to two ESL compositions. Finds thatcontent receives lower ratings than language, thatprofessors regard errors as academicallyunacceptable, with lexical ert-ors rated as the mostserious, that professors in the humanities/socialsciences are more lenient in their judgments, andthat older professors were less irritated by errors.

Saunders, Mary Anne. (1986). The fail-safe microresearch paper. WATESOL working papers, No. 3.CED 274 202] 10p.

Recommends a "micro research paper" (about threepages long) in place of the traditional researchpaper to guarantee students' success in researchwriting. On the assignment the instructor exercisescontrol over most of the process, creating instudents an awareness of current events andcontroversial issues, guiding students in practicingnecessary writing skills, choosing v topic, locatingsources in library, making the final selection ofarticles, reading and analyzing articles,synthesizing information, documenting the sourcematerial, and writing the paper. The resultantpapers are evaluated for content, organization,grammar, mechanics, and vocabulary, and retilrned forstudent revision, with at least an hour ofindividual student-instructor conference.

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Scarcella, Robin. (1984).. How writers orient theirreaders in expository essays: A comparative study ofnative and non-native English writers. TESOLQuarterly, 18(4), 671-688.

Reports on a study that analyzed a total of 110essays (30 native English and non-native English) toexplore the orienting skills of native and non-native English speakers. Finds that nativeEnglish writers use a variety of linguistic devicesto engage their readers' attention and help theirreaders identify the participants, objects, andevents about which they write. By contrast, non-native English writers are more limited in theirability to orient their readers.

Shabrami, Carol J. Thymian. (1988). The role of firstlanguage background and major in the development ofthe expository writing of Japanese and Hispanicgraduate students. Dissertation AbstractsInternational, 49, 08. (University Microfilm OrderNo. DA 815046).

Reveals that while fluency does not appear to be adevelopmental trend, syntactic complexity andwriting quality improve over time for all groups dueto specific feedback, practice and extensive. readingin the major field.

Shih, May. (1986). Content-based approaches toteaching academic writing. TESOL Quarterly, 20(4),617-648.

Argues that the content-based approaches are betterthan the pattern-centered, functional, and process-centered approaches. The following five content-based instructional approaches are useful: topic-centered minicourses; content-baspd academic writingcourses; content-centered ESP courses; compositionor multiskill EAP courses/tutorials as adjuncts todesignated university courses; and individualizedhelp with course-related writing et.'5 times of need.

Siu, Kwai-peng. (1986). The effects of mode onsyntactic and rhetorical complexity for EFL studentsat three grade levels. (Master's thesis). HongKong: Chinese University of Hong Kong.(ED 274 1633 218p.

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Reports on a study on the narrative andargumentative compositions by 40 university Englishmajors, 40 form four and 40 form six secondarystudents in Hong Kong. Finds that all the subjectsexperienced difficulty in handling the argumentativemode at the syntactic and rhetorical levels.Concludes that the EFL students at those gradelevels have not been taught the rhetorical skills towrite argumentations, and suggests that the usefulacademic skill of writing argumentative compositionsbe consciously taught in the classroom.

Spack, Ruth. (1984). Invention strategies and the ESLcollege composition student. TESOL Quarterly,18(4), 649-670.

Discusses a variety of invention activities,provides a rationale for teaching invention in anacademic writing course, and suggests in conclusionthat ESL students can benefit from instruction ininvention which is adapted to meet their needs.

Spack, Ruth. (1985). Literature, reading, writing, andESL: Bridging the gaps. TESOL Quarterly, 19(4),703-725.

Claims that the study of literature can bebeneficial to ESL students, even those in technicalfields, and writing about literature can be anappropriate assignment for a composition class. Thearticle also describes a literature and compositioncourse which demonstrates how ESL students canprofit from instruction which focuses on theinterrelationship of reading and writing,recommending write-before-you-read exercises,response heuristics, and literary journals.

Spack, Ruth. (1988). Initiating ESL students intothe academic discourse community: How far should wego? TESOL Quarterly, 22(1), 29-51.

Argues that writing in disciplines should be taughtby the teachers of those disciplines and that ESLcomposition teachers should concentrate on teachinggeneral principles of inquiry and rhetoric.

Spack, Ruth, & Sadow, Catherine. (1983). Student-teacher working journals in ESL freshman

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composition. TESOL Quarterly, 17(4), 575-593.

Recommends student-teacher working journal, usingtopics that grow out of thfs writing class, engagingthe teacher in writing journals to the class on thesame topics. Claims student-teacher workingjournals can help develop a group awareness aroundthe issues relevant to ESL composition, enablestudents to see writing as a way to generate ideasand to share them, and also involve the teacher asparticipants in the writing process.

Taborek, Elizabeth, & Adamowski, Eleanor. (1984). Toseal up one's mouth three times: Understanding theeducation and linguistic differences that confrontChinese students in ESL writing classes. TESL Talk,15(3), 88-95.

Examines the difficulties Chinese students inCanadian universities encounter in writing English.As a result of their scant experience in creative orfree writing, Chinese students find it difficult toconform to a western format of writing style. Thisproblem has to be solved through an understanding ofChinese culture and language.

Tegey, Margery. (1985). A structured approach toteaching composition. WATESOL working papers, No.2. [ED 267 585] 12 p.

Describes a structured approach to ESL compositioninstruction at the college level which presentscomposing and idea generation as a complex,systematic whole. It uses eight writing stages,each of which has two constantly interacting facets,thinking and writing.

Vann, Roberta J. (1981). Bridging the gap between oraland written communication in EFL. In Barry M. Kroll& Roberta J. Vann (Eds.), Exploring speaking-writingrelationships: Connections and contrasts (pp. 154-167). Urbana, IL: NCTE.

Summarizes the traditions in teaching writing toEFL students, pointing out the weaknesses in thosetraditions. Then presents a three-level model ofspeaking and writing development for the EFL learnerfor examining the writing development in EFL inrelation to oral language. Finally offers some

94,


pedagogical suggestions.

Vann, Roberta J., Meyer, D. E.,& Lorenz, F. 0. (1984).Error gravity: A study of faculty opinion of ESLerrors. TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), 427-440.

Reports on a survey conducted at Iowa StateUniversity to measure how faculty respond to 12typical ESL written errors occurring in 24sentences. Results indicate that most of the 164respondents found some errors were more serious thanothers, and their Judgments generated a hierarchy oferrors. It was also found that faculty responses toerrors might be related to their age and academicdisciplines.

Wallace, Ray. (1986). Listening and writing skills inthe ESL composition class. Exercise Exchange,32(1), 33-34.

Describes an ESL composition course that is modifiedinto an English for academic purposes class. Inaddition to the emphasis on writing, it integratesthe other language skills. It has four phases:discussing lecture-listening and note-taking skills;applying those skills to write a report on aselected lecture; having the lecturer comment on thereport; and revising the report, following one ortwo conferences with the composition instructor.

Weissgerg, Robert C. (1984). Given and new: Paragraphdevelopment models from scientific English. TESOLQuarterly, 18(3), 485-500.

Reports on an analysis of sixty paragraphs frompublished research reports and claims that the topicdevelopment patterns of new/given information aspropred by Danes (1974) are the regular features ofparagraph construction of scientific English.Offers a classroom procedure for teaching new/giveninformation principles that consists of "analysis,""information transfer," and "extension."

Widdowson, G. H. (1983). New starts and differentkinds of failure. In A. Freeman, I. Pringle, & J.Yalden (Eds.), Learning to write: Firstlanguage/second language (pp. 34-47). New York:Longman.

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Observes that learning to write is beset withdifficulties arising from the differences betweenspeaking and writing. The writer has to conduct acovert non-reciprocal interactirn with a presumedInterlocutor and record his personal participationin such a way that the reader will be able to derivea coherent discourse from it. At the same time, nhas to produce a text which conforms to standards ofsocial acceptability and which is correct andcohesive as a linguistic artifact. In all theseaspects, L2 learners have different difficultiesthan Ll learners.

Woods, Devon. (1984). A process orientation in ESLwriting. Carleton papers in applied languss_estudies, Vol. 1. CED 264 724j 38p.

First discusses what it means to focus on theprocess rather than the product, and brieflysummarizes the conception of reading and writingevolving from recent research. Then it discusseshow this orientation or focus translates into courseobjectives, and classroom activities.

Zamel, Vivian. (1983). The composing processes ofadvanced ESL students: Six case "udies. TESOLOuart6-'1y, 17(1), 167-187.

Reports on a case study on the expository composingprocesses of six advanced ESL students. Concludesthat the relationship between process and quality ofwriting among non-native speakers are the same asthat among native speakers: poor writers worrya great deal about adhering to an outline andgetting vocabulary and grammar correct the firsttime, while good writers explore and clarify ideasfi,=t.

Zamel, Vivian. (1983). Teaching those missing links inwriting. ELT Jou:al, 37,(1), 92-29.

Claims that the semantic and syntactic restrictionsofcohesive device are often neglected, giving theimpression that they can be used interchangeably.Suggests more effective strategies for presentingthose devices, including methods of teachingconnections within sentences and between largerunits of discourse.


Zemel, Vivian. (1983). In search of the key: Researchand practice in composition. Paper presented at the17th Annual Conference of TESOL, Toronto, Canada.CED 275 152] 14p.

Proposes methods for teachers to involve students inthe writing process and thereby better prepare themto become independent writers. Some of theactivities suggested are allowing students to becreative and purposeful in their writing; initiatingfree-writing activities that develop skills forexploring and discovering fresh ideas; and observingstudents' writing process closely and noting areasof difficulty.

Zamel, Vivian. (1985). Responding to student writing.TESOL Quarterly, 19(1), 79-101.

Reports on a study of 15 teachers' responses to 105student texts. Finds that like L1 writing teachers,ESL teachers misread student texts, are inconsistentin their reactions, make arbitrary corrections,write contradictory comments, provide vagueprescriptions, impose abstract rules and standards,respond to texts as fixed and final products, andrarely make content-specific comments or offerspecific strategies for revising the text. They areeven more concerned with language-specific errorsand problems. Suggests that teachers respond towriting as work in progress, as interested readersrather than as judges and evaluators, using moreappropriate strategies.

Zamel, Vivian. (1987). Recent research on writingpedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 21(4), 697-715.

Claims that Lidings from process research have notbeen translated into pedagogy. Points to newinterest in classroom-based investigations as a wayto better understand the links between writingbehavior and writing pedagogy and the ways in whichcontextual factors influence the development ofstudents as writers.

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