The relevance of the three core executive functions for text quality and individual text features had already been shown in a number of studies with novice writers. However, experimental data on the influence of executive functions in adult, skilled writers are rare. This cross-sectional study thus investigated how inhibition, updating, and shifting are related to text quality and relevant individual text features in skilled writers. Sixty-three adult, skilled writers wrote an explanatory text. The text product was used to analyze text quality (as perceived by the recipient) and individual text features (information content, cohesion, lexical diversity, appropriate words, syntactic complexity). Executive functions were assessed with standardized tests. Analyses highlighted the importance of conveying cohesive information when writing explanatory texts. Regarding the role of executive functions, inhibition significantly influenced information content and cohesion; updating influenced the use of appropriate words; and shifting influenced perceived text quality. These findings emphasize that executive functions play an important role in writing not only for novice writers but across the lifespan, whereby their influence changes with development and expertise.
While student engagement with peer feedback from the recipient’s perspective has gained significant traction in recent L2 writing research, little attention has been given to the provider, who also plays a crucial role in this peer activity. This case study, therefore, explored how EFL students of varying proficiency levels engage with peer feedback affectively, behaviorally, and cognitively from the providers’ perspective in the Vietnamese context. Using a qualitative research method that draws upon data sources including students’ feedback, their reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews, the findings revealed the students’ varying engagement in giving peer feedback. The students were excited about the activity; however, their efforts and time management in providing feedback, the types of feedback they offered, their cognitive operations, and their strategies were inconsistent due to individual and sociocultural factors. Pedagogical implications for fostering and sustaining student engagement while giving feedback on L2 writing are discussed.
Expository text writing is an essential skill for EFL primary school students, particularly where English is the medium of instruction. This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of explicit text structure instruction on the expository text writing of grade 7 EFL learners. Two intact groups of learners were randomly selected from two schools and designated as the experimental (n=44) and control (n=39) groups. The experimental group received explicit text structure instruction in two phases, while the control group followed the regular curriculum. Analysis of the post-test data using ANCOVA indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in text structure identification (η2= 0.34), as well as in writing simple descriptive (η² = 0.28) and cause-and-effect paragraphs (η² = 0.37). An in-depth analysis of the participants’ writings showed that the experimental group included more main ideas/supportive details, and more precise word choices in their simple descriptive (η2=0.57 and η2=0.07) and cause-and-effect paragraphs (η2=0.43 and η2=0.35), respectively, with effect sizes ranging from medium to large. Moreover, the participants in the experimental group demonstrated significant improvements in their topic sentence writing quality, particularly in simple descriptive paragraphs (η² = 0.06), with a medium effect size. Finally, the study concludes with practical implications for EFL writing instruction and recommendations for future research.
Very few research studies of the teaching of grammar and writing had been carried out with children younger than eight-years-old prior to the research reported in this paper. The research evaluated a new approach to teaching grammar and writing called Englicious. A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) and Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE) research design, featuring 1,246 pupils aged six to seven-years-old in 70 primary school classes, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of Englicious for improving children’s writing. The approach was implemented in the context of the programs of study for grammar teaching in England’s national curriculum. The research found that there was no effect of the grammar teaching intervention on pupils’ narrative writing. The effect size for pupils’ sentence generation was sufficient to merit reflections about potential impacts of aspects of the intervention although this outcome also did not reach statistical significance. It is hypothesised that the manipulation of words, phrases and sentences, combined with practice at writing, may have contributed to any positive effect, although this would need to be confirmed in future research. It is concluded that until more research is done to investigate the effectiveness of different approaches to teaching grammar and writing with young children, existing evidence-based approaches are more likely to be effective to help young pupils’ narrative writing. England’s national curriculum specifications for teaching grammar and writing could usefully be reviewed to more closely reflect the evidence base from this field of writing research.
Doctoral dissertation writing is a demanding process requiring writers to navigate complex rhetorical, disciplinary, and institutional expectations. This study examines how doctoral writers perceive and handle these challenges. More than 1000 reflections were collected from 278 participants across seven years of dissertation writing retreats. Through their reflections, writers articulate how they negotiate the dissertation's distinctive parameters, particularly in adapting writing practices to new rhetorical contexts, managing complex research tasks, and developing sustained project timelines. Participants’ reflections also illustrate three distinct approaches to managing writing tasks: strategic problem-solving, affirmative progress recognition, and responsive integration of both approaches. Writers demonstrating a responsive approach, combining practical solutions with positive self-acknowledgment, showed enhanced goal completion compared to those employing strategic approaches alone. This research extends current theoretical frameworks of genre use by considering the relationship between metacognitive problem-solving and positive affect during dissertation drafting. Data suggest that successful genre navigation of dissertations often depends on writers' ability to develop compensatory mechanisms when faced with the tacit or occluded nature of the dissertation expectations. These findings contribute to writing theory by exploring how writers manage complex genres and offer principles for structuring doctoral writing support.
