Writing and Language Learning

The current volume aspires to add to previous research on the connection between writing and language learning from a dual perspective: It seeks to reflect current progress in the domain as well as to foster future developments in theory and research. The theoretical postulations contained in Part I identify and expand in novel ways the diverse lenses through which the varied, multi-faceted dimensions of the connection between writing and language learning can be explored. The methodological reflections put forward in Part III signal theoretically-grounded and pedagogically-relevant paths along which future empirical work can grow. The empirical studies reported in Part II illuminate the myriad of individual, educational, and task-related variables that (may) mediate short-term and long-term language learning outcomes. These studies examine diverse forms of writing, performed in varied environments (including pen-and-paper and digital writing), conditions (writing individually and/or collaboratively), and instructional settings (academic settings – including secondary school and college level institutions – as well as out-of-school contexts).

Emily Dux Speltz and Evgeny Chukharev-Hudilainen, Iowa State University, in Journal of Writing Research, 13(2), 323-327, 2021:
Writing and language learning: Advancing research agendas positions itself as a valuable contribution to the areas of second language acquisition and writing studies. The book effectively synthesizes past work, presents cutting-edge research on task-related issues, writing conditions, writing processes, and written corrective feedback for language learning purposes, and offers myriad implications for future research agendas in the field. Any researcher wishing to further investigate the intersection between writing and language learning would benefit from a close examination of this book and its proposed research agendas.