Understanding text-based studies of linguistic development through goals for academic writing

Abstract Numerous studies of written language development have shown minimal improvement over the course of an instructional period, yet these solely text-based studies offer little explanation for the lack of changes in writers’ language because little is reported about the classroom and the participants. The purpose of this study is to use goal theory to better understand students’ instructional contexts and their writing behaviors as they relate to textual features. We focused on six students in two English for academic purposes (EAP) writing classes, in which we conducted observations and teacher interviews. Students filled out an open-ended survey, wrote two essays using keystroke logging software, and participated in stimulated recall sessions. We first evaluated how instructional goals and practices aligned with students’ goals and writing behaviors. We first found that the instructors’ and students’ language-related goals did not completely match. Students had the goal of improving their language, but teachers focused on more global writing issues. In addition, teachers had a goal that students become independent editors of their language, but students missed opportunities to edit. A secondary yet important methodological finding was that the use of timed writing tasks in text-based studies did not allow students to apply explicit grammatical knowledge that the instructors expected the students to have. Pedagogical, research design, and assessments implications are provided.