Paul Kei Matsuda

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Arizona State University

With advances in artificial intelligence (AI), many language teachers have started exploring the classroom implications of AI-powered technology, including machine translation (MT). To examine the usefulness of MT technology in writing instruction, we conducted a mixed-methods study comparing two types of written feedback: comprehensive direct Teac...

In this short coda to the special issue, Paul Kei Matsuda connects some of his previous work on the disciplinarity of second language writing to issues raised in this issue about the place of L2 writing in Canada and beyond.

The disciplinary status of second language writing has important consequences for second language writing specialists but there has not been a clear and shared conception of the nature of disciplinarity and what it means to be a "field" or "discipline." This article offers definitions of key terms that are important in continuing the discussion of...

The study intends to provide insights into First-year Composition (FYC) instructors’ beliefs and practices of integrating multimodal writing into the curriculum. Of particular interest is how the beliefs are translated into practices and how such process is mediated by various factors. The study was conducted with nine graduate teaching assistants...

This article reports on two quasi-experimental studies that investigated the possible development and transfer of audience awareness in novice EFL writers as they engaged in online writing tasks through a Social Networking Service (SNS). Japanese students from two universities were asked to write, read, and comment on other students’ writing once a...

In this chapter, we explore rhetoric and writing as two important considerations of advanced second language acquisition. We elaborate on how these two considerations influence the development of socially situated language acquisition. Brief overviews will be provided for both, and existing models will be explored to affirm the unique contributions...

Classroom writing assessment is one of the most important duties teachers undertake; it is also one of the responsibilities many teachers find challenging. This entry outlines the issues in classroom writing assessment and lays out best practices, with an emphasis on the use of assessment as a learning tool. Specifically, it delineates several ways...

Studies on writing development have grown in diversity and depth in recent decades, but remain fragmented along lines of theory, method, and age ranges or populations studied. Meaningful, competent writing performances that meet the demands of the moment rely on many kinds of well-practiced and deeply understood capacities working together; however...

Graduate Studies in Second Language Writing advances scholarship on graduate study and professionalization in the field of second language writing by addressing the ways in which an array of processes and personal interactions shape the experiences of those who are entering the field, as well as those who provide them with guidance and support. By...

This article provides an overview of theoretical and research issues in the study of writer identity in written discourse. First, a historical overview explores how identity has been conceived, studied, and taught, followed by a discussion of how writer identity has been conceptualized. Next, three major orientations toward writer identity show how...

A concerned group of L2 professionals write an open letter to express their concern that the terms "L2 writing" and "translingual writing" have become almost interchangeable in writing studies publications and conferences and further argue that much will be lost if "translingual writing" replaces "L2 writing." Each are distinct areas of research an...

Translingual writing is all the rage among scholars and teachers of writing studies in the united states. The last decade has seen a plethora of publications on this topic, many of which have received prestigious awards, and conferences have highlighted translingual writing and related topics. It seems that translingual writing has established itse...

Second Language Writing Pedagogy

We present a review of literature drawn from two prominent journals in the fields of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL Quarterly) and English Education (Research in the Teaching of English) that publish writing research regarding secondary and lower-division postsecondary learners. The purpose of the review is to compare how th...

The field of second language (L2) writing has moved beyond the false dichotomies between process- and genre-based pedagogies perpetuated in the 1980s and 1990s, but there has still been little research on how the two are actually reconciled in the classroom. Consequently, L2 writing instructors are left with an incomplete picture, unsure how to inc...

First-year composition in U.S. higher education has been a major site of L2 writing research. Despite the historical division between mainstream first-year composition and L2 writing, there has been an increasing interest in integrating insights from L2 writing research into the professional literature in rhetoric and composition and writing progra...

Historiography is the methodology for historical research.

Kelly Ritter and Paul Kei Matsuda have created an essential introduction to the field of composition studies for graduate students and instructors new to the study of writing. The book offers a careful exploration of this diverse field, focusing specifically on scholarship of writing and composing. Within this territory, the authors draw the bounda...

The student population in U.S. college composition programs is not what it used to be. This statement rings true regardless of which period in the history of composition we happen to choose as a reference point-in fact, composition studies evolved in response to a series of literacy crises (Lunsford, "Politics"). Yet, the implications of the demogr...

Voice in written language — a metaphorical concept capturing the sense of author identity that comes through when readers interact with texts — has intrigued many writing teachers and researchers. While some teachers regard voice to be an essential feature of good writing, others consider it to be unnecessary, if not distracting, especially in the...

In an increasingly globalized world, writing courses, situated as they are in local institutional and rhetorical contexts, need to prepare writers for global writing situations. Taking introductory technical communication in the United States as a case study, this article describes how and to what extent global perspectives are incorporated into wr...

This paper focuses on reading as a central act of communication in the tutorial session. Writing center tutors without extensive experience reading writing by second language writers may have difficulty getting past the many differences in surface-level features, organization, and rhetorical moves. After exploring some of the sources of these diffe...

Leading scholars in composition, education, and literacy studies critique the English monolingualism dominating the study and teaching of college composition and pursue approaches that embrace the multilingualism and that pose cross-language writing as the norm for teaching and research. Copyright © 2010 by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois...

Studies of blind manuscript review have illustrated that readers often form impressions of or speculate about unknown authors' identities in the manuscript review task. In this article, the authors extend that work by examining the discursive and nondiscursive features that play a role in readers' active construction of author voice. Through a surv...

This is a book review.

This volume explores contrastive rhetoric for audiences in both ESL contexts and international EFL contexts, exposing the newest developments in theories of culture and discourse and pushing the boundaries beyond any previously staked ground. The book presents a comprehensive set of empirical investigations involving a number of first languages; 13...

Some researchers have argued that voice is irrelevant to academic writing and that the importance of voice has been overstated in the professional literature [Helms-Park, R., & Stapleton, P. (2003); Stapleton, P. (2002)]. To investigate whether and how a socially oriented notion of voice—defined as “the amalgamative effect of the use of discursive...

Margie Berns is Professor of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Director of the graduate program in ESL at Purdue University. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Illinois in 1985. Her research focuses on English in the global context, language policy and planning, and second language studies, with emphasis on the sociol...

In "English Only and U.S. College Composition," Bruce Horner and John Trimbur identify the tacit policy of unidirectional English monolingualism, which makes moving students toward the dominant variety of English the only conceivable way of dealing with language issues in composition instruction. This policy of unidirectional monolingualism is an i...

The author suggests that English-only classrooms are not only the implicit goal of much language policy in the United States, but also assumed to be already the case, an ironic situation in light of composition’s historical role as “containing” language differences in U.S. higher education. He suggests that the myth of linguistic homogeneity has se...

Books reviewed:Japanese English: Language and Culture Contact. James Stanlaw.

This article is based on an invited colloquium on second language (L2) writing presented at the 2002 meeting of the American Association for Applied Linguistics. The colloquium featured five L2 writing researchers who discussed some of the important currents that have, over the last decade, shaped the field of second language writing.

The book addresses issues in the field of teaching academic writing to non-native speakers. This book provides a series of discussions about multiple aspects of second language writing, presenting chapters that collectively address a range of issues that are important to new teachers at the post-secondary level. The 13 chapters provide scholarly vi...

While the term post-process can be useful as a heuristic for expanding the scope of the field of second language writing, the uncritical adoption of this and other keywords can have serious consequences because they often oversimplify the historical complexity of the intellectual developments they describe. In order to provide a critical understand...

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Introduces this special issue of the journal on early second language (L2) writing. (Author/VWL)

The study of electronic discourse in the computers and composition field has thus far focused mostly on the English language while electronic discourse practices in non-European languages have received relatively little attention. This article examines the discursive construction of identity and power in a Japanese online discourse community by foc...

This work is divided into two sections: (1) an annotated bibliography of full-length, published, (mostly) basic research on second language writing and overviews thereof, and (2) an unannotated bibliography of both basic and applied research (mostly unpublished) and commentary on second language composing. Both sections have been arranged in chrono...

While the study of written discourse that informs the field of L2 writing has generated many insights into its generalizable features, individual variations have largely been neglected. This article explores the possibilities for the study of divergent aspects of discursive practices by focusing on the notion of voice and considers the implications...

While the study of written discourse that informs the field of L2 writing has generated many insights into its generalizable features, individual variations have largely been neglected. This article explores the possibilities for the study of divergent aspects of discursive practices by focusing on the notion of voice and considers the implications...

This article presents a successful case of collaborative teacher development that draws on the diverse backgrounds of emerging teachers, including their native languages. Specifically, the article focuses on the use of electronic dialogue journals as a way of facilitating autonomy and collaboration in teacher education. The roles of teacher educato...

The number of second language writers in US higher education has been increasing continuously during the latter half of the 20th century. Today, there are over 480,000 international students, the majority of whom come from countries where English is not the dominant language. In addition, there is an equally significant number of permanent resident...

Although the number of nonnative speakers of English in U.S. institutions of higher education has been increasing continuously during the last four decades, the development of composition studies does not seem to reflect this trend.

Considers a cross-cultural composition course as a placement option. Outlines the main points of the composition course: writing projects and activities; providing an English-as-a-Second-Language-friendly environment; discussing opportunities for cross-cultural learning; and implementing cross-cultural composition. (SC)

Just like their native-English-speaking peers, the many international students participating in United States higher education are subject to the institutional practices of composition studies. Those international students who are also English as a Second Language (ESL) students have special needs. In addition to the obvious grammar problems, many...

Although the writing needs of English as a Second Language (ESL) students in U.S. higher education have been increasing as the number of ESL students continues to rise, institutional practices that are responsive to the unique needs of ESL writers are yet to be developed. The relative lack of attention to ESL issues in writing programs may be relat...

This is just a book review. Please don't request this one.

The notion of contrastive rhetoric was first proposed as a pedagogical solution to the problem of L2 organization, and the subsequent development in research has generated, among other valuable insights, three explanations for the organizational structures of L2 texts, including linguistic, cultural, and educational explanations. However, the contr...

Although the number of English as a Second Language (ESL) students in United States colleges and universities has increased over the past decades, there has been no corresponding increase in the level of attention given to the special needs of these students in composition classrooms. ESL students are likely to be found in writing classrooms at any...