Theme: Technology and Learning to Write

Guest Editor: Joel Bloch

Recent developments in computer technology offer new options for facilitating the acquisition of L2 writing proficiency and mark an exciting era in L2 writing research. Multimedia programs -- both on and off line -- now provide aids to text comprehension via digital audio, graphics and video, and vocabulary resources such as dictionaries, glosses, and concordancers. The Web also offers learners a wide range of writing experiences, including exposure to an unprecedented selection of authentic texts, and a variety of options for collaborative learning. Other developments include an expanded role for computerized corpora in delineating the characteristics of text genres and an increased use of computerized methods for assessing writing. This special issue of Language Learning & Technology aims to provide a variety of perspectives on these developments in both research articles and theoretical discussions of technology-based writing, language acquisition, and testing.

Possible submissions include but are not limited to:

• empirical studies that test the efficacy of using technology-based resources (e.g. concordancers, dictionaries, or visuals) to support writing ability, skill development, and language learning.
• investigations of learner use of authentic writing materials on the Web, including ways of using technology to simplify or supplement authentic texts and the effects of these interventions on language development.
• descriptions and tests of corpus-based proposals for delineating text characteristics, designing L2 writing instruction, and evaluating language learning outcomes
• studies of computer-based instruments for assessing various aspects of writing proficiency
• overviews of research on the role of technology in developing writing proficiency
• overviews of theories or theoretical frameworks for the development of computer-assisted writing
• critical perspectives on the use of technology in teaching writing
• studies with an equity perspective on writing development in zones where paper books are unaffordable (reverse digital divide)
• Research dealing with the following issues:
• the relevance of "new media" (digital, multimodal) to the teaching L2 composition
• the relationship between technologies and new genres of writing and new forms of discourse
• the use of technology to improve "at-risk" students’ writing
• technology and intercultural rhetoric
• institutional dimensions of technology adoption, development, and use
• Web 2.0 and the teaching of L2 composition
• technology and issues of plagiarism
• comparisons of technology use in L1 and L2 composition

Please send an email of intent with a 250 word abstract by August 31, 2006, to llt-editors@hawaii.edu.