A Critical Review of Foreign Language Writing Research on Pedagogical Approaches

This article reviews 32 studies regarding writing in a foreign language (not English) in the United States. It focuses on research that investigates relationships between various pedagogical practices (e.g., explicit grammar instruction) or task types assigned (e.g., descriptive vs. narrative writing) and the texts produced by foreign language (FL) writers. Topics addressed include explicit grammar instruction, computer use, task type, strategy training, process instruction, and feedback. This article points to the lack of a unified sense of the purpose of FL writing within the field of FL and also points to design flaws in much of the existing research. Implications for pedagogy and research are discussed.