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This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)-based English textbooks and question papers in developing second-language higher-order thinking skills (HOTS).

Descriptive analysis establishes a causal relationship between learning objectives and second language (L2) writing proficiency. Content analysis is used to compare and analyze tabulated data for textbooks and question papers for the English language by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and CBSE. This method categorizes the materials and their assessments under HOTS and lower-order thinking skills to ascertain the relationship between learning objectives and L2 writing proficiency.

The study highlights teaching material and assessment shortcomings and their alignment with learning outcomes to enhance students' writing skills. It underscores the need for HOTS-focused materials, discussing their impact on writing skills. The study also explores how textbook–question paper mismatch hampers Bloom's taxonomy-based cognitive skills.

This research illuminates the efficacy of teaching and learning English as a second language (ESL) writing skills to improve the quality of education, which has real-world implications. The study highlights flaws in the educational system in India and suggests curricular and pedagogical changes.

The research examines NCERT and CBSE ESL textbooks and question papers to align teaching and assessment methods. The results aim to improve education through ESL writers' HOTS.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and assessment of learning support environments for academic writing that utilize ICT, such as e-learning and online tutoring, in Japanese higher education. First, the authors introduce the design of an e-learning writing program for the Japanese language and assess whether the program is an effective learning support tool for undergraduates. Second, the authors analyze and assess online tutoring support for academic writing and clarify the merits and disadvantages of online and offline tutoring at writing centers, then suggest instructional strategies by analyzing the writing tutoring process.

The authors adopted e-learning goals to assess its effectiveness. The authors asked the participants questions they could answer from five-point scales, conducted a paired t-test, and included a free description-type questionnaire. Then, to assess online tutoring, the 12 students took pre- and post-test questionnaires, after which the authors conducted a Wilcoxon signed rank test. In addition, the authors carried out a Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test in order to confirm differences in satisfaction level and the effectiveness of face-to-face tutoring and online tutoring.

By analyzing the pre- and post-test results, the t-test confirmed that the students found the e-learning system to be effective for nurturing academic literacy. This means the system is appropriate as a support tool for nurturing academic writing, especially writing knowledge and rules, and university must provide a comprehensive learning support environment including e-learning. Next, the authors found no statistically significant difference between face-to-face and online tutoring, although some problems with the writing process remained. So online tutoring has opportunity to promote autonomous learning. The research results make it clear that because of writing centers’ potential and their effectiveness in utilizing ICT tools.

Research findings about academic writing are to improve the tutoring process and writing strategies, such as the use of ICT for academic writing support like e-learning, online tutoring, do not exist. To provide learning opportunity to learners and promote autonomous learning, e-learning and online tutoring are important. For the reasons noted above, it is necessary to provide an alternative writing support environment to students in Japan. Therefore, the authors report on and assess the development of learning support environments for e-learning programs and online tutoring for academic writing at the undergraduate level in Japan.

To explore the potential of conversations with an authentic audience through blogging for enriching in young writers the understanding of the communicative function of writing, specifically language and vocabulary use.

We situate our work in the language acquisition model of language learning, in which learners develop linguistic competence in the process of speaking and using language (Krashen, 1988; Tomasello, 2005). We also believe that language learning benefits from formal instruction (Krashen, 1988). As such, in our work, we likened engaging in blogging to learning a language (here, more broadly conceived as learning to write) through both natural communication (acquisition) and prescription (instruction), and we looked at these forms of learning in our study.

We were interested in the communicative function of language learning (Halliday, 1973; 1975; Penrod, 2005) among young blog writers, because we see language learning as socially constructed through interaction with other speakers of a language (Tomasello, 2005; Vygotsky, 1978).

The readers and commenters in this study supported young writers in their language study by modeling good writing and effective language use in their communication with these writers. Young writers also benefited from direct instruction through interactions with adults beyond classroom teachers, in our case some of the readers and commenters.

Blogging can extend conversations to audiences far beyond the classroom and make writing a more authentic endeavor for young writers. Teachers should take advantage of such a powerful tool in their writing classrooms to support their students’ language study and vocabulary development.

Writing performance is an international issue and, while the quality of instruction is key, features of the context shape classroom practice. The issues and solutions in terms of teacher practice to address underachievement need to be considered within such a context and the purpose of the chapter is to undertake such an analysis.

Data from five different research projects (national and regional) of the author and colleagues, and two studies of the author’s doctoral students, are synthesized to identify both common and specific elements of primary/elementary (years 1–8, ages 5–13) teacher practice in writing. These data provide an indication of the practices which appear to be the most powerful levers for developing writing and for accelerating student progress in the context in which the teachers work. These practices are discussed.

The identified practices are: (1) acquiring and applying deep knowledge of your writers; (2) making connections with, and validating, relevant cultural and linguistic funds of knowledge; (3) aligning learning goals in writing with appropriately designed writing tasks and ensuring that students understand what they are learning and why; (4) providing quality feedback; (5) scaffolding self-regulation in writers; (6) differentiating instruction (while maintaining high expectations) and (7) providing targeted and direct instruction at the point of need. A discussion and a description of writing-specific instantiations of these help to illustrate their nature and the overlaps and interconnections.

As much of the data are drawn from the practices of teachers deemed to be highly effective, classroom practices associated with these teachers can be targeted as a means to improve the quality of instruction more widely in the particular context.

This study aims to broaches several endemic challenges for academics who support doctoral writing: writers are emotionally protective of their own writing; writing a thesis in English as a second language is a challenging, complex task; and advising across cultures is delicate. Giving constructive feedback kindly, but with the rigour needed to raise writing quality can seem daunting. Addressing those issues, the authors offer a novel way of working with writing feedback across cultures.

The case study research team of two candidates and one supervisor stumbled onto an effective way of working across cultural and institutional difference. What began as advisory feedback on doctoral writing became an effective collaborative analysis of prose meaning-making. The authors reflected separately and collectively on how this happened, analysed reflections and this narrative inquiry approach led to theories of use to writing feedback practice.

The authors cross between theory and praxis, showing that advisors and supervisors can create Bhabha’s post-colonial third space (a promising social space that sits between cultures, beyond hierarchies, where new ways of thinking can be collaboratively generated) as a working environment for international doctoral writing feedback. Within this zone, Brechtian alienation, a theory from theatre practice, is applied to prompt emotional detachment that enables focus on writing clearly in academic English.

Arguably the writing feedback session the authors described remains bound by the generic expectations of a western education system. The study is exegetical, humanities reading of practice, rather than a social science gathering of empirical data. Yet the humanities approach suits the point that a change of language, attitude and theory can give positive leverage with doctoral writing feedback.

The authors provide a novel practical method of supporting international doctoral candidates’ writing with feedback across cultures. It entails attracting the writers’ interest in theory and persuading them, via theory, to look objectively and freshly at their own writing. Also backed by theory, a theoretical cross-cultural space allows for discussion about differences and similarities. Detachment from proprietorial emotions and cross-cultural openness enables productive work amongst the mechanics of clear academic English text.

Underpinned by sociocultural and metacognitive approaches to learning, reflection from student and supervisor perspectives (the data), and oriented by theory, the authors propose another strategy for supporting doctoral writing across cultures. The authors demonstrate a third space approach for writing feedback across cultures, showing how to operationalise theory.

This paper provides an analysis of the experiences of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing as a series of incremental assessments. Using Moon’s map of learning (1999) as an analytical framework, it explores the value of reflective writing to students studying Asian culture in the business context during the first semester of 2017.

With 200 enrolments, the authors taught a core business course, Asian culture in the business context, in the first semester in 2017. The value of the assessments is analysed based on two data sources: written course feedback via a course survey and a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The written course feedback was collected by the university during the semester. Approximately, one-third of the students (n = 63) participated in the survey. The other data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups for nine students. Ethical approval for the collection of data was obtained from the university ethics committee.

The study confirms that reflective writing enables students to make meaning of their learning and transfer it to the cultural context of business practice. In addition, the assessments help the students develop logical thinking and academic writing skills. To increase the use of reflective assignments in business programmes, further research and teaching practice is required.

A limitation of this research was the relatively small sample size. Even though written survey feedback (n = 63) was used to complement the number of interviewees (n = 9), the findings of the data analysis may not represent the experiences of all students in the course. However, the data are valuable to bridge a gap between the existing research and teaching practice on the use of reflective writing in other disciplines and business education.

Although the transfer of academic knowledge to business practice is a core capability of the business programmes, business students may not obtain this during their study in the programme. Several students mentioned a lack of opportunity to apply reflective writing skills to other courses in their business degree, except one core course using a reflective essay as an assessment. This implies that the majority of the students in the degree are not exposed to situations that require them to critically evaluate, consolidate and consider what has been taught in relation to future practice.

Further research and practice will increase the popularity of reflective writing assessments in business programmes. As Hedberg suggests, reflective practice should be integrated into all classrooms in business education. Together with analysis and action, reflection should be a core capability for managers (Hedberg 2009). In addition, the business faculty needs to work in a reflective manner that encourages students to be familiar with the reflective practice.

This paper analyses the pedagogical aspects of reflection based on the experience of undergraduate business students undertaking reflective writing assessments.

The paper describes two reflective instruments: a reflective diary (RD) and a joint learning protocol (JLP) for teachers' knowledge creation in lesson study (LS), reflects on teachers' reactions and encountered challenges and draws inferences on how teachers' learning and knowledge creation could be facilitated more effectively in LS through “learning keeping.”

This qualitative case study of an action research project utilizes the data collected through the narrative inquiry within an LS initiative with four English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in a school in Spain.

The study suggests that the incorporation of reflective writing in LS as a method of keeping records of teachers' individual and collective reflections should be considered “a good practice” and yet another important mechanism facilitating teachers' learning in LS.

The study is limited by its scope since the applied LS model suggests carrying out three consecutive cycles rather than two.

Firstly, the two proposed instruments could be of practical value to educators and facilitators employing LS as an approach to teachers' professional learning. Secondly, the study adds to the discussion on the mechanisms fostering teachers' learning in LS by emphasizing “learning keeping” as a form of record-keeping through reflective writing. Thirdly, the study is set in the new for the LS community context, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, Spain.

Based on the premise that computers have now become cultural and cognitive artifacts with which and not from which learners interact on a daily basis, this chapter focuses on best practices in preparing and engaging digital natives to become tomorrow’s leaders of a global knowledge economy that is increasingly dependent on electronic modes of communications. Using a study based on online tools in a writing course taught at the University of Victoria (Canada), we take a qualitative interpretative stance to explain the opportunities and challenges of learning and teaching in such environments. We comment on such aspects as the need to properly address learner’s functional skills (or lack off), the various tools that can be used to engage and motivate learners, and the need to go beyond methods based on delivery in order to better focus on the development of multiliteracies, in particular critical literacy and functional literacy. Our argument, grounded in cognitive and sociocultural theories of learning, favors an interdisciplinary approach while focusing on disciplines that are typically housed in the humanities, in particular second language academic programs. Our discussions and conclusions move from these case studies to a more general reflection on the extent to which electronic environments are reshaping higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the prototype of a mobile application for the enhancement of children's motivation for writing. The results are explored from students' and experts' perspectives.

This study is based on a field trial and expert evaluations of a prototype of a mobile application. The field trial data consists of questionnaire data collected from elementary school students (n=25) who used the mobile prototype. The expert evaluations (n=8) of the prototype were conducted based on usability and pedagogical heuristics. The main research question is how the mobile application motivates children to learn creative writing.

The findings suggest that the use of a mobile application can have potential in supporting children's creative writing skills and their motivation to complete writing tasks.

Due to a limited sample of students (only one class), and the mobile application of Ruff being only a prototype, the results cannot be directly generalized. In the future, longer and more comprehensive field trial periods with a larger sample group should be conducted.

These findings are valuable for teachers and researchers. This research points out both students' and experts' opinions of the prototype of a mobile application, Ruff, and its potential to motivate children to learn creative writing.

A common way for academic libraries to support student success is through partnership with writing centers. Practices such as applying service design thinking to develop and inform integrated library and writing center services can lead to a student-focused space. This chapter outlines how service design, studio pedagogy, and peer learning informed the setup and ongoing services in The Undergrad Research and Writing Studio (URWS or, the Studio), a shared space in the Oregon State University Libraries. The URWS model is grounded in studio pedagogy, which employs a “propose-critique-iterate” approach to student writing development (Brocato, 2009). Research and writing consultants assist student writers when they have a question, mirroring libraries’ point of need service approach. Librarians and studio faculty collaborated on the training curriculum, which emphasizes how research and writing are intertwined processes. Peer consultant reflection and assessment inform the ongoing development of the overarching program, service, space, and training, ensuring alignment with the ethos of centering students and their learning.