With an increasing recognition of the need for second-language (L2) writing research from contexts other than English as a second language (ESL), the field of L2 writing has recently witnessed an explosion of studies stemming from traditionally less researched foreign language (FL) contexts. This volume is a timely contribution to the field and provides a much needed comprehensive review of this burgeoning area of research in L2 writing.
The book is divided into three sections: Part 1, “Looking Back: Research Insights”; Part 2, “Looking Ahead: Issues in Theory, Research, and Pedagogy”; and Part 3, “Bibliography of Sources on Foreign Language Writing.” What sets the volume apart from other edited collections is the remarkable way in which it brings together studies from different theoretical and methodological orientations without creating a mixed bag of self-contained, disjointed studies. Each chapter stays true to the book’s overall theme of looking back and moving forward as the authors take the reader through an almost narrativelike account of the past history of their academic endeavors and outline current and future developments in their research agendas.
Within this overall framework, several common threads weave through the chapters imparting further coherence to the collection. Some of the prominent themes that emerge are the conceptualization of L2 and FL writers as multicompetent users of language, FL writing as an effective means to promote language development in SLA, and the situated nature of FL writing occurring within different sociocultural contexts.
Perhaps the most conspicuous among these is the idea of multicompetence with regard to L2 writers (Ortega, chapter 9, as well as others). A number of chapters explore this issue by shedding light on the different ways in which FL writers manage the multiple linguistic resources they have at their disposal throughout their writing processes. Rinnert and Kobayashi (chapter 1) effectively argue for this concept in their study on the bidirectionality of first-language and L2 transfer in Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) writers’ use of rhetorical patterns.
Along with the themes of multicompetence and investigation of the more cognitive aspects of FL writing, Manchón, Roca de Larios, and Murphy (chapter 4) expertly probe how Spanish EFL writers of different language learning backgrounds manipulate their use of linguistic and cognitive resources while coping with the problem-solving nature of FL writing. The chapter does an extraordinary job at demonstrating how FL writing research can be instrumental in studying essential issues in SLA such as the interdependence of language proficiency, task complexity, and cognition.
Although it consistently reinforces the idea of FL writing as a lucrative site for examining fundamental issues in SLA (e.g., Schoonen, Snellings, Stevenson, and Amos; Celya and Naves), the book maintains a delicate balance in terms of cognitive and sociocultural views of FL writing. An excellent example is Sasaki’s chapter, in which she critically examines and accounts for her gradual move from a quantitatively oriented view of the influence of study abroad on Japanese students’ EFL writing to a more sociocognitive view that takes into account the dynamic nature of students’ motivation. Through her study, in addition to others in the collection, readers are clearly able to see the benefits of combining social and cognitive perspectives to come to a fuller understanding of “the dynamic nature of writing practices related to changing social conditions and individual writers’ perceptions” (Rinnert and Kobayashi, chapter 1, p. 44).
Although the book brings together studies from various regions of the world, a noticeable tendency is that, in many studies, FL instruction is equated with EFL instruction. This may reflect the disproportion in the number of FL writing studies conducted thus far on target languages other than English, as indicated in Ortega’s synthesis of currently accessible FL writing research (chapter 9). Nevertheless, a growing number of FL writings that examine diverse learning contexts and languages other than English is expected in the future, which will call for an increasingly comprehensive account for these studies as well.
Without a doubt, this book will serve as an ideal overview for both established scholars and students who are interested in learning about current issues in the area of FL writing as well as the intersections of SLA and L2 writing. The book gives readers the rare opportunity to partake in the ruminations of experienced researchers as they reflect on their previous work in light of new research findings and the growing knowledge base of FL and L2 writing.
