Conference review: L2 Writing Research Seminar

On May 24, three ReaLiTea partners from two countries presented their joint research project at the L2 Writing Research Seminar, which took place from May 22 to May 24 in Murcia/Spain. The paper by Dr. Aysel Saricaoglu (ASBU in Ankara/Türkiye), Dr. Christina Ringel, and Raúl García (both TU Dortmund University, Germany) was entitled ‘Communicative functions and linguistic features characterising written summaries of research articles’. Our presentation attracted an interested audience despite being scheduled in the early morning slot on the third day and competing with four parallel sessions taking place simultaneously. We shared the rationale, methodology, and findings of our study, which investigates the rhetorical characteristics (move-step and phrase frame analysis) and the syntactic complexity of OASIS summaries. These one-page, non-technical summaries of research articles about language studies were featured in our previous blog post.

We highlighted how OASIS summaries have an important role in promoting teacher research literacy. We received very positive feedback from the audience regarding their increased awareness about this genre and future plans to integrate these summaries into research (writing) courses.

Aysel & Christina in Murcia

Our presentation’s scope fit very well into the theme of the conference and the topics discussed during several presentations, proving that it is aligned with current discussions in L2 Writing research. To begin with, in his keynote, Mark Johnson called for the role of genre-specific knowledge to be of greater concern in the research on L2 writing in general and the analysis of task-related variables conditioning L2 text features in particular. Very related to this, one of the issues we addressed in our presentation was whether OASIS summaries constitute a hybrid genre, partly a research report and partly a pedagogical report. In addition, our findings about the communicative functions and linguistic features of OASIS summaries contribute to genre-specific understandings of research conventions in the realm of research article summaries.

Moreover, a recurring theme throughout the conference was the question of how the findings of theory-related L2 writing studies inform pedagogy. This highlighted the relevance of our research to those who will benefit most from its results, i.e., teachers. As the main purpose of both the OASIS initiative and the ReaLiTea project, as well as this research study in particular, is to provide support for practitioners –in our case concerning how to write summaries for research articles– we were among those who answered the implied call most clearly.

Further research foci discussed both in the colloquia that made up the first two days and also in several of the papers on the third day revolved around the influence of a multiplicity of factors on L2 writing processes and products: (perceived) task complexity, the pedagogical approach, type, modality and processing of corrective feedback, writing condition including collaborative writing and multimodal composing, modality of pre-task planning, and individual differences including proficiency, aptitude, motivation, anxiety, age and cognitive abilities such as working memory capacity.   

The days were long and packed, but there was ample time during the welcome reception, and the coffee and lunch breaks to get together and to experience the amenities of Spanish cuisine as provided by the elegant Sercotel Amistad Murcia. The summaries of each colloquium provided by a discussant and the Q&A sessions served their purpose in discussing the main topics of the conference in depth. 

Our participation in the L2 Writing Research Seminar was intellectually very enriching. The conference provided a platform to share our research on OASIS summaries, but also enabled us to disseminate our ReaLiTea project. We are encouraged by the enthusiastic feedback we received and look forward to future opportunities to build on this work –both within the ReaLiTea project and in collaboration with fellow researchers and educators committed to enhancing teacher research literacy.