L2 writing in the post-process era: Introduction

In this introduction to the special issue, I attempt to lay out a coherent if still-heuristic notion of "postprocess." I do so by first investigating four components of Trimburʹs (1994) definition of "postprocess": the social; the post-cognitivist; literacy as an ideological arena; and composition as a cultural activity. Next, I review studies in first and especially second language writing/literacy research which have attempted to move beyond process pedagogy and theory, and which for me, at least, provide a sound conceptual basis for further developments in that direction. I then conclude by stating my own summative definition of post-process, and briefly introducing the main contributions to this special Aissue.