Second language acquisition and writing:: a multi-disciplinary approach

Writing is a complex activity whose components and sub-components involve action on a number of levels. It is multifaceted, requiring proficiency in several areas of skill and knowledge that make up writing only when taken together. Research into writing has mirrored this complexity and has developed concurrently in a number of disciplines — in psychology and the cognitive sciences, text linguistics and pragmatics, applied linguistics and first and second language education. This special issue of Learning and Instruction is a collection of four papers that represent different aspects of current research into writing in a second language. They do not cover the full range of research into this area of writing, but serve as examples of the depth and breadth of study in this one particular part of the field. They are introduced here within the context of a discussion of current interests in writing research and each of the papers will be presented within the research area into which it most reasonably fits.