Effective Writing and Responding Online

Web-based writing and its impact on student revision capabilities is a fast developing area of second language writing research. A number of web-based writing applications now exist; advances in technology have impacted the way second language writing is taught and learned. Previous methods of teaching and learning writing restricted the kinds and amounts of interaction that participants could experience. Teachers often responded once or twice to a paper written document and peer review sessions had be face to face. Web-based systems increase the amount of interaction throughout the learning and teaching process. Since the beginning of the 21st century researchers have investigated web-based writing using a number of different systems with varying results. Many students saw the benefit of online writing while others preferred the more traditional writing methods. Although some teachers still use the older web-based tools to teach writing like forums, some newer tools have recently become available. The age of web-based writing has emerged and need investigation; this paper begins with a review of online writing and responding studies to date and then proceeds with a review of the some of the newer online writing systems like Google Docs and Zoho. the results of a use preference study where students used these online word processors for 2 semesters and described their writing preferences rounds out the end of this paper.