Examining conceptions of writing in TESOL and English Education journals: Toward a more integrated framework for research addressing multilingual classrooms

We present a review of literature drawn from two prominent journals in the fields of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL Quarterly) and English Education (Research in the Teaching of English) that publish writing research regarding secondary and lower-division postsecondary learners. The purpose of the review is to compare how the two journals represent conceptions of writing — conceptions that shape research designs, data analyses, and the interpretations of findings. Results suggest that, while the two journals share common theoretical concerns with the uses of language, they differ with respect to how they represent the goals and functions of extended written composition in educational settings. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for future research that more deliberately integrates knowledge across the respective fields of English Education and TESOL. Such an integrated approach, we argue, can ultimately help teachers make more informed decisions about how best to differentiate writing instruction in linguistically heterogeneous classrooms.

► We found an emphasis on competent academic writing in both journals.
► TQ articles were more likely to emphasize writing as knowledge telling.
► RTE articles were more likely to emphasize writing as knowledge transforming.
► Both journals tended to recommend explicit instruction in language features.