ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 states the research gap that the book addresses, assessing changes in second language (L2) writing performance after instruction, and the significance of researching this question for the fields of L2 assessment and applied linguistics. Previous research has been mostly cross-sectional, focusing on comparing writing scores and/or grammatical features of L2 texts at one point in time. As a result, we do not know much about whether L2 proficiency tests can detect changes in writing ability over time or as a result of L2 instruction. This study starts to address this gap by examining changes in both the scores and the linguistic and discourse characteristics of texts written by L2 learners of different proficiency levels on different task types. Such research can shed light on the sensitivity of L2 proficiency tests to changes in L2 writing performance and the effects of L2 instruction on L2 writing development as well as inform material design and decisions on the length and timing of L2 writing instruction.
