ABSTRACT
I began teaching academic writing after obtaining my MPhil in applied linguistics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Trained in second language writing, I served as a writing coach in a Writing-Across-the-Curriculum (WAC) Program at CUHK. I helped undergraduate students from various departments, such as journalism, psychology, nursing, and history, to improve their writing, using a process approach to writing. After working in the WAC Program for two years, I went to Purdue University to pursue a doctoral degree, specializing in second language writing. On graduation, I obtained a tenure-track faculty position at a research-intensive university in Singapore. Since then, I have been designing, conducting, and teaching research on second language writing. My doctoral training at Purdue and current scholarly pursuits have enabled me to keep abreast of and apply some of the latest good ideas in writing instruction and assessment. For example, at my university in Singapore, I have compared the eff ects of computer versus pen-and-paper as the writing medium on the writing process and output of 366 freshmen in an academic writing course. I collected both quantitative and qualitative data to understand the impacts of these two modes of composition on the students’ higher-order thinking processes, higher-level revisions, writing quality, and attitudes toward writing in general. My study informs writing teachers in the implementation of writing tasks for their students. In general, I aim to bring about improvements in both writing instruction and learning in a practical and practicable manner.
