A Content Analysis of Empirical Research on English Writing Using Korean Subjects

This paper provides a content analysis of research on English writing using Korean English learner subjects. The current analysis covered 238 articles published between January 1991 and September 2012. We identified nine content categories representing the foci of investigation: (1) writing process, (2) feedback, (3) instructional designs and methods, (4) assessment and testing, (5) materials/curriculums analysis, (6) integrated teaching, (7) rhetorical and textual patterns, (8) web-based writing, and (9) miscellaneous. Nine research design categories were also identified: (I) case study, (2) ethnography, (3) discourse analysis, (4) survey, (5) quantitative descriptive study, (6) quasi-experimental study, (7) corpus analysis, (8) content analysis, and (9) meta-analysis. Then we analyzed the number of studies published, samples investigated, and research designs used for each content category. The study results show that 43 studies were conducted during the period of 1991-2005 and 195 studies were published since 2006. The most frequently investigated population was college students while the least ones were professionals and graduate students. The most frequently used research designs were corpus analysis, quasiexperirnental, discourse analysis, and case study. No longitudinal ethnography and metaanalysis studies were found. Based on the syntheses of research, we offer several implications and suggestions for future L2 writing research.