Intheearlytomid-1970s, researchersandauthorsbegantoexaminetheimpact of writing on learning (Britton, 1972; Emig, 1977). Since that time, the research on writing-to-learn has shown that, although writing may produce positive learning results, the relationship of writing to learning is complex (Tynjälä, 2001b). Recent research has shown that writing collaboratively leads to constructionofknowledge (Nykopp, Marttunen, &Laurinen, thisvolume) andthat writing is a multi-faceted activity that assists in the development of cognitive abilities as well as the understanding and memorization of content knowledge (Bazerman, Simon, & Pieng, this volume). However, writing in a second language adds an additional level of complexity as students are developing linguistic skills in addition to satisfying communicative and educational goals. The bulk of the research on writing in a second language has been produced fairly recently, since the 1980s (Polio, 2003). Most of this research falls into four categories: research about the texts being produced, the process (or processes) being used, the participants, or the context. The research about writing in a second language has been focused mostly on developing the ability to produce acceptable written products, not on the impact writing has on language learning in general. However, there is a growing body of research on the impact of writing on other linguistic competencies, such as vocabulary (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996; Frodeson & Holten, 2003).

Learning vocabulary is a challenge for most students. Vocabulary acquisition competes for time with other aspects of language learning. Additionally, a large amount of vocabulary needs to be acquired for students to be effective communicators, andvocabularyknowledgeisinterrelatedincomplicatedways (Zimmerman, 2009). Moreover, teachers have a limited time in which to provide instruction and many other responsibilities such as lesson planning and evaluation (Nation, 2008). Becausebothteachersandstudentshavesomuchto accomplish in a limited amount of time, the need to be strategic and efficient in learning second language vocabulary is clear.