This major paradigm shift has entered L2 teaching, under the influence of exponents such as Raimes, Spack and Zamel, from Ll teaching and research in America since the 1960s. The expressive stage focused on the need for the writer to express himself freely in his own 'voice'. Their theory of writing suggests that it is a highly complex, goal-directed, recursive activity. Criticism has been made of the basic research tool, protocol analysis, on the grounds that thinking aloud while writing interferes with the process. However, this model has had enormous influence on subsequent research and writing pedagogy in L1 and L2.
Problems arise in explaining how or when writers move from one stage to the other, or if all do.
The social stage appeared in the 1980s when studies in sociolinguistics, Halliday's functional linguistics and educational ethnography led to criticism that the above approaches to the writing process omitted the crucial dimension of social context. This influences what and how they write and how their writing is perceived. The discourse community stage developed from the above view of writing as a social activity. The notions of audience and genre are fundamental here and attention has focused on tertiary level writing, with its demand that students produce writing acceptable to the academic community. Most L2 writers bring with them knowledge and experience of writing in their L1 and this resource should not be ignored.