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52802 articlesJanuary 2026
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Abstract
This paper examines how contemporary theatre reflects and reconfigures the rhetorical condition of disenchantment through the analysis of Leila Buck’s American Dreams and Panayiotis Mentis’s Foreigners. Drawing upon Max Weber’s notion of the disenchantment of the world and Michael McGee’s theory of the ideograph, the study explores how the American Dream has shifted from an aspirational ideology to a disillusioned cultural residue. Both plays dramatize the erosion of persuasion as a form of social cohesion, revealing how national myths lose their force under the weight of contradiction and exclusion. Buck’s interactive satire transforms the process of naturalization into a participatory spectacle that implicates audiences in the mechanisms of granting citizenship as a prize in a live game show, while Mentis’s domestic tragedy stages the ethical aftermath of disillusionment within the Greek immigrant family after they had been granted citizenship in the United States. The analysis proposes that theatre serves as a rhetorical laboratory where the collapse of ideological enchantment is made visible and emotionally intelligible. Disenchantment, far from being the negation of meaning, emerges as a mode of critical awareness that enables new forms of ethical reflection.
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Narracje medialne dotyczące wykorzystania seksualnego. Analiza retoryczna wypowiedzi środowiska medialnego w mediach społecznościowych na przykładzie skandalu Kącki–Rogaska ↗
Abstract
Celem tekstu jest eksploracja kontekstu retorycznego narracji medialnych dotyczących wykorzystania seksualnego na przykładzie skandalu Kącki–Rogaska oraz opracowanie rekomendacji dla twórców tego typu wypowiedzi. Przeprowadzono analizę ramowania w ujęciu retorycznym, koncentrując się na triadzie retorycznej i zapisach prawno-terminologicznych. Materiał badawczy stanowiło 166 wypowiedzi medialnych w mediach społecznościowych, będących bezpośrednią reakcją na ujawniony skandal, a więc takich, w których sposoby argumentacji zostały zastosowane w określonym kontekście. Zidentyfikowano narracje dotyczące czynu, osoby zgłaszającej krzywdę i osoby obwinionej. Najczęściej stosowano czyn jako oś narracji. Eksplorowano również rozpoznane ramy interpretacyjne, wśród których najczęstsze to „przemocy” i „molestowanie”, do opisu czynu. Osoby pokrzywdzone opisywano jako „ofiary” lub „osoby skrzywdzone”, natomiast sprawców ukazywano w sposób zróżnicowany – od neutralnych po emocjonalne i stygmatyzujące określenia. Przeprowadzone badanie wskazuje na potrzebę odpowiedzialnego języka w mediach, który unika uproszczeń i automatyzmów językowych, konieczność kształtowania świadomości środowiska ludzi mediów na temat norm komunikacji, a także niezbędność norm w komunikowaniu, szczególnie gdy dotyczy ono sprawy tak wrażliwej jak wykorzystanie seksualne. Autorzy opracowali zestaw rekomendacji, wskazali na ramy nierekomendowane i takie, gdzie należy zachować ostrożność.
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Abstract
The concept of privacy in relation to public figures is linked to the development and ubiquity of mass media. In times before photojournalists, paparazzi and social media, the private and public spheres functioned separately, with no insight provided into various aspects of users' lives. In the age of mediated reality, skilful management of the boundary between the private and the public can be an effective persuasive tool in the realm of ethos. Furthermore, persuasive objectives are evolving, as are the rhetorical principles that govern the development of ethos. In this article, I analyse how leading global politicians use the concept of privacy in public communication. The discussion focuses on types of private information disclosed, the effectiveness of such communication strategies and their impact on achieving persuasive goals, particularly the effective shaping of a positive public image.
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„Banderowcy” i „turystyka medyczna” – o retoryce pogardy i wykluczenia wobec Ukraińców w kampanii prezydenckiej 2025 na wybranych przykładach ↗
Abstract
Przedmiotem artykułu są strategie i środki retoryczne wykorzystywane w kampanii prezydenckiej 2025 r. przez dwóch wybranych kandydatów: Grzegorza Brauna i Sławomira Mentzena. Materiał analityczny stanowią ich wypowiedzi, materiały zamieszczane w mediach społecznościowych oraz treści na portalach informacyjnych. Przeprowadzona analiza wykazała, że kandydaci stosują w różnym stopniu i celu elementy retoryki pogardy i dyskursu wykluczenia, traktując Ukraińców – w zależności od prowadzonej narracji – jako Innego/Obcego lub Wroga. Wykładnikami dyskredytacji są m.in. słowa będące stereotypizującymi etykietkami – banderowiec, Ukropol, Ukropolin, frajer, akcentowanie obcości czy przypisywanie deprecjonujących cech. Te elementy są składnikami dyskursu nacjonalistycznego, powiązanego z retoryką moralności opartą na tożsamości narodowej i tradycji, lub retoryki pragmatycznej, powiązanej z kategorią korzyści i interesu.
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Retoryczna polemika z ustalonymi kulturowo granicami kobiecości w instrukcjach dla nowicjatu zakonu karmelitanek bosych ↗
Abstract
Kształtowanie przyszłej zakonnicy było zadaniem szczególnie odpowiedzialnym. Mistrzynie nowicjatu miały do dyspozycji instrukcje, jak należy postępować z kandydatkami do zakonu. W artykule zanalizowano kobiece XVII-wieczne teksty, podejmujące kwestię kształcenia nowicjuszek wstępujących do zakonu karmelitanek bosych. Powstały one w trudnych dla karmelitanek czasach walki o kształt wspólnoty po śmierci Teresy z Ávili w 1582 r. Dwie przywołane tu autorki, Maria od św. Józefa i Anna od św. Bartłomieja, znalazły się w centrum konfliktu, opartym na antagonizmie my (mniszki) i oni (spowiednicy i prowincjałowie). Obie, świadome siły narzędzi retorycznych, stawiały się w sytuacji walczących o kształt spuścizny po Matce Założycielce rycerek.
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Abstract
Odgłos to dźwiękowa oznaka zjawisk somatycznych. Może być on rozumiany jako ekwiwalent określonego nurtu zachowań lub praktyk społecznych. Zazwyczaj stanowi marginalne tło potocznej audiosfery. Jednak odgłosy, dźwięki powstające niejako „przy okazji”, mogą mieć potencjał retoryczny. W artykule tym autor rozważa zagadnienie, w jaki sposób odgłos staje się figurą retoryczną. Przyjmując perspektywę literaturoznawczą, artykuł przenosi narzędzia retoryczne do refleksji nad dźwiękiem uobecnionym w tekście za pomocą zapisu lub ikonografii. W tekście zostały omówione przykłady wykorzystania odgłosów w charakterze ornamentu, toposu, tropu, polipatii jako chwytów narracyjnych czy gestów semiotycznych. Wprowadzenie do badań nad retoryką perspektywy dźwiękowej, w tym audioantropologii, pozwala wyznaczyć nowy interdyscyplinarny obszar badań nad figurami retorycznymi.
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Abstract
Celem artykułu jest analiza milczenia w interakcjach językowych w sferze publicznej. Zastosowana metodologia, łącząca podejście interakcjonistyczne z eksternalistyczną interpretacją teorii aktów mowy, pozwoliła wykazać, że nawet jeśli w danym segmencie wypowiedzi nothing is said, to z perspektywy post-austinowskiej teorii interakcji zyskuje on status aktu mownego ze względu na normatywne skutki illokucyjne wywoływane per conventionem w ramach społecznie akceptowanych procedur retorycznych. W takim ujęciu, jak pokazują analizowane przykłady milczenia w interakcjach językowych, podstawą interpretacji milczenia są jego skutki illokucyjne, a nie np. intencja mówcy czy inne czynniki, które mogą warunkować tę interpretację.
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Abstract
The article addresses the issue of the so-called ‘commonplaces’ of two cultures in relation to comparative genology and generative anthropology. It focuses on three themes particularly important to both civilisations: the birth motif and genre of birthday songs, the ritual and tri-unity of dance, sound, and word, and the approach to battle and death. By comparing the genres and cultural phenomena of the Greeks and Romans with those of the Toltecs and Aztecs, the analysis reveals similarities between the ancient literatures of Mediterranean Europe and Mesoamerican tribes. Research that uses the apparatus of generative anthropology and draws from the interdependence of rhetoric and culture offers new conclusions.
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Abstract
The aim of this article is to present an original didactic concept that integrates the classical ideal of vir bonus dicendi peritus with the theory of rhetorical ethos and contemporary positive psychology, represented by the VIA character strengths model. The point of departure is the assumption that the speaker’s ethos – as a rhetorical category – has deep roots in the tradition of virtue ethics, developed from Aristotle through Quintilian to contemporary philosophers such as MacIntyre, Nussbaum, and Hursthouse. The article demonstrates that contemporary psychological tools, such as the VIA test, can serve as practical instruments for cultivating ethos in rhetorical education. The proposed didactic project, implemented within the framework of practical rhetoric classes, is based on an individual analysis of students’ character strengths and their mapping onto various rhetorical genres. The article seeks to build a bridge between rhetorical theory and the ethical and psychological formation of the speaker.
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Abstract
This study investigates how the linguistic style of CEO digital communication influences audience engagement. Using an NLP pipeline with a panel regression model on a data set of 19,566 tweets from CEOs, this study reveals that linguistic clarity and an on-platform focus are the most robust predictors of engagement; syntactic complexity and the inclusion of external URLs consistently deter engagement metrics. The effects of stylistic choices like emojis and hashtags are less consistent and depend on the type of engagement being measured. These results offer an expanded understanding of digital communication for CEOs and provide direct implications for business communication pedagogy.
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“Review of Rethinking Peer Review: Critical Reflections on a Pedagogical Practice”: Rethinking Peer Review: Critical Reflections on a Critical Practice , by P. Jackson and C. Weaver Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse and Denver, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2024, 270 pp., $32.95 (paperback) Publisher website: https://wac.colostate.edu/books/perspectives/peer/ ↗
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User Experience Research and Usability of Health Information Technology: by Jessica Lynn, Campbell Milton Park, Abingdon, CRC Press, 2024, 234 pp., $64.95 (paperback), $51.96 (e-book), ISBN-9781032162768. Publisher webpage: https://www.routledge.com/User-Experience-Research-and-Usability-of-Health-Information-Technology/Campbell/p/book/9781032162768 ↗
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Abstract
Resumen: En este artículo se estudia la obra In Topica Ciceronis (1550) de Sebastián Fox Morcillo, una obra casi desconocida por la escasez de ejemplares que conservamos. La obra contiene dos comentarios, una paraphrasis y unos scholia . En la paráfrasis se sigue el hilo doctrinal de la obra ciceroniana, pero el parafraseador amplía su exposición con abundantes enseñanzas procedentes de la renovada dialéctica humanística. En los escolios se insiste en que los Topica de Cicerón siguen por modelo el tratado homónimo de Aristóteles. Conciliando a ambos autores, Fox nos ofrece una visión de la dialéctica, especialmente de la parte inventiva y tópica, muy cercana a la de Agrícola y Melanchthon, pues para él se trata de una ciencia instrumental orientada a facilitar los estudios de ciencias superiores como la filosofía, que es la meta que Fox, de vocación esencialmente filosófica, desea alcanzar.
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The Daimonion of Isocrates: Anti-Socratic Polemics and the Power of Politikoi Logoi in the Philippos ↗
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Abstract: This article argues that in his Philippos (Isoc. 5.149), Isocrates reinterprets the Socratic daimonion , transforming it from an inner ethical sign into a divine power legitimizing political action. Embedded in the speech's broader anti-Socratic polemic, this alteration aligns with Isocrates' conception of the politikos logos as a practical, audience-directed discourse. The daimonion passage thus exposes the philosophical foundations of Isocratean rhetoric: divine sanction for the interdependence of logos and praxis . By invoking a divine mandate that unites logos and praxis , Isocrates presents his logoi as performative texts capable of guiding Philip II of Macedon toward the common political good of Greece.
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Foreign Hetairai , Deceitful Rhetoricians, Opportunist Phaselites: The Construction of Metic Ēthos in Forensic Narratives in the Demosthenic Corpus ↗
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Abstract: This study explores the moral character ( ēthos ) of metic litigants and non-litigants in select forensic orations of public nature in the Demosthenic corpus and argues the ad hoc socio-economic standing of metics, their legal status, and their occupations were critical factors in constructing elaborate and complex metic portrayals (individual or collective) in forensic narratives. The evidence shows negative portrayals of metic men and women, but metics were not invariably depicted as the malevolent "other." Taking as its starting point the Aristotelian teachings about constructing ēthos in forensic narratives, which ought themselves to be ēthikai , this analysis draws attention to legal status as a critical factor in constructing moral character, and in more nuanced and complex ways than contemporary, 4th-century BCE rhetorical theory would advise. Provided these portrayals were curated to appeal to large panels of citizen dikastai , these rhetorical portrayals of metics in court may shed light on ambivalent Athenian attitudes towards metics.
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The Declamationes maiores and their Humanistic Reception: Calderini and Poliziano in Dialogue with Valla ↗
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Abstract: This paper examines the reception of the pseudo-Quintilianic Declamationes maiores in the 14th and 15th centuries, highlighting in particular the important role of Lorenzo Valla's Elegantie lingue Latine as a medium for humanistic engagement with these rhetorical texts. Calderini, teaching at the Studium of Rome, used the Declamationes maiores as a study text, demonstrating a practical application of these declamations in the context of humanist pedagogy. Poliziano, on the other hand, although he did not engage directly with the Declamationes maiores , still occasionally cited the controversiae in his commentaries. Together, these examples illustrate that, for humanists of the late fifteenth century, access to, understanding of, and engagement with the Declamationes maiores were often mediated by Valla's Elegantie , which served as a conduit for their interpretative practices and as a source for quotations.
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The effects of online resource use on L2 learners’ computer-mediated writing processes and written products ↗
Abstract
While previous studies on online resource use in L2 writing have focused on the overall writing quality, limited attention has been paid to its effects on linguistic complexity and real-time writing processes. Addressing this gap, the present study explored how online resource use influences both the processes and products of L2 writing. Forty-nine intermediate L2 learners completed two computer-mediated argumentative writing tasks, either with or without the use of online resources. Writing behaviors were captured via keystroke logging and screen recording, and analyzed for search activity, fluency, pausing, and revision quantity. Cognitive processes were examined through stimulated recall interviews, and written products were evaluated for both quality and linguistic complexity. The results showed that participants spent an average of 14 % of task time using online resources, with considerable individual variation. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that resource use facilitated the production of more sophisticated words, with marginal influence on writing quality or syntactic complexity. Resource use was also associated with longer between-word pauses, fewer within-word pauses, and reduced revisions. These findings highlight the potential of online resource use to enhance the authenticity of L2 writing assessment tasks without compromising test validity, while encouraging the use of more advanced vocabulary in writing. • Learners spent 14 % of the total writing task time using online resources. • Online resource use had no significant impact on L2 writing quality. • Online resource use improved lexical sophistication, not syntactic complexity. • Online resource use reduced within-word pauses and aided spelling retrieval. • Online resource use led to fewer revisions but did not affect fluency.
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Generative artificial intelligence for automated essay scoring: Exploring teacher agency through an ecological perspective ↗
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Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in writing assessment, particularly for automated essay scoring (AES) and for generating formative feedback within automated writing evaluation (AWE). While AI-driven AES enhances efficiency and consistency, concerns regarding accuracy, bias, and ethical implications raise critical questions about its role in assessment. This paper examines the impact of generative AI on teacher agency through an ecological perspective, which considers agency as shaped by personal, institutional, and sociocultural factors. The analysis highlights the need for teachers to critically mediate AI-generated scores and feedback to align them with pedagogical goals, ensuring AI functions as an assistive tool rather than a determinant of assessment outcomes. Although AI can streamline assessment, over-reliance risks diminishing teachers’ evaluative expertise and reinforcing biases embedded in AI systems. Ethical concerns, including transparency, data privacy, and fairness, further complicate its adoption. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a framework for responsible AI integration that prioritizes bias mitigation, data security, and teacher-driven decision-making. The discussion concludes with pedagogical implications and directions for future research on AI-assisted writing assessment. • Teachers can actively mediate AI-generated scores to maintain agency. • Dependence on AES may weaken teachers’ evaluative skills. • Bias, data privacy, and AI opacity can undermine teachers’ decision-making. • AI literacy and hybrid assessment models can promote teacher autonomy. • A framework for protecting teacher agency in generative AI–based AWE is presented.
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Unveiling the antecedents of feedback-seeking behavior in L2 writing: The impact of future L2 writing selves and emotions ↗
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While existing research on second or foreign (L2) feedback has predominantly focused on the effectiveness of various feedback practices and their impacts on writing performance, limited attention has been devoted to learners’ proactive role in seeking feedback, and how this important yet underexplored construct correlates with conative and affective variables remains insufficiently examined. To help fill that void, we sought to explore the concept of feedback-seeking behavior and its antecedents in L2 writing by examining the correlations with future L2 writing selves and emotions, particularly unpacking the mediating effect of emotions in the emotion-driven chain of “motivation→emotion→increased or decreased behavior” among 225 undergraduate English major students. Structural equation modeling unveiled that ideal and ought-to L2 writing selves directly and significantly influenced emotions, and emotions impacted the two dimensions of feedback-seeking behavior significantly. More importantly, ideal L2 writing self indirectly influenced feedback monitoring and feedback inquiry through the mediation of writing enjoyment. Nevertheless, writing boredom exercised no significant mediating effect on future L2 selves and feedback-seeking behavior. These findings reinforced the learner-centered perspective that positions students as proactive agents and provide some notable implications for L2 writing instruction to advance our understanding of teacher feedback. • Learners with heightened L2 selves deployed more feedback-seeking strategies. • Experiencing L2 enjoyment fostered distinct feedback-seeking behaviors. • No variations in L2 boredom existed in the link between L2 selves and behavior. • More high-quality research evaluating L2 learners as proactive agents is needed.
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The relation between linguistic accuracy and scoring of Swedish EFL students’ writing during a high-stakes exam ↗
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This paper examines the effect of linguistic accuracy (e.g., the lack of form, grammatical, and lexical errors) on scoring during the high-stakes national test of English in Swedish upper secondary school. Teachers are expected to score their own students’ texts with the help of assessment instructions containing benchmark texts (i.e., texts representing different score bands). The assessment instructions and the score bands provided to guide scoring are not explicit about how accuracy should influence scores. Two research questions were answered: As measured by ordinal regression, to what extent does linguistic accuracy predict rater scores? Do the texts scored by teachers reflect the graded example texts in terms of how linguistic accuracy predicts scores? The results revealed, amongst other things, that overall frequency of errors in texts significantly predicted scores as the model explained approximately 58 % of the variance in the outcome variable according to Nagelkerke’s pseudo R-squared. Accuracy also had a similar effect on scores in texts rated by teachers as in the benchmark texts. In relation to the findings, it was concluded that accuracy may have more of an impact on scores than constructs that are more explicit components of the score bands such as lexical complexity.
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Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to support automated writing evaluation (AWE), both for purposes of scoring and feedback. However, LLMs present challenges to interpretability, making it hard to evaluate the construct validity of scoring and feedback models. BIOT (best interpretable orthogonal transformations) is a new method of analysis that makes dimensions of an embedding interpretable by aligning them with external predictors. It was originally developed to improve the interpretability of multidimensional scaling models. However, This paper shows that BIOT can be used to align LLM embeddings with an interpretable writing trait model developed using multidimensional analysis of classical NLP features to measure latent dimensions of writing style and writing quality. This makes it possible to determine whether an AWE model built using an LLM is aligned with known (and construct-relevant) dimensions of textual variation, supporting construct validity. Specifically, we examine the alignment between the hidden layers of deBERTA, a small LLM that has been shown to be useful for a variety of natural language processing applications, and a writing trait model developed through factor analysis of classical features used in existing AWE models. Specific dimensions of transformed deBERTA layers are strongly correlated with these classical factors. When the transformation matrix derived using BIOT is applied to token vectors, it is also possible to visualize which tokens in the original text contributed to high or low scores on a specific dimension. • Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to support automated writing evaluate (AWE). • LLMs present challenges to interpretability, making it hard to evaluate construct validity of scoring and feedback models. • BIOT is a new interpretation method that aligns embedding dimensions with external predictors. • Specifically, BIOT can be used to align LLM embeddings with classical NLP measures of aspects of style and writing quality. • This demonstrates a general method to determine whether an LLM latently represents construct-relevant dimensions.
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Abstract
Peer evaluation is widely recognized for its educational benefits; however, its reliability and validity, particularly among adolescent second-language (L2) writers at the early stages of English language and literacy development, remain insufficiently explored. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study investigated the reliability and validity of peer evaluation in English argumentative writing among 35 Grade 10 and 37 Grade 12 students from a public high school in Beijing, China. Twelve of the participating students (six at each grade) were interviewed about the validity, reliability, and value of peer evaluation. The findings indicated that peer evaluations demonstrated high levels of reliability and validity, with peer-assessed writing scores closely aligning with inter-teacher assessments. Notably, variations were observed among Grade 10 students, particularly in the evaluation of lower-order writing skills, such as grammar and vocabulary, which exhibited reduced validity. These results underscore the potential of peer evaluation in assessing higher-order content-level writing across varying levels of L2 English writing proficiency. The study also highlights areas where adolescent L2 writers may require additional support to enhance the effectiveness of peer evaluation practices in English argumentative writing. Implications for improving English argumentative writing instruction and refining peer evaluation strategies in high school L2 English classrooms are discussed. • Peer evaluation shows high reliability, similar to inter-teacher rating. • Peer evaluation works well for higher-order skills in L2 argumentative writing. • 10th graders struggled with evaluating lower-order skills like grammar. • 12th graders evaluate lower- and higher-order skills with greater validity than 10th graders.
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Abstract
The assessment of task-generated cognitive demands has been receiving increasing attention in task complexity research. However, scant attention has been paid to assessing cognitive demands when task complexity is manipulated along both resource-directing and resource-dispersing dimensions. To address this gap, the present study aimed to investigate the relative effects of reasoning demands and prior knowledge on cognitive demands in L2 writing. Eighty-eight EFL students completed two letter-writing tasks with varying reasoning demands under one of two conditions, that is, either with prior knowledge available or without prior knowledge available. Cognitive demands were assessed by the post-task questionnaire, the dual-task method and the open-ended questions. The results revealed that reasoning demands and prior knowledge were strong determinants of cognitive demands, which provided empirical evidence for Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis. Moreover, the post-task questionnaire, the dual-task method and open-ended questions were found to assess distinct aspects of cognitive demands, which highlighted the importance of data triangulation in exploring task complexity effects. The study provides language teachers and assessors with implications for task design and implementation. • How reasoning demands and prior knowledge affect cognitive demands was underexplored. • Cognitive demands were assessed by both quantitative and qualitative methods. • Findings supported some assumptions underlying Robinson’s framework. • The independent measures assessed distinct aspects of cognitive demands.
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Assessing the effects of explicit coherence instruction on EFL students’ integrated writing performance ↗
Abstract
As a key attribute of effective writing, coherence remains challenging to teach in language classrooms, with traditional writing instruction frequently overlooking coherence in favor of discrete, rule-based features. This mixed-methods study investigates the effectiveness of explicit coherence instruction on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students’ performance on integrated writing tasks. The study employed a controlled experimental design with 64 upper-intermediate-level undergraduate students at a Chinese university, drawing on Hasan’s Cohesive Harmony theory as the theoretical framework. Half of the participants (n = 32) in the experimental group received explicit instruction on coherence with a focus on cohesive chains and cohesive devices in integrated writing, while the control group (n = 32) received standard paraphrasing instruction. Quantitative analysis revealed that the experimental group showed significant improvements in coherence scores and multiple cohesive chain measures. Qualitative discourse analysis of six students’ writing samples from the experimental group demonstrated varying levels of improvement in writing coherence, with high-performing students showing better use of identity chains and pronoun references. The findings revealed that explicit instruction on coherence significantly improved students’ performance in creating coherent integrated writing, particularly through the development of cohesive chains and appropriate use of cohesive devices. This study underscores the pedagogical value of teaching coherence to enhance writing quality and provides concrete strategies for developing more effective teaching approaches for integrated writing tasks in EFL contexts. • The study examined 64 Chinese EFL students using mixed-methods experimental design. • Cohesive Harmony theory served as the framework for assessing writing coherence. • Explicit instruction significantly improved coherence in integrated writing tasks. • High-performing students demonstrated superior identity chain development.
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Is it beneficial to strive for perfection in writing?: Exploring the relationship between perfectionism, motivational regulation, and second language (L2) writing performance ↗
Abstract
Perfectionism, a personality trait characterized by the pursuit of flawlessness and high personal standards, and motivational regulation, the strategies through which individuals manage their motivational states, have received limited attention in second language (L2) writing. Framed within social cognitive theory, this study examines how two dimensions of perfectionism—perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns—relate to writing performance (syntactic complexity, accuracy, lexical complexity, and fluency) and how motivational regulation sub-strategies (interest enhancement, self-talk, and emotional control) mediate these relationships. Data from 689 university students in China were analyzed using questionnaires and argumentative writing samples. Results indicated that perfectionistic strivings positively predicted syntactic complexity, accuracy, and lexical complexity, while perfectionistic concerns negatively predicted these dimensions; neither dimension significantly affected fluency. Crucially, motivational regulation sub-strategies partially mediated the relations between perfectionism and writing performance. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing perfectionism dimensions and targeting motivational regulation strategies to improve L2 writing. Implications for instruction and directions for future longitudinal research are discussed. • Perfectionistic strivings and concerns affect writing via motivational regulation. • Strivings improve syntax, accuracy, and lexical complexity; concerns hinder them. • Most motivational regulation sub-strategies mediate perfectionism’s impact on CALF. • Perfectionism influences writing through motivational regulation.