Mark D. Johnson
About
Mark Johnson’s research focuses on cognition in second language (L2) writing, particularly features of writing tasks and the demands they make on language production. His work has appeared in the Journal of Second Language Writing, Applied Linguistics, and Language Teaching. His recent co-edited volume, Cognitive Task Complexity and Second Language Performance: Understanding L2 Learner Affect and Engagement, brings together leading scholars in the study of cognitive task complexity and L2 performance to synthesize the state of the research domain and to chart a new path forward. In the summer of 2025, he had the honor of serving as a keynote speaker at the L2 Writing Research Seminar at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. His 2017 publication, “Cognitive Task Complexity and L2 Written Syntactic Complexity, Lexical Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency: A Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis,” received an honorable mention from the Journal of Second Language Writing in their competition for the best paper of 2017 and is widely cited as an authoritative discussion of the role of cognitive task complexity in L2 written production.
A recipient of the Bertie Fearing Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2022, Dr. Johnson teaches classes on linguistics and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and serves on the editorial board of the journal Language Teaching.
Education
- B.A. University of Iowa
- M.A. TESOL University of Alabama
- Ph.D. Northern Arizona University
Research Interests
- Second language acquisition
- Cognition in second language writing
- Vocabulary in second language writing
Courses Taught
- ENGL 7535: Principles of Language Testing
- ENGL 7702: Research Methods in Empirical Enquiry
- ENGL 6009: Research Methods in Language Study
- LING 4740/ENGL 6531: TESOL Methods
- ENGL 4720/6529: Applied Linguistics for Language Teachers
- ENGL 4710/6528: TESOL: Theories and Principles
- LING 3750: Introductory Linguistics
- ENGL 2710: English Grammar
- LING 2700: Introduction to Language Studies
- ENGL 2201: Writing about the Disciplines
- ENGL 1100: Foundations of College Writing
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Johnson, M. D. (May 22, 2025) Formal genre-specific knowledge as a resource-dispersing feature of cognitive task complexity: Implications for task complexity theory and research [Keynote session]. L2 Writing Research Seminar. Universidad de Murcia. Murcia, Spain.
- Johnson, M. D. (2024). Task-based language teaching and L2 writing: The performance-development divide. Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 39, 217-230. https://doi.org/10.32038/ltrq.2024.39.15
- Johnson, M. D. (2023). Formal genre-specific knowledge as a resource-dispersing feature of task complexity. Languages, 8(1), 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010064
- Johnson, M. D. (2017). Cognitive task complexity and L2 written syntactic complexity, lexical complexity, accuracy, and fluency: A research synthesis and meta-analysis. Journal of Second Language Writing, 37, 13-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.06.001
- Johnson, M. D., & Abdi Tabari, M. (Eds.). (2025). Cognitive Task Complexity and Second Language Performance: Understanding L2 Learner Affect and Engagement. ESL and Applied Linguistics Professional Series. Routledge.
- Johnson, M. D., & Abdi Tabari, M. (2024). Linguistic complexity in L2 writing: Insight from studies on task planning. Language Teaching. 58, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444824000284
- Wrenn, M., Liebfreund, M., Johnson, M. D., Gardner, V., & McLawhorn, J. (2024). A case study of rural elementary teachers developing complexity with the simple view through integrated read aloud. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 43(30), 270-292. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2024.2421965