Cover not available
Part of
Research Methods in the Study of L2 Writing Processes
Edited by Rosa M. Manchón and Julio Roca de Larios
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 5] 2023
► pp. 269–291

Chapter 13
Methodology and multimodality

Implications for research on digital composition with emergent bilingual students

| University of Florida
| Vanderbilt University
This chapter explores methodological challenges in understanding the relationships between processes, products, and perspectives within digital multimodal composition. Using examples from a research project concerning multilingual and multimodal composing in an eighth-grade classroom in the United States, the authors describe specific challenges – and possible avenues forward – in relation to screen-capture software, student retrospective design interviews, and multimodal timescapes. The chapter concludes with implications from these challenges for research and instruction for emergent bilingual students.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The research landscape: Products, processes, and perspectives
  • Multimodal codemeshing and the “My Hero Multimodal Project”
  • Challenges in capturing composing processes
  • Challenges in understanding relationships between products and perspectives in retrospective design interviews
  • Challenges in representing composing processes with multimodal timescapes
  • Conclusions and implications
  • References
Published online: 23 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.5.13pac
References (67)
References
Ajayi, L. (2015). Critical multimodal literacy: How Nigerian female students critique texts and reconstruct unequal social structures. Journal of Literacy Research, 47(2), 216–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse: A critical introduction. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bull, G., & Anstey, M. (2018). Elaborating multiliteracies through multimodal texts: Changing classroom practices and developing teacher pedagogies. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burke, A., & Hardware, S. (2015). Honouring ESL students’ lived experiences in school learning with multiliteracies pedagogy. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 28(2), 143–157. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Canagarajah, A. S. (2013). Negotiating translingual literacy: An enactment. Research in the Teaching of English, 48, 40–67. [URL]Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S. (2011). Codemeshing in academic writing: Identifying teachable strategies of translanguaging. The Modern Language Journal, 95(3), 401–417. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). Translingual practice: Global Englishes and cosmopolitan relations. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chang-Bacon, C. K. (2021). Generation interrupted: Rethinking “Students with Interrupted Formal Education”(SIFE) in the wake of a pandemic. Educational Researcher, 50(3), 187–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corbin, J. M., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (4th ed.). Sage.Google Scholar
Dagenais, D., Toohey, K., Bennett Fox, A., & Singh, A. (2017). Multilingual and multimodal composition at school: ScribJab in action. Language and Education, 31(3), 263–282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dalton, B. (2020). Bringing together multimodal composition and maker education in K – 8 classrooms. Language Arts, 97(3), 159–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dalton, B., Robinson, K. H., Lovvorn, J. F., Smith, B. E., Alvey, T., Mo, E., Proctor, C. P. (2015). Fifth-grade students’ digital retellings and the Common Core: Modal use and design intentionality. The Elementary School Journal, 115(4), 548–569. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deig, A., & Pacheco., M. B. (2020). Exploring opportunities: Disjunctures in multimodal composing. Paper presented at the Literacy Research Association Annual Meeting. Virtual.
De los Ríos, C. V. (2018). Bilingual Vine making: Problematizing oppressive discourses in a secondary Chicanx/Latinx studies course. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(4), 359–373. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
D’warte, J. (2014). Linguistic repertoires: Teachers and students explore their everyday language worlds. Language Arts, 91(5), 352–362. [URL]Google Scholar
Engeström, Y. (2015). Learning by expanding. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Erlandson, D. A., Harris, E. L., Skipper, B. L., & Allen, S. D. (1993). Doing naturalistic inquiry: A guide to methods. Sage.Google Scholar
García, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
García, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books.Google Scholar
Goulah, J. (2017). Climate change and TESOL: Language, literacies, and the creation of eco-ethical consciousness. TESOL Quarterly, 51(1), 90–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Graham, S. (2018). A revised writer(s)-within-community model of writing. Educational Psychologist, 53(4), 258–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greitens, E. (2012). The warrior’s heart: Becoming a man of compassion and courage. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Hepple, E., Sockhill, M., Tan, A., & Alford, J. (2014). Multiliteracies pedagogy: Creating claymations with adolescent, post-beginner English language learners. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(3), 219–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Honeyford, M. A. (2014). From aquí and allá: Symbolic convergence in the multimodal literacy practices of adolescent immigrant students. Journal of Literacy Research, 46(2), 194–233. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hull, G. A., & Nelson, M. (2005). Locating the semiotic power of multimodality. Written Communication, 22(2), 224–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jewitt, C. (2008). Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. Review of Research in Education, 32(1), 241–267. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, S., Shen, J., Smith, B. E., & Kibler, K. W. (2020). Science identity development: How multimodal composition mediates student role-taking as scientist in a media-rich learning environment. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68(6), 3187–3212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karam, F. J. (2018). Language and identity construction: The case of a refugee digital bricoleur. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 61(5), 511–521. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, S. (2018). “It was kind of a given that we were all multilingual”: Transnational youth identity work in digital translanguaging. Linguistics and Education, 43, 39–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Y., & Belcher, D. (2020). Multimodal composing and traditional essays: Linguistic performance and learner perceptions. RELC Journal, 51(1), 86–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kohnen, A. M., & Mertens, G. E. (2019). “I’m always kind of double-checking”: Exploring the information-seeking identities of expert generalists. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(3), 279–297. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kress, G. (2000). Design and transformation: New theories of meaning. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures (pp. 153–161). RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
(2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Routledge.Google Scholar
(2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Kroskrity, P. V. (2000). Language ideologies in the expression and representation of Arizona Tewa identity. In P. V. Kroskrity (Ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, polities, and identities (pp. 329–359). School of American Research Press.Google Scholar
Leander, K., & Boldt, G. (2013). Rereading “A pedagogy of multiliteracies” bodies, texts, and emergence. Journal of Literacy Research, 45(1), 22–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, A. Y., & Handsfield, L. J. (2018). Code-meshing and writing instruction in multilingual classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 72(2), 159–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lincoln, Y., & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manchón, R. M. (2021). The contribution of ethnographically-oriented approaches to the study of L2 writing and text production processes. In I. Guillén-Gave & A. Bocanegra-Valle (Eds.), Ethnographies of academic writing research: Theory, methods, and interpretation (pp. 84–103). John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martínez, R. A. (2010). Spanglish as literacy tool: Toward an understanding of the potential role of Spanish-English code-switching in the development of academic literacy. Research in the Teaching of English, 45(2), 124–149. [URL]Google Scholar
Martínez-Roldán, C. M. (2015). Translanguaging practices as mobilization of linguistic resources in a Spanish/English bilingual after-school program: An analysis of contradictions. International Multilingual Research Journal, 9(1), 43–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mills, K. A. (2007). Access to multiliteracies: A critical ethnography. Ethnography and Education, 2(3), 305–325. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). English language learners in public schools. Retrieved on 27 April 2023 from [URL]
Pacheco, M. B., & Smith, B. E. (2015). Across languages, modes, and identities: Bilingual adolescents’ multimodal codemeshing in the literacy classroom. Bilingual Research Journal, 38(3), 292–312. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pacheco, M. B., Smith, B. E., Deig, A., & Amgott, N. (2021). Scaffolding multimodal composition with emergent bilingual students. Journal of Literacy Research, 53(2), 149–173. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2017). Translanguaging and semiotic assemblages. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(3), 269–282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2014). Metrolingual multitasking and spatial repertoires: ‘Pizza mo two minutes coming’. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18(2), 161–184. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pierson, A. E., & Grapin, S. E. (2021). A disciplinary perspective on translanguaging. Bilingual Research Journal, 44, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rowe, D. W., Miller, M. E., & Pacheco, M. B. (2014). Preschoolers as digital designers: composing dual language eBooks using touchscreen computer tablets. In R. S. Anderson, & C. Mims (Eds.), Handbook of research on digital tools for writing instruction in K-12 settings (pp. 279–306). IGI Global. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silseth, K., & Gilje, Ø. (2019). Multimodal composition and assessment: A sociocultural perspective. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(1), 26–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M. (1979). Language structure and linguistic ideology. In R. Clyne, W. Hanks, & C. Hofbauer (Eds.), The elements: A parasession on linguistic units and levels (pp. 193–247). Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Smith, B. E. (2017). Composing across modes: A comparative analysis of adolescents’ multimodal composing processes. Learning, Media & Technology, 42(3), 259–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018). Composing for affect, audience, and identity: Toward a multidimensional understanding of adolescents’ multimodal composing goals and designs. Written Communication, 35(2), 182–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019). Mediational modalities: Adolescents collaboratively interpreting literature through digital multimodal composing. Research in the Teaching of English, 53(3), 197–222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. E., Pacheco, M. B., & de Almeida, C. R. (2017). Multimodal codemeshing: Bilingual adolescents’ processes composing across modes and languages. Journal of Second Language Writing, 36, 6–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. E., Pacheco, M. B., & Khorosheva, M. (2021). Emergent bilingual students and digital multimodal composition: A systematic review of research in secondary classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 56(1), 33–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, L., & Guo, L. (2009). From print to critical multimedia literacy: One teacher’s foray into new literacies practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(4), 315–324. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tan, L., Zammit, K., D’warte, J., & Gearside, A. (2020). Assessing multimodal literacies in practice: A critical review of its implementations in educational settings. Language and Education, 34(2), 97–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unsworth, L. (2008). Multiliteracies and metalanguage: Describing image/text relations as a resource for negotiating multimodal texts. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D. J. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of research on new literacies (pp. 377–405). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Unsworth, L., & Mills, K. A. (2020). English language teaching of attitude and emotion in digital multimodal composition. Journal of Second Language Writing, 47, 100712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vandommele, G., Van den Branden, K., Van Gorp, K., & De Maeyer, S. (2017). In-school and out-of-school multimodal writing as an L2 writing resource for beginner learners of Dutch. Journal of Second Language Writing, 36, 23–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ware, P. (2008). Language learners and multimedia literacy in and after school. Pedagogies, 3(1), 37–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilson, A. A., Chavez, K., & Anders, P. L. (2012). “From the Koran and Family Guy”: Expressions of identity in English learners’ digital podcasts. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(5), 374–384. DOI logoGoogle Scholar