Implementing Digital Multimodal Composing in L2 Writing: A Focus on English Learner Engagement With Feedback

Introduction

The impetus for this change can be found in recent advances in communication technology and social media, which have resulted in L2 writing no longer being confined to alphabetic text-based writing (Belcher, 2017). Instead, L2 writing has already been embedded in digital technology and broadened into multimodal text composing. By definition, digital multimodal composing asks L2 writers to produce texts with multiple semiotic modes, such as language, image and sound, using digital tools (Hafner & Miller, 2011). Multimodal texts mainly include digital stories, PPT slides, videos, or posters (Yi et al., 2020). The novel writing genre is designed for wider audiences on the internet, which exhibits interactivity and multimodality. However, there is a dissonance between language-centred writing activities in school and students’ practices of constructing meaning with multimodal resources outside the classroom. To bridge the gap, literacy educators and L2 writing experts at home and abroad are increasingly interested in the pedagogical use of DMC in educational settings. They have incorporated DMC into L2 classrooms (Yi et al., 2020). They have shown that this digital genre does not diminish the L2 writers’ focus on language mode but also enhances their autonomy, interest and enjoyment in L2 writing as well as their metalanguage development (Hafner, 2020; Zhang & Yu, 2022).

Most studies on DMC have focused on the planning and drafting process (Wang, 2021), discussing how L2 writers use different modal resources and strategies to make meaning from a social semiotic perspective. Nevertheless, scant attention has been given to the sharing and reflection phases. Moreover, limited research has focused on summative evaluation, which means feedback is one-way. In contrast, the multi-draft approach emphasizes the negotiation and interaction between writers and readers (Zhao, 2021). Although previous research has probed into how L2 writers incorporate feedback into their revision by comparing their multiple drafts (Zhang, 2019), behaviour engagement is merely one of the dimensions of student engagement. In fact, it is interrelated with the affective and cognitive dimensions, and could be mediated by individual or contextual factors (Han & Hyland, 2015). Consequently, to bridge these gaps, the present exploratory study will examine DMC from a multi-draft process perspective, exploring salient problems in their first drafts. More importantly, it will delve into how they respond to feedback.