The composing processes of two L2
writers in the screen capture data
Sungwoo Kim
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
A view
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Another view
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Methods in Sociocultural Theory
Four genetic domains for the proper study of higher
mental functions (Lantolf, 2006)
1. Phylogenetic domain: development of the human
species (mainly biological)
2. Sociocultural domain: human society and culture
3. Ontogenetic domain: human development over one's
lifespan
4. Microgenetic domain: the reorganization and
development of mediation over a relatively short
span of time
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Methods in Sociocultural Theory
Application to Writing Research (Examples)
1. Phylogenetic domain: the expansion of brain capacity
2. Sociocultural domain: invention of letters, literacy
and oral culture
3. Ontogenetic domain: development of one’s writing
over one's lifespan
4. Microgenetic domain: use of mediational tools,
acquisition of specific genre features, proper use of
grammar (items), etc
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Fundamental Questions
Do we have right methods for researching the
microgenesis of writing?
or
Do we have rigorous methods to properly
understand the dynamics of online (real-time)
writing practices?
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Issue: Gap in Research Methods
Spoken
 Real-time utterances
 Transcripts
 Think aloud
 etc
Written
 No real-time data
 Final drafts
 Think aloud
 etc
Analysis of written data lacks the real-time
picture of learners’ writing performance.
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Analysis of Written Data
Learner’s final draft
Conference with learners
Teacher feedback (oral/written) vs. Students
revision
Think aloud protocols while writing
etc
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Analysis of Written Data (Cont’d)
Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki, & Kim (1998)'s meta analysis
1. Counts of number of words, clauses, sentences, or
T-units in a text
2. Averages of the number of words per clause, per
sentence, per T-unit, per error-free clause, or per
error-free T-units in a text
-> Based on final products of writing
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Capture Data
 What is the capture data?
1. The researchers recorded two participants’ writing
processes using the software which captures
everything on users’ computer screen.
2. This means you will have a thirty-minute video clip if
a participant has written something for thirty
minutes.
3. The software is different from the generic key-logging
software in that it creates a video clip rather than a
chain of keystrokes.
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Participants in the Study
 Two doctoral students in a large university in the US
1. Jaehee (pseudonym): A post-doctoral student in
Sports philosophy – Focus of the presentation
 Task: An academic paper on Aristotle's philosophy
and legitimacy of doping (Jaehee’s first full-length
article in English)
2. Bosuk (pseudonym): A doctoral student in Plant
biology
 Task: An invitation letter to his church
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Procedures
1. Participants’ writing (Writing artifacts: MS Word
file & Capturing data (video clip))
2. Review of participants’ writing
 Review of written product (MS Word)
 Coding of interesting phenomena such as selfrevisions and insertions with an ESL teacher
(Kwanghyun Park – co-researcher)
3. Simulated recall session with each participant
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Product View (Text)
Doping, as it is often argued, as a sphere of enhancing
performance in sport has been a fascinating debate
from a philosophical standpoint related to ontology
mainly concerned the appropriateness of artificial
substance based on human nature, and to axiology of
the ethical aspect such as cheating, unfair play and so
on. In this paper, I elucidate the reason why doping is
unethical among the other sport issues through
Aristotle’s works. I have touched on a lot of research
that approaches various standpoints about doping.
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Process View (Capture)
1. Let’s look at some parts of the capture data.
2. Focus on what you think you cannot observe from
the final product of writing, that is, MS word file.
- Self-revisions, insertions, long pauses, inconstant
fluency, etc
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
I. Inconsistent Fluency
Fluency was inconsistent during the writing
process hinting the writer was experiencing
difficulties.
Recall Session
Researcher (orienting Doping, as it is often argued, as a sphere of
enhancing performance in sport has been a fascinating debate from a
philosophical standpoint related to ontology mainly concerned the
appropriateness of artificial substance based on human nature.)
Jaehee: I am very familiar with the expression. I used them
when I had to draft an abstract. So I had no problem in using
them… I have Korean in my head and translate it into English.
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
II. Revision Strategy
Using Mouse / Arrow Key
Participants were using the mouse and arrow
keys to orient their attention. These were also
very frequently used to facilitate their revision
process.
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
III. Insertions
19: 20: Insertion of "plainly"
20: 50: Insertion of "actually“
Stimulated recall: “I think inserting adverbs makes
the meaning of a sentence clearer.”
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
IV. Self Revisions
21:53
concept -> extent -> boundary -> extent
… departing from the extent of golden mean.
the concept
the boundary
Paradigmatic options (One’s repertoire of
synonymous lexical items)
A glimpse of a writer’s semantic network / L1
transfer
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Conclusion
1. Capture data as an methodological complementation
 Real-time capture as a window to writers’ composing
process (especially highlighting the mediated nature
of writing)
 Simulated recall as a ‘pair tool’ to look at writers’
interpretation of different ‘scenes’
-> Development of more thorough methods combining
various resources: “Thick description of writing
practices” (Geertz, 1973) or “Participant
observation in researching writing”
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Conclusion
2. Capture data as a strategy of pedagogical intervention



Capturing practice as a strategy to reflect one’s own
writing
Capture data as an orienting artifact in writing
conference
Capture data as an window to look at students’
“hidden linguistic repertoire”
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Conclusion
3. Capture data as a complementing tool for the
traditional Think-aloud Protocol (TAP)
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen
Thank you.
Sungwoo Kim [email protected]
The composing processes of two L2 writers in the screen