Review of Recent Research on L2 Digital Multimodal Composing

Abstract

This article reviews 26 empirical studies on digital multimodal composing (DMC) published in well-established journals between 2010 and 2020. It provides a holistic overview of these studies in terms of context and participants, multimodal tasks, technology, and research data. Research strands and themes are also identified. This review shows that most studies on DMC were conducted in tertiary ESL/EFL contexts. The research was informed by various theoretical/pedagogical frameworks across multiple disciplines. The multimodal writing tasks included digital storytelling, digital video production, and multimodal presentation. Data were analyzed to address three main strands: 1) L2 students' DMC process, 2) students' perceptions of DMC, and 3) effects of DMC. Of note, DMC practices were reported to have benefited L2 students, such as enhancing audience and genre awareness, learner autonomy, language learning investment, identity development, multimodal communicative competence, and L2 competence. This article ends with pedagogical recommendations and directions for future research.