Writing and Pedagogy Apr 2025

“The Computer Gives Us Lots of Ideas”: Exploring Children's Multimodal Writing Process

Sarah Williams University of North Georgia ; Amy Seely Flint University of Louisville ; Rebecca Rohloff Georgia State University

Abstract

This article offers insights into elementary-aged students’ perspectives as they embark on composing collaborative multimodal narratives. Contributions from research literature on the writing process, conference practices, and multimodality situate the study. Analysis of students’ responses on a retrospective interview protocol that focused on students’ recollections of the experience, illuminated three findings that may be used to generate questions for effective writing conferences for multimodal compositions. Questions can be asked to support students as they navigate technology, gain insights into modal selection, and determine their collaborative approach to the composing process. Moreover, learning more about students’ decisions as they compose multimodal texts leads to a richer understanding of the affordances of multiple modes in writing and recommendations for creative effective writing conferences.

Journal
Writing and Pedagogy
Published
2025-04-01
DOI
10.3138/wap-26257-williams
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
collaborative writing digital rhetoric multimodality
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