Literacy in Composition Studies May 2016 RSS Open Access

Methodological Challenges to Researching Composing Processes in a New Literacy Context

Pamela Takayoshi Kent State University

Abstract

Literacy researchers might develop a richer understanding of how literacy practices construct communities and writers within those communities through more detailed attention to what writers do when they write. Very little is currently known about the processes by which individuals are actually composing in digital writing environments. However, in this cultural moment of sweeping social, linguistic, and technological literacy transformations, research on digital composing processes involves unique methodological challenges. Contemporary writing technologies intersect with digital literacy composing processes in ways that require critical ethical and methodological decision-making by literacy researchers at all stages of the research process. In this article, I argue that research on contemporary composing processes provides a crucial window onto literacy as a social practice, and further, that such research poses unique methodological challenges for researchers. Through an examination of Facebook writers’ composing processes, I articulate some of these challenges and offer guidance for future research.

Journal
Literacy in Composition Studies
Published
2016-05-01
DOI
10.21623/1.4.1.2
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
Topics
digital rhetoric social media literacy studies community literacy
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Banville et al. (2026)
    Wicked modes in UX: Pedagogical considerations for data détournement
    Computers and Composition
  2. Amicucci (2020)
    Experimenting with Writing Identities on Facebook through Intertextuality and I…
    Computers and Composition
  3. Rowell et al. (2019)
    “I could get lit to Madonna:” Soundscapes & the First Year Writer’s Composing Process
    Computers and Composition
  4. Takayoshi (2018)
    Writing in Social Worlds: An Argument for Researching Composing Processes
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Amicucci (2017)
    Rhetorical Choices in Facebook Discourse: Constructing Voice and Persona
    Computers and Composition

References (45) · 27 in this index

  1. Bain, Alison L., and Catherine J. Nash. “Undressing the Researcher: Feminism, Embodiment and Sexuality at a Q…
     ↗
  2. Barton, David. Literacy: An Introduction to the Ecology of Written Language. Malden: Blackwell, 2007. Print.
  3. Barton (2000)
    More Methodological Matters: Against Negative Argumentation
    College Composition and Communication
  4. Berkenkotter (1981)
    Understanding a Writer’s Awareness of Audience
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Berkenkotter et al. (1983)
    Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer, and Re…
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 45 →
  1. Brandt, Deborah, and Kate Clinton. “Limits of the Local: Expanding Perspectives on Literacy as a Social Pract…
     ↗
  2. Buck (2012)
    Examining Digital Literacy Practices on Social Network Sites
    Research in the Teaching of English
  3. Castelló et al. (2013)
    Learning to Write a Research Article: Ph.D. Students’ Transitions toward Discip…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. Collier (1983)
    The Word Processor and Revision Strategies
    College Composition and Communication
  5. Easton, Kristen L., Judith Fry McComish, and Rifka Greenberg. “Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Qualitative Data C…
     ↗
  6. Faigley et al. (1985)
    Learning to Write in the Social Sciences
    College Composition and Communication
  7. Flower et al. (1981)
    A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  8. Flower et al. (1980)
    The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem
    College Composition and Communication
  9. Flynn (1983)
    Composing Responses to Literary Texts: A Process Approach
    College Composition and Communication
  10. Gee, James Paul. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. Print.
     ↗
  11. Geisler, Cheryl, and Sean Slattery. “Capturing the Activity of Digital Writing: Using, Analyzing, and Supplem…
  12. Grabill, Jeffrey. “Community-based Research and the Importance of a Research Stance.” Writing Studies Researc…
  13. Green, Judith, Maria Franquiz, and Carol Dixon. “The Myth of the Objective Transcript: Transcribing as a Situ…
     ↗
  14. Dyson (1984)
    Learning to Write/Learning to Do School: Emergent Writers’ Interpretations of S…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  15. Halse, Christine, and Anne Honey. “Unraveling Ethics: Illuminating the Moral Dilemmas of Research Ethics.” Si…
     ↗
  16. Hart-Davidson, Bill. “Studying the Mediated Action of Composing with Time-use Diaries.” Digital Writing Resea…
  17. Herring, Susan C. “Content Analysis for New Media: Rethinking the Paradigm.” New Research for New Media: Inno…
  18. Heyes, Cressida. “Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case of Transgender.” Signs: Journal of Women i…
     ↗
  19. Jacobs-Huey, Lanita. “The Natives Are Gazing and Talking Back: Reviewing the Problematics of Positionality, V…
     ↗
  20. Jensen et al. (1984)
    Personality and Individual Writing Processes
    College Composition and Communication
  21. Marshall, Catherine, and Gretchen Rossman.Designing Qualitative Research. 5th ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2011. Print.
  22. McKee et al. (2008)
    The Ethics of Digital Writing Research: A Rhetorical Approach
    College Composition and Communication
  23. McKee, Heidi, and Danielle Nicole DeVoss, eds. Digital Writing Research: Technologies, Methodologies, and Eth…
  24. Miller (1982)
    How Writers Evaluate Their Own Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  25. Odell et al. (1982)
    Writing in a Non- Academic Setting
    Research in the Teaching of English
  26. Perl (1980)
    Understanding Composing
    College Composition and Communication
  27. Pianko (1979)
    A Description of the Composing Processes of College Freshman Writers
    Research in the Teaching of English
  28. Pigg et al. (2014)
    Ubiquitous Writing, Technologies, and the Social Practice of Literacies of Coor…
    Written Communication
  29. Powell et al. (2003)
    Accepting Roles Created for Us: The Ethics of Reciprocity
    College Composition and Communication
  30. Rose (1980)
    Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Anal…
    College Composition and Communication
  31. Royster, Jacqueline Jones, and Gesa Kirsch. Feminist Rhetorical Practices: New Horizons for Rhetoric, Composi…
  32. Schwartz (1983)
    Two Journeys through the Writing Process
    College Composition and Communication
  33. Selzer (1983)
    The Composing Processes of an Engineer
    College Composition and Communication
  34. Smagorinsky (2008)
    The Method Section as Conceptual Epicenter in Constructing Social Science Resea…
    Written Communication
  35. Smagorinsky (1991)
    The Writer’s Knowledge and the Writing Process: A Protocol Analysis
    Research in the Teaching of English
  36. Smagorinsky et al. (2010)
    Bullshit in Academic Writing: A Protocol Analysis of a High School Senior’s Pro…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  37. Sommers (1980)
    Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers
    College Composition and Communication
  38. Street, Brian. Literacy in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1984. Print.
  39. Takayoshi (2015)
    Short-form writing: Studying process in the context of contemporary composing t…
    Computers and Composition
  40. Taylor, Verta, and Leila J. Rupp. “When the Girls Are Men: Negotiating Gender and Sexual Dynamics in a Study …
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  2. Computers and Composition Dec 2024
    “Wayfinding” through the AI wilderness: Mapping rhetorics of ChatGPT prompt writing on X (formerly Twitter) to promote critical AI literacies ↗
    Anuj Gupta; Ann Shivers-McNair
    rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy teacher development qualitative research digital rhetoric social media artificial intelligence literacy studies community literacy
  3. Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2024
    Redrawing the Maps: Digital Literacy Practices of Grassroots Activists ↗
    Amber Buck
    genre theory digital rhetoric social media literacy studies community literacy
  4. Communication Design Quarterly Jun 2024
    Redrawing the Maps: Digital Literacy Practices of Grassroots Activists ↗
    Amber Buck
    genre theory digital rhetoric social media literacy studies community literacy
  5. Pedagogy Jan 2022
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis african american rhetorics decolonial rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing writing across the curriculum graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing transfer assessment portfolios writing program administration writing centers peer tutoring technical communication professional writing archival research digital rhetoric social media grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric community literacy literary studies editorial matter