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
Open Access
OA PDF Gold
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Citation context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Kester et al. (2026)
    Self-sponsored writing and rhetorical awareness: An empirical study of students…
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  2. Banville et al. (2026)
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  3. Amicucci (2020)
    Experimenting with Writing Identities on Facebook through Intertextuality and I…
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  4. Rowell et al. (2019)
    “I could get lit to Madonna:” Soundscapes & the First Year Writer’s Composing Process
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  5. Takayoshi (2018)
    Writing in Social Worlds: An Argument for Researching Composing Processes
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Show all 6 →
  1. Amicucci (2017)
    Rhetorical Choices in Facebook Discourse: Constructing Voice and Persona
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    College Composition and Communication
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    Short-form writing: Studying process in the context of contemporary composing t…
    Computers and Composition
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     ↗
  41. Bain, Alison L., and Catherine J. Nash. “Undressing the Researcher: Feminism, Embodiment and Sexuality at a …
     ↗
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    College Composition and Communication
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    Understanding a Writer’s Awareness of Audience
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    Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer, and Re…
    College Composition and Communication
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     ↗
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     ↗
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     ↗
  51. Faigley et al. (1985)
    Learning to Write in the Social Sciences
    College Composition and Communication
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    A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing
    College Composition and Communication
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    The Cognition of Discovery: Defining a Rhetorical Problem
    College Composition and Communication
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    Composing Responses to Literary Texts: A Process Approach
    College Composition and Communication
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     ↗
  56. Geisler, Cheryl, and Sean Slattery. “Capturing the Activity of Digital Writing: Using, Analyzing, and Suppl…
     ↗
  57. Grabill, Jeffrey. “Community-based Research and the Importance of a Research Stance.”Writing Studies Researc…
     ↗
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     ↗
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    Learning to Write/Learning to Do School: Emergent Writers’ Interpretations of S…
    Research in the Teaching of English
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     ↗
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     ↗
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     ↗
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     ↗
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    Written Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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    Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Anal…
    College Composition and Communication
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     ↗
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    Two Journeys through the Writing Process
    College Composition and Communication
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    The Composing Processes of an Engineer
    College Composition and Communication
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    The Method Section as Conceptual Epicenter in Constructing Social Science Resea…
    Written Communication
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    The Writer’s Knowledge and the Writing Process: A Protocol Analysis
    Research in the Teaching of English
  81. Smagorinsky et al. (2010)
    Bullshit in Academic Writing: A Protocol Analysis of a High School Senior’s Pro…
    Research in the Teaching of English
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    Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers
    College Composition and Communication
  83. Street, Brian.Literacy in Theory and Practice.Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1984. Print.
     ↗
  84. Takayoshi (2015)
    Short-form writing: Studying process in the context of contemporary composing t…
    Computers and Composition
  85. Taylor, Verta, and Leila J. Rupp. “When the Girls Are Men: Negotiating Gender and Sexual Dynamics in a Stud…
     ↗
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