Digital multimodal composing versus traditional monomodal writing: A look at the Spanish imperfect subjunctive from a process and product perspective

Although digital multimodal composing (DMC) tasks have increasingly become part of the curriculum at higher education institutions, there is limited research on whether these tasks facilitate language development in L2 classes. Specifically, there is a lack of studies on how DMC supports learners' writing development in terms of specific linguistic structures. From a task-supported language teaching (TSLT) perspective, this quasi-experimental study aimed to explore DMC tasks from a process and product perspective by analyzing concurrent data of advanced Spanish L2 writers' traditional monomodal versus multimodal composing processes as well as their accuracy rate of a complex specific linguistic item, the Spanish imperfect subjunctive. The current study investigated (1) if there were any differences in the accuracy rate of the Spanish imperfect subjunctive between participants in the monomodal and the DMC group, (2) how deeply participants processed the Spanish imperfect subjunctive when completing the DMC and the traditional monomodal task and (3) to what extent participants' depth of processing (DoP) had an impact on their accuracy rate of the Spanish imperfect subjunctive in a subsequent in-class monomodal composition. Participants' accuracy rates were calculated as correct instances over total obligatory contexts, including errors and omissions, while DoP was coded using Leow's (2015) coding scheme. Results revealed (1) a non-statistically significant difference between the groups' accuracy rates, (2) fairly similar DoP in both groups, and (3) descriptive patterns that may point to an effect of DoP on accuracy rates. Findings are discussed from an ISLA applied perspective.