An exploratory product- and process-based analysis of L2 writing by dyslexic language learners

Radar, Laurie [UCL] Gilquin, Gaëtanelle [UCL]

In this presentation, we will present an ongoing research project aimed at investigating the written production of learners of English as a foreign language (L2) with dyslexia. Our approach relies on data representing both the written product and the writing process. Technological methods such as screencasting and keylogging have made it possible to consider learners' composition processes, with their several stages of editing and revision, alongside the final texts. Such methods can reveal information about intermediate steps such as text planning, frequency and location of pauses, or number and types of revisions (Galbraith & Vedder 2019). While process-based approaches have provided interesting insights into L2 writing processes, to the best of our knowledge they have not yet been applied to L2 writing produced by language learners with dyslexia. In our project, we use data collected within the frame of the Process Corpus of English in Education (PROCEED; Gilquin 2022). For each subject taking part in a writing task (writing of a short narrative text elicited by pictures), we collect the final text, as is usually the case in learner corpora, but we also record the screen and keyboard activity by means of OBS Studio (Jim & OBS Studio Contributors 2021) and Inputlog (Leijten & Van Waes 2013), respectively, to represent learners' composition processes. The participants are French-speaking dyslexic students learning English in a Belgian university. Data from a control group made up of non-dyslexic students are also collected, but for the purpose of this presentation, we concentrate on dyslexic participants only. In order to investigate the writing characteristics of dyslexic learners, screencasting and keylogging are supplemented by individual stimulated recall sessions. Such sessions aim to elicit the thought processes in which participants engaged while carrying out a certain task (here, the writing of the narrative text) on the basis of a stimulus (here, the screen recording of the writing task) (Gass & Mackey 2016; Révész, Lu & Pellicer-Sánchez 2021). Used in combination with screencasting and keylogging, this method helps get a better understanding of learners’ cognitive activities during the writing task. This presentation will offer an exploratory analysis of a small sample of the product and process data produced by dyslexic learners. We will examine the number and types of spelling errors (orthographic, phonological, grammatical, see Protopapas et al. 2013 for more details) made during the composition process as well as in the final texts and how this affects high-level processes such as sentence structure and text organisation. Special attention will be paid to writing fluency, including the frequency and location of pauses as well as the number and types of revisions, which will be determined by means of Inputlog. The screencast videos will be annotated with ELAN (Wittenburg et al. 2006) for writing strategies, distinguishing between those that turn out to be successful and those that lead to errors or problems. This should lead to preliminary insights into the L2 writing of dyslexic language learners.