Exploring the base of the iceberg: Writing processes in learner corpus research

Gilquin, Gaëtanelle [UCL]

Learner corpus research has made an important contribution to the study of L2 writing through the analysis of large databases of authentic texts written by representative samples of learners. So far, however, the almost exclusive focus on the final texts, of which most learner corpora are composed, means that we have mainly considered the tip of the iceberg, that is, the visible part of writing. The different processes leading to the written product, such as editing, proofreading or use of external resources, are usually invisible in learner corpora, and hence in learner corpus research. Yet, the literature on writing has long highlighted the importance of processes in addition to products (e.g. Murray 1980, Krapels 1990, Sasaki 2000). This presentation will explore the base of the iceberg, namely the processes that are involved in writing texts in L2, and will show how learner corpus research could contribute to a better understanding in this respect too. Special types of learner corpora will be introduced that give access to writing processes, including PROCEED, the Process Corpus of English in Education (Gilquin 2022). This corpus contains written texts, like traditional written learner corpora, but for each text it also provides a screencast video and a keylog file, which reproduce the writing process as it unfolds. Illustrations of how a corpus like PROCEED can be used in learner corpus research will be given. We will see how the corpus makes it possible to investigate phenomena such as writing fluency or dictionary consultation, but also to speculate about more cognitive aspects of L2 acquisition. Examples of possible pedagogical applications will be given too. The challenges of dealing with writing process data will be outlined, as well as the potential for further development of this type of research.