Real-time Capture Data in Writing Research: Roundtable in PSU (2009)

A case for incorporating real-time capture data to writing research and pedagogy: A Vygotskian Perspective.

SCT Working Group Meeting 2009

Sungwoo Kim (Pennsylvania State University)

Page 2 PSU APLNG Round Table 10/09/2009

Structure of presentation

1. Sungwoo’s understanding of Applied Linguistics

2. Visualizations of history and interdependence across disciplines

3. Real-time capture in writing research

Research gap between oral and written data analysis

Think aloud protocols

Real-time capture data

4. Discussion

5. Useful tech tools for visualizing history

6. Open discussion


Beyond the visible, to meet “Mind in History”

“… the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible…” (Hebrew 11:3, KJV)


What I see vs. What it is

What I see is just a partial image of given phenomena. The apparent whole is actually just a part of the (historical) entirety.

For example, my presentation here is part of my ongoing project. My research project has its own history of getting feedback from several people in my community at PSU.


Applied Linguistics in Sungwoo’s version

Applied Linguistics can be conceptualized as a discipline concerned with history and interdependence of our linguistic and symbolic interactions with other people and the world.

From this perspective, historical is synonymous with social. Social phenomena is contemporary manifestation of history on different timescales.


Multiple timescales inhabit even just a sentence. I view Applied Linguistics as a discipline for revealing history and human interdependence.

view A as B from high school textbook

discipline from my college English

reveal from Revelation in the Bible in my first encounter with NIV (New International Version) in middle school, thus certainly with some religious taste

history from middle school, enriched here at PSU by Vygotsky’s genetic method and Foucault’s genealogy

interdependence from ecological perspective (against “Independentism” in the Western culture) which has been with me since my graduate school study, recently associated with Emmanuel Levinas

a “the thing” reminding me of a long struggle with the English article system (more than just the shortest word in English)


Two Key words in SW’s Applied Linguistics

Interdependence

– Human symbolic actions are socioculturally mediated.

– We mediate each other.

History

– Human (behavior) is formed and transformed through time.


History of our physical existence

They are also fantastically durable. Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms—up to a billion for each of us, it has been suggested—probably once belonged to Shakespeare.


History of our physical existence

A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name. (The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley.)

(Bryson, B (2003). History of Nearly Everything, p. 134)


Interdependence of our sociocultural existence

This is why the unique speech experience of each individual is shaped and developed in continuous and constant interaction with others’ individual utterances. This experience can be characterized to some degree as the process of assimilation – more or less creative - of “our-own-ness,” varying degrees of awareness and detachment. These words of others carry with them their own expression, their own evaluative tone, which we assimilate, rework, and re-accentuate. (Bhaktin 1986: 89)


Vygotsky on Processes & History

Vygotsky argues, "Psychological analysis of objects should be contrasted with the analysis of processes, which require a dynamic display of the main points making up the processes' history” (Vygotsky, 1978: 61). Vygotsky points out that historical or developmental approaches to human mind are essential because "it is only in movement that a body shows what it is" (1978:65).


On Twitter

One example of history/interdependence





World of multiple (but not parallel) universes

intersectin

g


Discourse in Multiple Universes

Heterogeneous

Multi-layered

Abbreviated

Unintelligible to those outside the “discourse circle”

Different time scales


Example: DECODING NEEDED?

royalwine 나는 조씨 RT @sungwookim: 너 박기자 ? RT @royalwine 조사 완료 . RT @jaystory: 뒷태 전문 기자 ! @sungwookim: 누규 ? @sophiekkim RT 뒷조사는 박기자 . RT @royalwine: 뒷조사 시작 less than a year ago

http://twitter.com/sungwookim

http://twitter.com/royalwine

http://twitter.com/jaystory


http://twitter.com/sophiekkim


http://twitter.com/royalwine/status/3581953953


Immediate discourse

sophiekkim @sungwookim 그러게요 , 점점 짧아지는 트윗 RT 의 묘미 . :D @jaystory @royalwineless than a year from Seesmic in reply to sungwookimto KO

sungwookim @royalwine 대화 압축 알고리듬이 무척 재미있다는 ... 140 자의 압박이 다양한 압축 알고리듬을 만들어낸다는 ... 물론 상대가 누구냐에 따라서 알고리듬 패러미터 값이 무척 달라진다는 ... ;;; @jaystory @sophiekkimless than a year from web in reply to royalwineto KO

royalwine 나는 조씨 RT @sungwookim: 너 박기자 ? RT @royalwine 조사 완료 . RT @jaystory: 뒷태 전문 기자 ! @sungwookim: 누규 ? @sophiekkim RT 뒷조사는 박기자 . RT @royalwine: 뒷조사 시작 less than a year from twhirlto KO

헉 박기자님 ? RT @royalwine 저 셜록홈즈 뺨친다는 ... ^ ^v RT @jaystory: 뒷태 전문 기자 ! @sungwookim: 박기자 누규 ? @sophiekkim RT 뒷조사는 박기자 . RT @royalwine: 뒷조사 시작11:07 AM Aug 27th from web to KO

죄송하지만 박기자님이라고 하시면 누구이시온지 ... @sophiekkimRT 원래 뒷조사는 박기자님이 ... RT @royalwine: @sungwookim아닐 듯 , 아닐 듯 ... 분명히 뭔가가 있다능 ... 뒷조사 해봐야짐 . 후후훗 .. -.-+10:55 AM Aug 27th from web to KO

@royalwine 헛 뒷조사라굽쇼 ? 무셔라 . =3=3=3 도주중 ~10:46 AM Aug 27th from web in reply to royalwineto KO

royalwine @sungwookim 아닐 듯 , 아닐 듯 ... 분명히 뭔가가 있다능 ... 뒷조사 해봐야짐 . 후후훗 .. -.-+less than a year from twhirl in reply to sungwookimto

Plus offline relationship and direct messages!





http://twitter.com/sophiekkim/status/3582030665

http://www.seesmic.com/

http://twitter.com/37377088/status/3581996561





http://twitter.com/sungwookim/status/3581996561










http://www.twhirl.org/

















http://www.twhirl.org/



Thus the tasks are

to visualize how the multiple universes allow an individual or a group of people to engage in a certain linguistic activity

to trace the development of the activity

to develop methodology to transform what we are doing in a development-conducive way


Some examples

Interdependence – Social Relationship

History – Change over time

Examples of making interdependence / history visible

– LCA

– Wiki

– Google Wave

– Painting Process

– Other visualizations


Life Cycle Analysis

The goal of LCA is to compare the environmental performance of products and services, to be able to choose the least burdensome one. The term 'life cycle' refers to the notion that a fair, holistic assessment requires the assessment of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal including all intervening transportation steps. This is the life cycle of the product. The concept also can be used to optimize the environmental performance of a single product (ecodesign) or to optimize the environmental performance of a company.

http://www.ecohuddle.com/wiki/life-cycle-assessments



Life Cycle Assessment

A life cycle assessment (also known as life cycle analysis, life cycle inventory, ecobalance, cradle-to-grave-analysis, well-to-wheel analysis, and dust-to-dust energy cost) is the assessment of the environmental impact of a given product or service throughout its lifespan.




Life Cycle Analysis

Source: http://ehsstrategies.com/lcm.htm

http://ehsstrategies.com/lcm.htm


WIKI Platform

You can compareany two of these pages.

http://esl015.pbworks.com/

http://esl015.pbworks.com/


Google Wave

Google Wave

– Clip 1: http://splicd.com/xBzuuWZPaXc/1/53

– Clip 2: Playback http://splicd.com/xBzuuWZPaXc/149/163

– Clip3: Translation

– http://splicd.com/xBzuuWZPaXc/292/334

http://splicd.com/xBzuuWZPaXc/1/53


Visualization of discursive actions

Examples from Twitter-related websites

http://beta.twittervision.com/

http://twistori.com/#i_feel

http://www.wordnik.com

http://www.google.com (why am I ~_)


Visualization

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/08/31/business/31novelCA02ready.html


History of Programming Language

http://oreilly.com/news/graphics/prog_lang_poster.pdf

Visualizes genealogy of programming language

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/visualizations?q=language

Language-related visuals from the IBM project “Manyeyes”

http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/9213-shh....._by_anastasky.php History of the painting

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/08/02/data-visualization-modern-approaches/ Other visualization showcases


A Case for incorporating real-time capture data to writing research


Importance of History in Sociocultural Theory

Four genetic domains for the proper study of higher mental functions (Lantolf, 2006)

1. Phylogenetic domain: development of the human species (mainly biological)

2. Sociocultural domain: human society and culture

3. Ontogenetic domain: human development over one's lifespan

4. Microgenetic domain: the reorganization and development of mediation over a relatively short span of time


Four domains in writing research

For example, the researcher's writing activity at this moment should be understood as a process involving the evolution of the human brain (phylogenesis), writing practice in a highly literate culture with strong influence of technology on academic writing (sociocultural domain), the researcher's history of learning and engaging in writing activities over his lifetime (ontogenesis), and moment-by-moment genesis of writing vis-a-vis his consultation with mediational tools like online dictionaries for bilingual translation or search engines for marshalling semiotic repertoire from academic corpora (microgenesis).


Issue1: Gap in Research Methods

Do we have right methods for researching the microgenesis of writing?

or

Do we have rigorous methods to properly understand the dynamics of online (real-time) writing practices?


Issue1: Gap in Research Methods

Spoken

– Real-time utterances

– Transcripts

– Think aloud

– etc

Written

– No real-time data

– Final drafts

– Think aloud

– etc

Analysis of written data lacks the real-time picture of learners’ writing performance.


Analysis of Written Data

Wolfe-Quintero, Inagaki, & Kim (1998)'s meta analysis

1. Counts of number of words, clauses, sentences, or T-units in a text

2. Averages of the number of words per clause, per sentence, per T-unit, per error-free clause, or per error-free T-units in a text

-> Based on final products of writing


Issue 2: Think Aloud Protocol

But if so, it followed that all introspection is in one respect misleading. In introspection we try to look "inside ourselves" and see what is going on. But nearly everything that was going on a moment before is stopped by the very act of our turning to look at it. Unfortunately this does not mean that introspection finds nothing. On the contrary, it finds precisely what is left behind by the suspension of all our normal activities; and what is left behind is mainly mental images and physical sensations. The great error is to mistake this mere sediment or track or byproduct for the activities themselves. (C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy 218-219)


TAP Methodology in Writing Research

Arndt, 1987; Braaksma, Rijlaarsdam, van den Bergh & van Hout-Wolters, 2004; Flower & Hayes, 1981; Jourdenais, 1998; Kozma, 1991; Qi & Lapkin, 2001; Swarts, Flower & Hayes, 1984; Wang & Wen, 2002; Witte & Cherry, 1994; Woodall, 2002; Zamel 1983

- Based on Wurzburg proposal that "the word is nothing but the external clothing of thought" and behaviorist's formula that "thought is speech" (Bruner, 2004: 19).


Criticisms of TAP

Smagorinsky (1998: 163) criticizes TAP from a cultural-historical activity theory perspective. He argues that studies adopting TAP "has the appearance of being a solitary act, yet from a CHAT perspective can only be understood a social act."

Afflerbach and Johnson (1984: 311)“a crowding of the cognitive workbench”

Hyland (2002) - TAP can cause overload of short-term memory


Criticisms of TAP (Cont’d)

Lantolf (1990: 180) "The fact that individuals engage in inner speech when carrying out certain mental activities is not at all the same thing as remembering to speak aloud for the benefit of a researcher.”

Swain (2006: 110) “Think alouds and stimulated recalls are not, as some would have it, “brain dumps”; rather they are a process of comprehending and reshaping experience – they are part of what constitutes development and learning”


real-time capture data


Real-time capture data analysis

JH’s case (Final text)

Doping, as it is often argued, as a sphere of enhancing performance in sport has been a fascinating debate from a philosophical standpoint mainly related to ontology concerned the appropriateness of artificial substance based on human nature.


A teacher’s comment on the text

I believe 'as it is often argued' is a good attempt at hedging or possibly putting this sentence into a context of one argument among many but is problematic in that it does not really situate the argument, like it would with a citation and has some grammar issues with the use of 'as.' The writer is trying to either hedge or situate but looks like s/he is experiencing some difficulties…

This writer reminds me of a student I taught in Korea, who was very highly educated and possessed an almost infinite (or so it seemed) English vocabulary, but who could not put together an English sentence without using two or three five syllable words that rarely made an sense. I deeply respected this students intellect, but wanted to move him towards writing simply so that I could actually make sense of what he was writing. It was an interesting if frustrating experience. (Refer to your handout)


Self Revisions Revealed

21:53

concept -> extent -> boundary -> extent

… departing from the extent of golden mean.

the concept

the boundary

Paradigmatic options (One’s repertoire of synonymous lexical items)

A glimpse of a writer’s semantic network / L1 transfer


Conclusion

1. Capture data as an methodological complementation

– Real-time capture as a window to writers’ composing process

– Simulated recall as a ‘pair tool’ to look at writers’ interpretation of different ‘writing scenes’

-> Development of more thorough methods combining various resources: “Thick description of writing practices”


Conclusion

2. Capture data as a strategy of pedagogical intervention

– Capturing practice as a strategy to reflect one’s own writing

– Capture data as an orienting artifact in writing conference

– Capture data as an window to look at students’ “hidden linguistic repertoire”


Conclusion

3. Writing Process as Thinking Process

– Need to revisit the false dichotomy of “thinking inside” and “externalizing the thought”

– Need to dialectically conceptualize thinking and speaking / thinking and writing and ultimately -> human mind “in society” not “in brain”

– Distributed cognition / Extended mind


Feynman’s Paper and Pencil

Consider this famous exchange between the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman and the historian Charles Weiner.1 Weiner, encountering with a historian’s glee a batch of Feynman’s original notes and sketches, remarked that the materials represented “a record of [Feynman’s] day-to-day work.” But instead of simply acknowledging this historic value, Feynman reacted with unexpected sharpness:


Feynman’s Paper and Pencil

“I actually did the work on the paper,” he said.“Well,” Weiner said, “the work was done in your head, but the record of it is still here.”“No, it’s not a record, not really. It’s working. You have to work on paper and this is the paper. Okay?” (from Gleick 1993, 409)

Feynman’s suggestion is, at the very least, that the loop into the external medium was integral to his intellectual activity (the “working”) itself. But I would like to go further and suggest that Feynman was actually thinking on the paper.

(Clark 2008: xxv)


Useful tools for visualizing history/relations

Camtasia Studio – desktop software for screen capture http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp

Screen Cast – web-based freeware for screen capturehttp://www.screencast.com/

Google Analytics – Data mining tool for your website and search engine http://www.google.com/analytics/

Many Eyes (IBM) – Visualization of data http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/page/Tour.html

PBWiki http://www.pbworks.com

Zoho Creator https://creator.zoho.com/


Open discussion

1. Does the clip give insights for our understanding of the learner's writing process?

2. How may screen capture enhance writing instruction and evaluation?

3. How may screen capture, as methodology, inform writing research?

4. How do these history- and relationship-visualizing examples enhance our research as applied linguists?

5. Any other thoughts? Comments?

Thank you.Sungwoo Kim

(Thanks to Kwanghyun Park, Steve L. Thorne, Matt Poehner, James P. Lantolf: Names in historical order!)

Education

Real-time Capture Data in Writing Research: Roundtable in PSU (2009)