Digital Writing, Multimodality, and Learning Transfer: Crafting Connections between Composition and Online Composing

Most university students have a wealth of prior writing experience from writing in digital spaces before entering their first writing class, and much of this prior experience includes making meaning using multiple modes of communication. However, these students may not perceive their digital and multimodal writing as connected to classroom practice. Because of this, they may have a challenging time using writing knowledge learned in digital spaces to help with their academic writing. This study uses survey and interview data gathered from first-year university students to help better understand what prior digital and multimodal writing experiences students have as well as how students perceive the connections between these experiences and their own classroom practice. The author suggests ways to help students see connections between their varied writing experiences in order to facilitate learning transfer between their prior digital and multimodal experiences, their experiences in the composition classroom, and their experiences in other contexts.