Reviewed by: Digital L2 Writing Literacies: Directions for Classroom Practices by Ana Oskoz and Idoia Elola Christine Campbell Oskoz, Ana, and Idoia Elola. Digital L2 Writing Literacies: Directions for Classroom Practices. Equinox, 2020, pp. 288. ISBN 978-1-781-79693-1. For more than a decade, the terms “literacies” and “multiliteracies” have circulated in the scholarship: The former refers to “social practices [exercised by individuals as parts of larger groups] that are fluid, sociocultural, multimodal, and dynamic” (Chen, H. I., 2013, “Identity practices of multilingual writers in social networking spaces” (see Language Learning & Technology, vol. 17, no. 2, p. 143); the latter are, according to the New London Group (1996), “representations of (multi) cultural and (multi)linguistic diversity” that include new communication technologies (Digital L2 Writing Literacies 5). The tome by Oskoz and Elola is a needed addition to the dialogue. This review will describe and analyze Digital L2 Writing Literacies: Directions for Classroom Practices. Martha Pennington, Editor, Frameworks for Writing Series, affirms in the Preface that it is “an authoritative and timely work,” promising that it provides “an up-to-date overview of digital writing in L2 contexts, with reflections on its specific applications and potentials as an environment for development of communicative skills and personal expression, and on how digital media have expanded the options for teaching language and writing in particular” (ix). The authors deliver on the promise, offering a well-referenced, highly-readable state-of-the-art book on digital L2 writing literacies intended for both researchers and teachers alike. Below, comments on the organization and content of the book. The publication is divided into seven chapters followed by Concluding Remarks, References, Author Index, and Subject Index. All chapters end with a section entitled “Ideas for Reflection and Discussion”; chapters 2–6 include the description of a class project. The “Introduction” aptly sets the general context, presenting five reasons in support of the use of digital tools in the L2 classroom, the first, and perhaps the most important, being that writing, as a technological development in its own right, will likely prevail in society, albeit in an expanded format that includes the incorporation of visual and aural modes. Chapter 1, “Digital Literacies: Definitions, Theoretical and Pedagogical Frameworks,” provides specific context for the rest of the book. Digital literacy (DL) “primarily applies to internet- and technology-mediated learning (Chen 2013), and it intersects with other literacies related to communication skills” (17). The authors emphasize the importance of teaching learners the potential of digital tools, for example, the new opportunities for developing L2 writer identities where learners work on projects in which they change ethnicity, race (“racebending”), or gender (“genderbending or cisswapping”) (24). Here, Oskoz and Elola review both sociocultural [End Page 524] theory (SCT) and activity theory (AT) as they apply to digital L2 writing literacies and pertinent pedagogical frameworks: bridging activities, genre-based frameworks, task-based approaches, and Learning by Design. Chapter 2, “Transforming L2 Writing: New Writing Tools, New Genres, New Ways of Writing,” proposes that the diversity of “semiotic resources supporting the digital texts requires a new set of conventions and rules which go beyond the written word” (51). Sinclair (2010), cited by Lotherington and Sinitskaya Ronda (2012), for example, posits that the traditional 3 Rs—Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic be replaced by Reuse, Revise, Remix, and Redistribute in the Digital Era. Table 2.1, which lists digital tools, modes, and genres for the L2 classroom, and the description of a multi-modal Travel Blog Project are of special note. Chapter 3, “Collaborative Writing in the L2 Classroom: Making the Most of Digital Social Tools,” reviews the newer practice of digital social writing in chats and discussion boards. The chapter ends with the Collaborating with Different Tools Project, related to collaborative writing. Chapter 4, “Developing L2 and Multilingual Students’ Identities as Writers: Acquiring a Voice,” posits that “students [today] are faced with needing to express, negotiate, and interpret intended meanings in communication forms not often considered or seen before in the L2 classroom, in order to interact with other digital community members” (107). Contextual factors such as linguistic background, dialects, and mixed populations in the same classroom can enhance the evolution of learner identity...
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