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Driven by the digital revolution in second language (L2) classrooms and broadened views on literacy, digital multimodal composing (DMC) has gained a robust growth of interests in the past decade. To illuminate the empirical landscape of this budding field, this paper provides a substantive and methodological review of 60 empirical L2 studies on DMC in tertiary settings from 2005 to 2020. Each study was coded for characteristics regarding research context, methodology, study setup features, analyses performed, and the methodological practices. Our findings suggest that with a combination of flourishing qualitative observational research and emerging interventionist studies, this domain features (a) great attention to DMC in language classes, (b) an underrepresentation of non-English classrooms, (c) a preference for video projects over visual projects, and (d)immense efforts in exploring the potential of DMC from learners' perspectives. Also, using a broad range of data sources, this domain relies on analytic frameworks distinct from traditional monomodal L2 writing. Methodologically, we found a strength in the use of two validity strategies (i.e., a thick description and triangulation) and less-than-ideal practices in reporting reliability and learners' proficiency level. We conclude the paper with a number of empirically grounded recommendations for future research efforts.

This article reviews 26 empirical studies on digital multimodal composing (DMC) published in well-established journals between 2010 and 2020. It provides a holistic overview of these studies in terms of context and participants, multimodal tasks, technology, and research data. Research strands and themes are also identified. This review shows that most studies on DMC were conducted in tertiary ESL/EFL contexts. The research was informed by various theoretical/pedagogical frameworks across multiple disciplines. The multimodal writing tasks included digital storytelling, digital video production, and multimodal presentation. Data were analyzed to address three main strands: (1) L2 students' DMC process; (2) students' perceptions of DMC; and (3) effects of DMC. Of note, DMC practices were reported to have benefited L2 students, such as enhancing audience and genre awareness, learner autonomy, language learning investment, identity development, multimodal communicative competence, and L2 competence. This article ends with pedagogical recommendations and directions for future research.