Young Adolescents' Digital Multimodal Writing in One Urban Setting.

Today's adolescents are considered to be heavy users of social media technology and web-based applications, compared to middle-aged cohorts (e.g., 30-50 years old). However, exact usage details for young adolescents (10-15 years old) in the US are difficult to find, especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged students. There is also scant literature that examines young adolescents' multimodal composing with technologies, the audiences and contexts for which they intend their digital multimodal creations, and the values they hold regarding their creations. This pilot survey study is a response to this need for research. While overall the findings indicate some degree of diversity of form, purpose, and audience in composing among the young adolescents surveyed, these findings also reveal gaps in certain modalities for some groups of young adolescents. Additionally, the researchers call attention to a need for developing an audience awareness, especially of an online audience, and multimodal assessment acumen in these young writers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]