Tracing Multimodal and Chronotopic Learning: Advancing Qualitative Methodologies for Studying L2 Professional Socialization in Architectural Design Studios

• In Event: Expanding the Edges of Method: Multimodal, Participatory, and Equity-Centered Innovations in Qualitative Research

Abstract

This study advances qualitative methodologies for examining how temporality shapes L2 students’ disciplinary socialization in architectural design studios. Using a semester-long video ethnography of a Chinese international student, “Jin,” the study integrates multimodal interaction analysis, chronotopic lamination, and cross-event analysis to capture how professional vision emerges through temporally laminated, multimodal participation. A focal vignette shows how desk critiques weave past iterations, present design reasoning, and imagined future user experiences into cohesive disciplinary discourse. By tracing both micro-level interactional sequences and longitudinal development, the study highlights temporality as a constitutive feature of professional vision. This methodological approach responds to Division D’s call to reimagine qualitative inquiry capable of capturing non-linear, embodied, and time-sensitive processes of learning.

Author

• Min-Seok Choi, University of Louisiana at Lafayette