Digital Writing and Keystroke Logging Software: Observing Behaviors

Digital Writing and Keystroke Logging Software: Observing Writing Behaviors explores how second language writing can be studied through the traces writers leave on the keyboard. The book presents an automated system that classifies pauses, revisions, and source use within a single framework, transforming raw logging data into categories that reflect planning, formulation, and revision in real time. By doing so, it addresses a persistent challenge in process research: the tendency to analyze subprocesses in isolation, without a unified procedure that connects them. The system is tested across learners of different ages and proficiency levels, showing how composing strategies evolve with experience and educational background. Comparisons across groups provide a clearer picture of how writers organize ideas, manage fluency, and restructure text, while concordance tests against manual coding confirm the reliability of the classifications. Beyond its methodological contribution, the book reflects on what these findings mean for teaching. It shows how process data can inform feedback, guide curricular design, and enrich assessment, and it considers how logging tools might be adapted into classroom-ready platforms. This monograph will be of interest to researchers in applied linguistics and writing studies, as well as to educators who want to connect empirical evidence with the realities of writing instruction.