Using Eye Tracking as a Peer Review Tool for Visual and Digital Compositions

• Published in: College composition and communication Vol. 76; no. 4; pp. 542 - 566
• Main Author: Lambrecht, Kathryn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Urbana National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 01.06.2025; National Council of Teachers of English
• Subjects: Audiences; Computer Software; Data Analysis; Design; Educational Facilities Improvement; Educational Practices; Educational Technology; Eye movements; Feedback; Influence of Technology; Learner Engagement; Literacy; Motor Reactions; Pedagogy; Peer review; Reading; Reading Instruction; Reading Strategies; Research subjects; Revision (Written Composition); Scholarships; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Software; Students; Teaching; Telematics; Time; Visual Perception; Visual Stimuli; Writing; Writing Instruction; Writing processes; Writing Teachers
• ISSN: 0010-096X; 1939-9006
• DOI: 10.58680/ccc2025764542

The majority of what we compose, we compose for others. Because audience impact is central to the success of writing and designing, peer review tests how our compositions work in the world. Accordingly, we have built decades of scholarship establishing best practices for sharing our work with others, especially as new technologies emerge. This article argues for the introduction of eye tracking as a tool that can supplement peer review, offering an expansion of what counts as feedback that fosters greater access and agency for students throughout the writing process. The method for incorporating eye tracking to expand traditional peer review modalities moves students from passive research subjects to active users of eye-tracking data. In doing so, students can examine how audiences experience their work, helping to frame revisions of their multimodal compositions and consider what story they most want to tell.