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Article published In: Written Language & Literacy
Vol. 20:2 (2017) ► pp.129–146

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But spell checker always corrects witch words eye misspelled

Spell checker use among good and poor spellers

 | The College at Brockport, State University of New York
 | The College at Brockport, State University of New York
Published online: 9 February 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/wll.00001.ria
Abstract
The present study examined spell checker software for both spelling recognition and production among college students. Sixty-four participants identified and corrected spelling in a prewritten story and produced spelling by writing a story. Both were completed with or without spell checker access. Results demonstrated differences between the performance of good and poor spellers (as defined using a baseline spelling test). When compared to good spellers, poor spellers corrected a greater percentage of spelling errors with spell checker than without. Spell checker helped all participants produce fewer spelling errors, but not fewer homophone errors. Additionally, more often than good spellers, poor spellers reported placing less effort into spelling words correctly when using spell checker. These findings suggest that poor spellers may have a greater need for spell checker than good spellers, and may be at a greater risk for relying on the software as the only step in the proofreading process.
Article outline
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials
      • Baseline Spelling Test
      • Questionnaire
      • Pre-written short story (Recognition activity)
      • Picture prompt (Production activity)
    • Design
    • General procedure
  • Results
    • Self-report of spelling behavior
    • Recognition activity
    • Production activity
  • Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (20)
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Downs, Brody, Tyler French, Katherine Landau Wright, Maria Soledad Pera, Casey Kennington & Jerry Alan Fails
2019. Proceedings of the 18th ACM International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, ► pp. 568 ff. DOI logo

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