In Fall Semester, 1981, randomly selected students taking freshman composition at Colorado State University wrote essays using word-processing equipment and a computer programmed with DICTION, SUGGEST, STYLE, and SPELL, programs developed by Bell Laboratories. Studies at Bell Laboratories have shown that technical writers using these programs not only edit more thoroughly but also learn to edit on their own. This study tests for similar improvement in college writing and editing skills and also measures effects of computer assistance on attitudes toward writing. Our tests suggest that textual analysis with computers intrigues college writers and speeds learning of editing skills by offering immediate, reliable, and consistent attention to surface features of their prose. Most freshmen writers have had little practice editing their own written work so little that wordy expressions, faulty diction, and spelling errors increasingly mar even their most careful composition. Bedeviled by these and other problems of young writers, we began exploring ways of using word-processing technology and computers to help students analyze and edit their own writing before handing it in for marking. While we were preparing a computerized diction list, reports reached us about Bell Laboratories' extraordinary editing software Writer's Workbench (Macdonald, 1980; Cherry, 1981, 1982; Cherry & Vesterman, 1981; Frase, et al., 1981; Macdonald, et al., 1982). Discovering our parallel interests, Colorado State University and Bell Laboratories began discussions leading to a research exchange permitting CSU to test and adapt Writer's Workbench for teaching composition. During these negotiations, CSU leased the three Workbench programs then available. In Fall Semester, 1981, randomly selected students taking freshman composition wrote essays using word-processing equipment and a computer programmed with DICTION, SUGGEST, and STYLE. Also included in the test was SPELL, Bell Laboratories' spelling checker distributed with the computer we used for the experiment. Studies at Bell Laboratories (Gingrich, et al., 1981) have shown that technical writers using Writer's Workbench not only edit more thoroughly but also learn to edit on their own. What might the effect be on college writers? Few would doubt the value of students correcting their own spellResearch in the Teaching of English, Vol. 17, No. 3, October 1983

Preview this article: Effects of Modes of Discourse on Writing Performance in Grades Four and Six, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/17/2/researchintheteachingofenglish15713-1.gif

Preview this article: The Stability of T-Unit Length in the Written Discourse of College Freshmen: A Second Study, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/16/1/researchintheteachingofenglish15751-1.gif

Preview this article: Pausing and Planning: The Tempo of Written Discourse Production, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/15/2/researchintheteachingofenglish15773-1.gif

Preview this article: A Note on Specifying the Mode and Aim of Written Discourse for Basic Writing Students, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/14/2/researchintheteachingofenglish15809-1.gif

Preview this article: Oral and Written Discourse of Basic Writers: Similarities and Differences, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/13/2/researchintheteachingofenglish17849-1.gif

Preview this article: Audience and Mode of Discourse Effects on Syntactic Complexity in Writing at Two Grade Levels, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/13/2/researchintheteachingofenglish17847-1.gif

Preview this article: The Effect of Instruction in General Semantics on Ethnic Prejudice, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/7/1/researchintheteachingofenglish20116-1.gif

Preview this article: A Study of Children's Thinking as Expressed Through Oral Language Discourse, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/7/1/researchintheteachingofenglish20110-1.gif

Preview this article: Mode of Discourse Variation in the Evaluation of Children's Writing, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/5/1/researchintheteachingofenglish20157-1.gif

Preview this article: Linguistic Structures in Students' Oral and Written Discourse, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/rte/3/1/researchintheteachingofenglish20246-1.gif

This paper reports the results of an investigation of the effects of a course in general semantics on the ability of college students to respond appropriately to the demands of a poem. While previous studies by Livingston and Berger have indicated the salutary effect of instruction in general semantics on the critical reading and writing of expository materials, several educators in the language arts field have suggested that instruction in general semantics may have deleterious effects on a student's ability to respond appropriately to fictional literature in general and to poetry in particular. l>2 These educators point out that I. A. Richards, in Practical criticism, demonstrates how particular behavioral tendencies