Home ResearchReportsResearch on Technology in Education (2000) Writing

Information Technology and Writing—the Research

Executive Summary: Reading and writing are long-enduring technologies. Reading and writing have been aided by a wide range of physical technologies such as the development and mass production of paper and pencil, typewriter, and ball point pen. More recently, computer technology has added the benefits of word processors, high quality computer graphics, and laser printers to “traditional” reading and writing. Producing and accessing written information continues to benefit from new and improving techniques provided by the latest technology.

In addition to new writing tools, the technology field brings new environments for writers, such as e-mail and various Internet “chat” modes. Writers and readers benefit from the new dimensions being added to reading and writing in interactive, multimedia documents. Writers can make use of computer technology to publish professional quality documents in both paper and electronic format.

It is relatively easy to determine that the changes in reading and writing are improvements for both readers and writers. It is less easy to determine if these same changes are improving the learning that occurs when students read and write with these new tools. The question of improved benefits for students is still being researched. Do students read and write with greater skill as a result of the new tools? Do they learn better as a consequence of the new tools?

Goals for IT Use in Writing

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) profiles describe expectations for students completing various grade levels (International Society for Technology in Education, 1998). Here are a few examples related to written communication:

(PreK-2). Gather information and communicate with others using telecommunications, with support from teachers, family members, or student partners.

(PreK-2). Use input devices (e.g., mouse, keyboard, remote control) and output devices (e.g., monitor, printer) to successfully operate computers, VCRs, audio tapes, and other technologies.

(Grades 3-5). Use keyboards and other common input and output devices (including adaptive devices when necessary) efficiently and effectively.

(Grades 3-5). Use telecommunications efficiently and effectively to access remote information, communicate with others in support of direct and independent learning, and pursue personal interests.

(Grades 3-5). Use telecommunications and online resources (e.g., email, online discussions, Web environments) to participate in collaborative problem-solving activities for the purpose of developing solutions or products for audiences inside and outside the classroom.

(Grades 6-8). Design, develop, publish, and present products (e.g., Web pages, videotapes) using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside the classroom.

(Grades 6-8). Collaborate with peers, experts, and others using telecommunications and collaborative tools to investigate curriculum-related problems, issues, and information, and to develop solutions or products for audiences inside and outside the classroom.

The ISTE NETS call for students to learn to make effective use of the Internet beginning in the earliest grades. Many individual states have developed IT in education standards that include similar expectations (McREL). As with the ISTE NETS, often the expectation is that students have developed substantial Internet skills by the time they finish the eighth grade, and that they then routinely practice these skills while in high school.

Learning to Read and Write

Research indicates clearly that reading and writing are related, but each presents distinct challenges to learners and their teachers. Large quantities of literature in this field exist. The Educational Resource Information Clearinghouse for Reading, English, and Communication, one of 16 such Clearinghouses, is devoted specifically to this topic. Reading and writing are part of the “basics” of education and are a central part of the standards-based education at the state and national level.

The 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (ERIC-REC) summarizes student reading and writing levels throughout the country and compares results to previous similar studies. Findings from such studies tend to suggest that reading and writing are a continuing major challenge to our educational system. Fitzsimmons (1998) reports:

How to teach reading has been the subject of much debate over the years. One reason may be because, to the reading public, reading seems to be a fairly easy and natural thing to do. However, this apparent ease masks the very real and complex processes involved in the act of reading.

The truth is that learning to read is anything but natural. In fact, it does not develop incidentally; it requires human intervention and context. While skillful readers look quite natural in their reading, the act of reading is complex and intentional; it requires bringing together a number of complex actions involving the eyes, the brain, and the psychology of the mind (e.g., motivation, interest, past experience) that do not occur naturally.

There are a variety of approaches to teaching reading. In recent years, there has been considerable controversy between two ends of a spectrum—whole language and phonics (Raven, 1997). An important potential of IT as an aid to teaching reading is that a particular research-based theory of reading instruction can be incorporated into the computer-based instructional materials. Indeed, one useful criteria in the evaluating of reading software is to examine what theory of reading it espouses and how this aligns with your personal preferences and the preferences of your school or school district. Moreover, think about the fact that some students will be best helped by a phonetic approach to reading, while others will be best helped by a whole language approach. Both approaches, as well as blended approaches, could be made available to students through appropriate CAL.

It is well understood that writing is a process, and that this process can be taught. Process writing consists of an iterative use a set of steps such as brainstorming, organizing the brainstormed ideas, developing a draft, obtaining feedback, revising, and publishing. Lehr (1998) emphasizes the role of revision in writing. Indeed, a number of researchers indicate that the key to good writing is “revise, revise, revise.” Because the word processor is such a powerful aid to revision, many people believe that computers and a word processor should be a routine tool available to students.

Simic (1994) indicates that research strongly supports the importance of students doing a lot of writing in many different environments. Such findings support writing across the curriculum. They also support students writing using e-mail and in Internet chat environments, and other approaches that students find to be intrinsically motivating.

Reading, Writing, and School Reform

The Catalog of School Reform Initiatives (Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, 1998) discusses 64 research-based school reform models. All whole-school reform models include major emphasis on reading and writing. Ten of the 64 models discussed in teh catalogplace special emphasis on language arts, especially at the elementary school level.

The emphasis on reading and writing in school reform—especially at the elementary school level—is in line with research on the central role that reading and writing play in learning. A student who falls significantly below grade level in reading and writing faces an uphill battle in learning in all of the academic disciplines emphasized in our educational system. Because of this, many of the educational interventions at the PreK–2 level focus on identifying students who are at risk of not gaining basic skills in these areas, and then intervening in ways that break this emerging pattern. While such interventions tend to be heavily labor intensive, well-researched software now exists that can help in the intervention. A good example of such research and the resulting instructional materials resulting from it is given in Young Children's Literacy Project.

A number of the school reform models make some use of IT in their implementation. Generally speaking, all school reform models are faced by the problem of translating education research into practice. Professional development, the development of materials that align with the teaching models, and other approaches are commonly used. IT is increasingly seen as an additional aid to implementing research-based models of school reform.

IT and “Traditional” Writing Goals

Although findings from individual studies vary, meta-studies and surveys of the research on computer use in writing supports the contention that students tend to write more and better (Bangert-Drowns, 1993; Lehr, 1995). Much depends on student skills in using the IT facilities. For example, poor keyboarding skills and inadequate access to computers stand in the way of computers helping a student’s writing.

A modern word processor includes a spelling checker, a grammar checker, and an outliner. Over the years, these aids to writing have been gradually improved. Tools such as these are creating a dilemma for our educational system. To what extent should students be taught to use these tools—and then allowed to use them in writing and testing situations? Russell (1999) explores use of computers by students taking written tests. Even when spelling and grammar checkers are not allowed, students who are fluent in writing using a word processor gain a significant advantage when allowed to use a computer in this type of writing assessment.

By and large, we are still at a phase in which it is considered “cheating” for a student to be allowed to use a spelling checker or grammar checker when taking a written test. This is, of course, a sign that we have a long way to go in adopting authentic assessment (Wiggins, 1993). We teach students to write making full use of the tools in a word processing environment. However, we do not allow full use of the tools in assessment. There appears to be a strong parallel with the slow acceptance of allowing students to use calculators when taking tests. It is only in recent years that calculators have been allowed on a variety of national and statewide assessments.

IT Adds New Dimensions to Writing

E-mail is a writing environment that is different from traditional writing environments. Via e-mail, a writer can interact quickly (indeed, even in an interactive mode) with people throughout the world. A writer can send short messages and as well as long documents to many people simultaneously. With e-mail, it is easy to include a copy of pervious messages that have been exchanged, and to intersperse comments in response to a message within the body of a just-received message.

E-mail tends to be motivating to many students because of its informality and the possibility of relatively quick response. As with any genre of writing, e-mail tends to have particular purposes or uses. Over the years, a set of guidelines (often called netiquette) for appropriate e-mail writing have been developed (Hinchliffe, 1996).

Internet “chat” environments such as Internet relay chat (Simpson, 1999) provide another motivating environment in which students write with a purpose. Such a chat environment can be used as an aid to cooperative learning and to groups doing IT-assisted project-based learning.

Interactive text (hypertext) and multimedia provide other writing environments. Many elementary teachers have helped their students to develop such interactive documents. Often such documents are published on the web. Students tend to find this to be highly motivational. Appropriate design is an essential feature of a high quality hypermedia document (Smith & Yoder, 1998).

IT has completely changed the publishing industry. The Macintosh computer and inexpensive laser printer introduced in 1984 made it possible for large numbers of people to do professional quality desktop publication of their writing. Simic (1993) and ERIC (1998) stress the motivational value and authenticity of students being able to publish their writing. However, there is far more to high quality desktop publication than just adding a few graphics to a document, making use of multiple fonts, and then printing on a laser printer. The design of a document is an important component of its effectiveness as a communication vehicle (Yoder & Smith, 1995)

Computer Input Devices

Historically, microcomputers and keyboarding for input have been inextricably intertwined. As microcomputers began to come into schools, it became evident that students of all ages could benefit from developing both speed and accuracy in keyboarding. However, keyboarding has many drawbacks. It takes substantial and intensive training and practice to develop a level of skill (perhaps 25 words per minute) that becomes procedural knowledge in one’s brain and that endures over the years.

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for students (ISTE) includes keyboarding in the profiles for grades PreK-2 and grades 3-5. Thus, educational leaders are left with one of the typical dilemmas that emerge during times of rapidly changing technology. How much student learning time and effort should be put into keyboarding when voice recognition is now a viable alternative that is apt to replace most keyboarding during the next decade (Kurzweil, 1999)?

Voice input is an example of progress in the field human-computer interface. Marchionini (1991) summarizes major ideas in human-computer interface:

The interface includes both physical and conceptual components. PHYSICAL COMPONENTS include input devices such as keyboards, mice, touch panels, joy sticks, speech recognizers, eye trackers, and data gloves; and output devices such as visual displays and sound or speech synthesizers. CONCEPTUAL COMPONENTS include selection methods such as command languages, menus, or direct manipulation; and representation schemes such as screen layout and graphic/text mixes.

The field of human-computer interaction (HCI) is concerned with interface design and is highly interdisciplinary in nature. It involves researchers from psychology, computer science, information science, engineering, education, and communications. A central concern of HCI research is to determine the effects of human physical, cognitive, and affective characteristics on the interactions between users and computers for specific tasks. Thus, HCI researchers develop models of human activity and use these models in designing new interfaces.

One of the goals in human-computer interface is to make the interface “natural,” easy to learn to use, and easy to use. The mouse as a pointing and selection device has these characteristics. Voice recognition—more generally, natural language input and output—is certainly a “natural” human-machine interface. Voice input systems have come into widespread use by professionals (e.g. writers, doctors) and people with handicapping conditions that prevent them from using other forms of input. By and large, our K-12 educational system has not yet addressed the issue of students learning to use voice-input systems as an aid to learning reading and writing, or as an aid to writing. Increasingly, students will have access to voice input systems at home, since the software now retails for under $100 and will run on the types of microcomputers that people are now buying for home use.

Final Remarks

IT is a significant aid to students learning reading and writing. Moreover, IT brings a number of new dimensions to writing, such as the potential for high quality desktop publication, communicating using the Internet, and developing interactive multimedia documents. In all of these endeavors, the goal is to help students achieve a better quality education.

To a large extent, IT supports increased authenticity of student writing. It emphasizes effective communication as a higher-order skill and as an aid to problem solving. Moreover, many students find that communicating for a purpose and being able to produce high quality products is intrinsically motivating.

Continued rapid improvements in IT capabilities and improvements in educational software present a major challenge to educators. The need for ongoing professional development in this field is evident.

References

Bangert-Drowns, R. L. (1993). The word processor as an instructional tool: A meta-analysis of word processing in writing instruction. Review of Educational Research. 63(1), 69-93.

ERIC (1998).Developing language proficiency and connecting school to students' lives: Two standards for effective teaching. ERIC Digestss [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed424790.html.

ERIC-REC . Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse: Reading, English, and Communications [Online]. Available: http://www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec/.

Fitzsimmons, Mary K. (1998). Beginning Reading. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed418515.html

Hinchliffe, L. (1996). Helping early childhood teacher education students learn about the Internet. ERIC Digests [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed395714.html

ISTE. International Society for Technology in Education Standards Projects [Online]. Available: http://www.iste.org/standards/. This web site contains IT standards for both preservice teachers and for PreK-12 students.

Kurzweil (1999). The age of spiritual machines: When computers exceed human intelligence. NY: Viking.

Lehr, F. (1995). Revision in the writing process. ERIC Digests [Online].Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed379664.html.

Marchionini, G. (1991). Psychological dimensions of user-computer interfaces. ERIC Digests [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed337203.html.

Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory. The McREL standards database [Online]. Available: http://198.17.205.11/standards-benchmarks/.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (1998). Catalog of school reform models: First edition. [Online]. Available: http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/natspec/catalog/index.html.

Raven, J. (1997). Phonics and whole language: Friends or foes? [Abstract ERIC_NO: ED413583 Online] Available: http://ericir.syr.edu/plweb-cgi/fastweb?getdoc+ericdb+ericdb+52760+0+wAAA+%28
Phonics%26and%26whole%26language%29

Russell, M. (June 1999). Testing on computers: A follow-up study comparing performance on computer and on paper. Education Policy Analysis Archives [Online]. Volume 7 Number 20. Available: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n20/.

Simic, M. (1993). Publishing children's writing. ERIC Digests [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed363884.html.

Simic, M. (1994). Computer assisted writing instruction. ERIC Digests [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed376474.html.

Simpson, C. (1999). Internet relay chat. ERIC Digests [Online]. Available: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed425743.html.

Wiggins, Grant P. (1993). Assessing student performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Yoder, S., and Smith, I. (1995). Lookin’ good! The elements of document design for beginners. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Young Children's Literacy Project [Online]. Available: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ctrs/ltc/WilliamsS/yklp/
Webs/YKLP/literacy.htm.