This study investigated the impact of word processors on students' writing by examining three critical elements of the writing situation: writing context, process and product. Using a pretest-posttest control group design, the study compared two intact Year 8 classes, one using pens for composing and the other using computers, within the context of an all-girls school. A major emphasis of the research was the computer's impact on the quality of texts, representing three genres, which the students produced over a school year. The findings suggested that the computer classroom was more student-centred, less teacher-dominated and more work-focused, and the atmosphere was more co-operative and collaborative. Students' composing behaviours varied according to the genre of the task rather than according to the influence of the writing tool.
AdamsA. (1983). Why English teachers should use computers. In ChandlerD. (Ed.), Exploring English with microcomputers (MEP Readers 1) (pp. 19–24). Newcastle upon Tyne: Council for Educational Technology in association with National Association for the Teaching of English.
2.
AndersonP.M. (1983). A study of the teaching of revision using electronic word processing with eighth-grade students (Doctoral dissertation, University of Kansas). Dissertation Abstracts International, 44, 3308A.
3.
ApplebeeA.N. (1978). The child's concept of story: Ages two to seventeen. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
4.
Australian Council for Education Research. (1980). ACER Intermediate Test G.Hawthorn, Vic.: Author.
5.
BakerC. (1986). Yacker: Australian writers talk about their work. Sydney: Pan Books.
6.
BakerC. (1987). Yacker 2: Australian writers talk about their work. Sydney: Pan Books.
7.
BakerC. (1989). Yacker 3: Australian writers talk about their work. Sydney: Pan Books.
8.
Bank Street College of Education. (1986). Bank Street Writer 111. New York: Scholastic Inc.
9.
BereiterC. & ScardamaliaM. (1982). From conversation to composition: The role of instruction in a developmental process. In GlaserR. (Ed.), Advances in instructional psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1–64). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
10.
BridwellL.S. (1980). Revising strategies in twelfth grade students' transactional writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 14(3), 197–222.
11.
BridwellL.S.JohnsonP., & BreheS. (1986). Composing and computers: Case studies of experienced writers. In MatsuhashiA. (Ed.), Writing in real time: Modelling production processes (pp. 81–107). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
12.
BridwellL.S.SircG., & BrookeR. (1985). Revising and computing: Case studies of student writers. In FreedmanS.W. (Ed.), The acquisition of written language: Revision and response (pp. 172–194). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
13.
BrittonJ.N. (1970). Language and learning. Harmondsworth, Mx: Penguin.
14.
BrittonJ.N.MartinN.C., & RosenH. (1966). Multiple marking of English compositions: An account of an experiment. London: HMSO.
15.
BrittonJ.N.BurgessT.MartinN.C.McLeodA., & RosenH. (1975). The development of writing abilities (11–18) (Schools Council Research Studies). London: Macmillan Education.
16.
BrunerJ. (1985). Vygotsky: A historical and conceptual perspective. In WertschJ.V. (Ed.), Cultural communication and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives (pp. 21–34). New York: Cambridge University Press.
17.
BrysonM.LindsayP.H.JoramE., & WoodruffE. (1986). Augmented word processing: The influence of task characteristics and mode of production on writers' cognitions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco.
18.
CatanoJ. (1985). Computer-based writing: Navigating the fluid text. College Composition and Communication, 36, 309–316.
19.
CheeverM.S. (1987). The effects of using a word processor on the acquisition of composition skills by the elementary student (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 48, 43A.
20.
ChristieF. (1989). Genres in writing. In ECT418 Language studies: Writing in schools: Study guide (pp. 3–48). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
21.
CohenL. & DealeR.N. (1977). Assessment by teachers in examinations at 16+ (Schools Council Examinations Bulletin 37). London: Evans/Methuen Educational.
22.
CollierR.M. (1981). The influence of computer-based text editors on the revision strategies of inexperienced writers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific North-west Conference on English in the Two Year College, Calgary. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 211 998)
23.
CorcoranB. (1989). Narrative writing. In ECT418 Language studies: Writing in schools: Study guide (pp. 91–130). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
24.
CrowhurstM. (1980). Syntactic complexity and teachers' quality ratings of narrations and arguments. Research in the Teaching of English, 14(3), 223–31.
25.
CrowhurstM. & PicheG.L. (1979). Audience and mode of discourse effects on syntactic complexity in writing at two grade levels. Research in the Teaching of English, 13(2), 101–109.
26.
CurtissD.H. (1984). The experience of composition and word processing: An ethnographic, phenomenological study of high school seniors (Doctoral dissertation, Boston University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 1021A.
27.
DaiuteC. (1986). Physical and cognitive factors in revising: Insights from studies with computers. Research in the Teaching of English, 20(2), 141–159.
28.
DaltonD.W. & WatsonJ.F. (1986). Word processing and the writing process: Enhancement or distraction? Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Las Vegas, January 1986. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. 267 763)
29.
DickinsonD.K. (1986). Co-operation, collaboration, and a computer. Research in the Teaching of English, 20(4), 357–78.
30.
DixonJ. & StrattaL. (1982). Argument: What does it mean to teachers of English?English in Education, 16(1), 41–54.
31.
DulingR. A. (1985). Word processors and student writing: A study of their impact on revision, fluency and quality of writing (Doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 46, 1823A.
32.
EatonC.A. (1986). The effects of word processing application to middle school writing instruction (Doctoral dissertation, Boston University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 1680A.
33.
EmigJ. (1971). The composing process of twelfth graders. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
34.
EmigJ. (1982). Writing, composition and rhetoric. In Encyclopaedia of educational research (Vol. 4, pp. 2021–2036). New York: Free Press.
35.
EtchisonC. (1985). A comparative study of the quality and syntax of compositions by first year college students using handwriting and word processing (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University of Pennsylvania). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 163A.
36.
FlowerL. & HayesJ. (1977). Problem-solving strategies and the writing process. College English, 39, 449–461.
37.
FlowerL. & HayesJ. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32, 365–387.
38.
FreedmanA. & PringleI. (Eds.). (1980). Reinventing the rhetorical tradition (Canadian Council of Teachers of English), Toronto: L & S Books in association with the National Association for the Teaching of English. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. 214 162)
39.
FreedmanS.W.DysonHaas A.FlowerL., & ChafeW. (1987). Research in writing: Past, present and future (Center for the Study of Writing, Technical Report No 1). Berkeley, CA: University of California.
40.
GirouxH.A. (1987). Critical literacy and student experience: Donald Graves' approach to literacy. Language Arts, 64(2), 175–181.
41.
GouldJ.D. (1978). Experiments on composing letters: Some facts, some myths, and some observations. In GreggL. and SteinbergI. (Eds.), Cognitive processes in writing (pp. 97–127). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
42.
GouldJ.D. (1981). Composing letters with computer-based text editors. Human Factors, 23, 593–606.
43.
GravesD.H. (1975). An examination of the writing processes of seven year old children. Research in the Teaching of English, 9(3), 227–241.
44.
GravesD.H. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Exeter, NH: Heinemann Press.
45.
HairstonM. (1982). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 33(1), 76–88.
46.
HammondR. (1984). The writer and the word processor: A guide for authors, journalists, poets and playwrights. Sevenoaks, Kent: Hodder & Stoughton.
47.
HarpinW.BerryH.M., & WilliamsonJ.G. (1973). Social and educational influences on children's acquisition of grammar (SSRC Research Report 757/1). London: Social Science Research Council.
48.
HawisherG.E. (1987). The effects of word processing on the revision strategies of college freshmen. Research in the Teaching of English, 21(2), 145–159.
49.
HeathS.B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
50.
HerrmannA. W. (1985). Using the computer as a writing tool: Ethnography of a high school writing class (Doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 02A. (University Microfilms No. DA8602051)
51.
HillocksG.Jr. (1986). Research on written composition. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading & Communication Skills.
52.
HopkinsK.D. & GlassG.V. (1978). Basic statistics for the behavioral sciences. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
53.
HuckS.W. & McLeanR.A. (1975). Using a repeated measures ANOVA to analyse the data from a pretest-posttest design: A potentially confusing task. Psychological Bulletin, 82(4), 511–518.
54.
HuntK.W. (1965). Grammatical structures written at three grade levels (Research Report No. 3). Champaign, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
55.
HymesD.H. (1972). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In GumperzJ.J. & HymesD. (Eds.), Directions in sociolinguistics (pp. 35–71). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
56.
JuettnerV.W. (1987). The word processing environment and its impact on the writing of a group of high school students (Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona). Dissertation Abstracts International, 48, 635A.
57.
KaplanH. (1986). Computers and composition: Improving students' written performance (Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 776A.
58.
KurthR. J. & StrombergL. J. (1984). Using word processing in composition instruction. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Reading Forum, Sarasota, Florida, 1984. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 251 850)
59.
LabovW. (1970). The logic of nonstandard English. In WilliamsF. (Ed.), Language and poverty (pp. 153–189). Chicago: Markham Publishing.
60.
LangerJ.A. (1984). Musings. Research in the Teaching of English, 18(2), 117–118.
61.
LangerJ.A. (1985). Children's sense of genre: A study of performance on parallel reading and writing tasks. Written Communication, 2, 157–187.
62.
Lloyd-JonesR. (1977). Primary trait scoring. In CooperC.R. & OdellL. (Eds.), Evaluating writing: Describing, measuring, judging (pp. 33–66). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
63.
MalingJ. & RechterB. (1971). Current trends in the examination of English. In BennettB.H. & HayJ.A. (Eds.), Directions in Australian secondary school English (pp. 1–82). Camberwell, Vic.: Longman.
64.
MarcusS. & BlauS. (1983, April). Not seeing is relieving: Invisible writing with computers. Educational Technology, pp. 12–15.
65.
MillerS.K. (1984). Plugging your pencil into the wall: An investigation of word processing and writing skills at the middle school level (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon). Dissertation Abstracts International, 45, 3535A.
66.
ParamourS.E. & WilkinsonA.M. (1985). The disruption of the probable: An aspect of narrative writing 3–13. Language Arts, 62(4), 391–403.
67.
PearsonH. & WilkinsonA.M. (1986). The use of the word processor in assisting children's writing development. Educational Review, 38(2), 169–187.
68.
PivarnikB. A. (1985). The effect of training in word processing on the writing quality of eleventh grade students (Doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut). Dissertation Abstracts International, 46, 1827A.
69.
PollackS.N. (1985). Exploratory study of the use of the computer for revision to improve student writing (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California). Dissertation Abstracts International, 46, 2547A.
70.
PorterR. (1986). Writing and word processing in year one. Australian Educational Computing, 1(1), 18–23.
71.
ReidT.R.A. (1985). Writing with microcomputers in a fourth grade classroom: An ethnographic study (Doctoral dissertation, Washington State University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 817A.
72.
RotheryJ (1984). The development of genres—primary to junior secondary school. In ECT418 Language Studies: Children writing: Study guide (pp. 67–114). Geelong: Deakin University Press.
73.
SchipkeR C (1986). Writers and word processing technology: Case studies of professionals at work (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 1226A.
74.
Schools Council. (1967). The certificate of secondary education: Trial examinations — Written English (Examinations Bulletin No. 16). London: HMSO.
75.
SnyderI.A. (1987, March). Writing and computers. English in Australia, No. 79, 4–10.
76.
SnyderI.A. (1990). The impact of word processors on students writing: A comparative study of the effects of pens and word processors on writing context, process and product. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Monash University, Melbourne.
77.
SnyderI.A. (1991). Writing with word processors: Supporting powerful learning in the English/language arts classroom. In CormackP. (Ed), Literacy: Making it explicit making it possible: Selected papers from the sixteenth conference proceedings of the 1991 national Australian Reading Association conference, Adelaide, 7–11 July (pp. 253–264). [Melbourne]: Australian Reading Association.
78.
SnyderI.A. (1992). Writing with word processors: The computer's impact on writing quality, composing processes and classroom interactions. In PhilipsD. (Ed.), Best of set: Writing: Research information for teachers (Item 8). Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research and Australian Council for Educational Research.
79.
SnyderI.A. (1993). Writing with word processors: A research overview. Educational Research, 35, 1.
80.
SnyderI.A. (in press). Writing with word processors: The computer's influence on the classroom context. Journal of Curriculum Studies.
81.
SommersE.A. (1985). The effects of word processing and writing instruction on the writing processes and products of college writers. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. 269 762)
82.
TobinK. & TobinB. (1985). The one computer classroom: Applications in language arts. Australian Journal of Reading, 8(3), 158–174.
83.
VygotskyL.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (ColeM.. Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
84.
WetzelK.A. (1985). The effects of using the computer in a process writing program on the writing quality of third, fourth and fifth grade pupils (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon). Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, 76A.
85.
WiersmaW. (1986). Research methods in education: An introduction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
86.
WilkinsonA.M. (1986). Argument as a primary act of mind. Educational Review. 38(2), 127–138.
