Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Component abilities in transcription typing were examined among novice typists. The relations of spelling ability, memory for the keyboard, and motor skill to typing ability among male and female novice typists were considered. High school students, 138 girls and 130 boys, served as subjects. Students in one- and two-semester typing courses were tested for speed of typing and were administered a test battery that assessed component abilities. A keyboard memory task showed variability in the subjects' recall of key locations of letters of the alphabet. Knowledge of key locations was associated with faster typing speed. Spelling, memory for the keyboard, and motor skill positively correlated with typing speed, suggesting each is essential for good performance.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cooper

W. E.

(Ed.) (1983) Introduction. Cognitive aspects of skilled typewriting. New York: Springer-Verlag. Pp. 1–38.

Educational Records Bureau. (1974) Comprehensive testing program, Aptitude Achievement Test, Level 5, Form A. Princeton, NJ: Author.

Feingold

(1988) Cognitive gender differences are disappearing. American Psychologist, 43, 95–103.

Fischer

F. W.

Shankweiler

Liberman

I. Y.

(1985) Spelling proficiency and sensitivity to word structure. Journal of Memory and Language, 24, 423–441.

Frith

(1978) From print to meaning and from print to sound, or how to read without knowing how to spell. Visible Language, 12, 43–54.

Geoffroy

Norman

D. A.

(1982) Ease of tapping the fingers in a sequence depends on the mental encoding. Office of Naval Research Report 8203.

Gruden

J. T.

(1983) Error patterns in skilled and novice transcription typing. In Cooper

W. E.

(Ed.), Cognitive aspects of skilled typewriting. New York: Springer-Verlag. Pp. 121–143.

Hanson

V. L.

Shankweiler

Fischer

F. W.

(1983) Determinants of spelling ability in deaf and hearing adults: Access to linguistic structure. Cognition, 14, 323–344.

Kimura

(1983) Sex differences in cerebral organization for speech and praxic functions. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 37, 19–35.

10.

MacNeilage

P. F.

(1964) Typing errors as clues to serial ordering mechanisms in language behavior. Language and Speech, 7, 144–159.

11.

Ormrod

J. E.

(1985) Proofreading The Cat in the Hat: Evidence for different reading styles of good and poor spellers. Psychological Reports, 57, 863–867.

12.

Ormrod

J. E.

(1986) Differences between good and poor spellers in reading style and short-term memory. Visible Language, 20, 437–447.

13.

Salthouse

T. A.

(1986) Perceptual, cognitive and motoric aspects of transcription typing. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 303–319.

14.

Sternberg

Knoll

R. L.

Monsell

Wright

C. E.

(1983) Control of rapid action sequences in speech and typing. Text of a talk given by S. Sternberg at the 1983 Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association.

15.

Tapley

S. M.

Bryden

M. P.

(1985) A group test for the assessment of performance between the hands. Neuropsychologia, 23, 215–221.

16.

Wanous

S. J.

Bennett . (1973) Personal and professional typing. (4th ed.) Cincinnati, Oh: South-Western.

17.

Wechsler

(1981) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised. New York: Psychological Corp.

18.

West

L. J.

Sabban

(1982) Hierarchy of stroking habits at the typewriter. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 370–376.

Component Abilities of Spelling,Memory,and Motor Skill in Novices' Transcription Typing

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References