The Effect of Keyboard-Based Word Processing on Students With Different Working Memory Capacity During the Process of Academic Writing.

This study addresses the current debate about the beneficial effects of text processing software on students with different working memory (WM) during the process of academic writing, especially with regard to the ability to display higher-level conceptual thinking. A total of 54 graduate students (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Written Communication Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 280 - 306
Main Authors: Van Der Steen, Steffie, Samuelson, Dianne, Thomson, Jennifer M.
Format: Article
Published: Sage Publications Inc. Jul2017
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: The Effect of Keyboard-Based Word Processing on Students With Different Working Memory Capacity During the Process of Academic Writing.
      aug:
        au:
          Van Der Steen, Steffie
          Samuelson, Dianne
          Thomson, Jennifer M.
        affil:
          Department Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
          Department of Special Needs Education and Youth Care, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
          Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
          Department of Human Communication Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
      su:
        Word processing
        Writing automation
        Word processing software
        Academic discourse
        Short-term memory
        Computerized typesetting
      sug:
        subj:
          Word processing
          Writing automation
          Word processing software
          Academic discourse
          Short-term memory
          Computerized typesetting
      keyword:
        manual writing
        real-time writing process
        skill theory
        text processing software
        writing quality
      ab: This study addresses the current debate about the beneficial effects of text processing software on students with different working memory (WM) during the process of academic writing, especially with regard to the ability to display higher-level conceptual thinking. A total of 54 graduate students (15 male, 39 female) wrote one essay by hand and one by keyboard. Our results show a beneficial effect of text processing software, in terms of both the qualitative and quantitative writing output. A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to detect distinct performance groups in the sample. These performance groups mapped onto three differing working memory profiles. The groups with higher mean WM scores manifested superior writing complexity using a keyboard, in contrast to the cluster with the lowest mean WM. The results also point out that more revision during the writing process itself does not inevitably reduce the quality of the final output.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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