Examining the Impact of Technology on Primary Students' Revision of Written Work

This study sought to determine (1) whether revising on paper versus revising on the computer significantly impacted revisions second graders made; (2) whether revising on paper verses the computer affected the change in quality from the first to final draft; (3) whether the cognitive load of transcription, writing speed and spelling ability affected the revisions second graders make when revising on paper and the computer; and (4) whether the cognitive load of transcription affected the change in quality scores when students revise on paper and the computer. 74 second graders from a middle class suburb participated in the study. Students received training on how to use the computer to type and edit texts and completed cognitive load measures on paper and the computer for writing speed and spelling ability. Each of the four classes was assigned to one of two conditions: paper revision, then computer revision or computer revision, then paper revision. Students wrote and revised two stories. Analyses revealed that second grade students made twice the number of revisions on computer than on paper. Analyses of quality indicators determined that students increased word count in both mediums, with a greater increase when revising on paper. Percent of words spelled correctly increased in both mediums, with a greater increase on the computer likely due to the availability of spell check. There was less observed improvement in narrative rubric scores, but these scores improved more on paper than the computer. Cognitive load measures indicated a typing was significantly slower than handwriting, but spelling ability significantly increased on the computer over handwriting. These findings supported previous research. First, the lower cognitive load of writing, with respect to writing speed, lead to a greater increase in word count when revising on paper. Second, the decreased cognitive load of spelling on the computer lead to a greater increase in percent of words spelled correctly on the computer and a higher number of spelling revisions. Overall this study determined that second graders were able to effectively revise texts using paper and the computer.