The Effectiveness of Word Processor Spell Checker Programs to Produce Target Words for Misspellings Generated by Students With Learning Disabilities
By Montgomery, Donna J.; Karlan, George R.; Coutinho, Martha; Journal of Special Education Technology, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 27-42Publication Date: Spring 2001
Study conducted to investigate how nine spell check software programs differ in producing target words in first position in the replacement list for misspellings generated by students with learning disabilities (LD). The programs analyzed in the study included: (1) Bank Street Writer, (2) Primary Editor Plus, (3) Student Writing Center, (4) Microsoft Word 6.0 for DOS, (5) Microsoft Works 4.0, (6) Word Perfect 5.2 for Windows, (7) ClarisWorks 4.0, (8) Write Outloud, and (9) Write This Way. A total of 1008 misspellings taken from 199 writing samples generated by 111 students with LD in grades 3-8 were spell checked using the spell check functions of each of these programs. Misspellings were classified by the level of phonetic mismatch to the target word (phonetic error level) and the proportion of correct two-letter sequences (bigram ratio). A significant difference was found among the spell checkers in their ability to produce target words first in the replacement list, and in their phonetic error level and bigram ratio. Efficiency of spell checkers increased as the phonetic error level or the bigram ratio of the misspellings increased. Results suggest that the spell checkers evaluated in the study were ineffective in producing target words first in the replacement list for misspellings generated by students with LD.
Assistive Products Discussed: WRITE THIS WAY
STUDENT WRITING CENTER
WRITE:OUTLOUD
Published by: Exceptional Innovations (Website:http://www.exinn.net)
Technology and Media Division (TAM) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) (Web Site: http://www.tamcec.org )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J42756
