Speech Recognition Technology and Students With Writing Difficulties: Improving Fluency
By Quinlan, Thomas; Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 96, No. 2, pp. 337-346Publication Date: June 2004
Study conducted to evaluate the effects of speech recognition technology (SR) and advance planning on children's writing processes. A total of 41 children ages 11 to 14 participated in the study. Following the administration of standardized writing tests, the participants were assigned to either a “fluent” or “less fluent” group. The participants were divided into groups of two, three, or four, and attended one six-hour writing class. The students all used Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional 5.0 SR technology, which was designed for continuous-speech dictation. Following a training session, the participants were asked to write a complete story with the SR program. The narratives were evaluated in terms of the number of words, errors, and overall quality. The less fluent participants demonstrated great improvements in their writing when using Dragon NaturallySpeaking as opposed to the standardized test administered before the SR intervention, though SR was not found to yield major increases in overall quality. The authors contend planning in advance helped the participants to write more fully developed stories. These results suggest that students with writing difficulties could benefit from advance planning and SR technology.
Assistive Products Discussed: DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING
Published by: Educational Publishing Foundation (Website:http://www.apa.org/publications/)
American Psychological Association (Web Site: http://www.apa.org )
