The influence of spell-checkers on students’ability to generate repairs of spelling errors
Open accessAbstract
Recent studies show that spell-checkers help reduce students’ surface errors in writing by flagging spelling errors and giving correct spelling suggestions. This study investigates if the error correction provided by the spell-checker tool in word processors are internalized by students. A quasi-experimental two-group study was conducted on 30 Form 1 students in a school in Kuching, Sarawak. The learners were given dictations which contained words listed as commonly misspelled words according to Oxford University Press (2012). The experimental group were given three dictations- one in which they used word processors and allowed to use the spell-checker tool and the control group was given two dictations, both handwritten. The data gathered were analysed using a software for statistical analysis. This study found that, while the spell-checker helped the learners revise their spelling on one dictation exercise, learners still made the same errors in their spelling after the use of spell-checkers. Therefore it argues that while spell-checkers help eliminate surface errors, they have very little influence on correcting the errors on the cognitive level. Keywords: Spell-checkers, word processors, error correction, dictation, spellingCite as: Rimbar, H. (2017). The influence of spell-checkers on students’ ability to generate repairs of spelling errors. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2(1), 1-12.
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Learners use spell-checkers to correct errors, but spell-checkers have very little influence on correcting errors on the cognitive level, as learners tend to make the same mistakes in future exercises.
“Rimbar reports results from an experiment that illustrates learners use spell-checkers to correct errors; however, they have very little influence on correcting the errors on the cognitive level as learners tend to make the same mistakes in future exercises Rimbar (2017).”
From Impact of AI assistance on student agency (2024) · cites this paper as Rimbar (2017)
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Impact of AI assistance on student agency
Darvishi, A., Khosravi, H., Sadiq, S., Gašević, D., & Siemens, G. (2024) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104967 · Cited by 548 · see citing works
“Rimbar reports results from an experiment that illustrates learners use spell-checkers to correct errors; however, they have very little influence on correcting the errors on the cognitive level as learners tend to make the same mistakes in future exercises Rimbar (2017).”
BackgroundResult
- Authors
- Rimbar, H.
- Corresponding author
- Rimbar, Hazelynn
- Venue
- Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS)
- Publisher
- SciTech Solutions
- Published
- 2017-06-30
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1
- ISSN
- 0127-9319 (ISSN-L)
- 0127-9386
- OpenAlex
- W2738646194
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 15.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS) (publishedVersion)
- Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Education › Writing and Handwriting Education
- Keywords
- spell checker, spelling errors, error correction, word processing software, dictation, surface error, English as a foreign language, high school students
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