As technology has advanced in the field of composition, some language arts instructors have stubbornly resisted, sticking with the time honored pen and paper or its remediation, the word processed text document (only after being drafted on paper first). In the process of taking a hands-off approach to technology, some of the commonly accepted tools within digital technology are substandard and have been allowed to flourish unchecked by the authorities within the field. The more involved professionals in the field are, the better of an educational tool digital media can be.
One standard and mediocre tool of digital composition is Microsoft Word spell check and grammar check. With out the voice of the professionals in the field these programs have been allowed to become authoritative in the area of digital composition. Many students take the results of these programs as gospel. I recall tutoring college students who automatically switched red underlined words to whatever the top word in the spell check result was. Language Arts professionals need to weigh in on the choices their students make about creating, modifying, and publishing their digital documents. The direction of the field is inevitable; the outcome is still being determined though.
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I've seen multiple conference presentations and workshops on problems with Word and how to address them. I've also seen some pretty public print and online flogging of Word and the Office Suite. The monopoly seems firm. So I do what many teachers seem to do: show students some of the problems with the programs and how to get around (or at least not be penalized by) them. I do this when we work on using computers to revise and edit.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what classroom practices you use to address these issues.
I have come across the same issue of Word and students simply changing to what the suggestion is, whether it be spelling or grammar. This causes many problems in reading it on paper, and these are the areas that seem to be the most problematic, and students just say, "Well, that's how Word suggested I fix it." I tell them that they cannot rely so heavily on Word in the area of spelling and grammar, but I know it is difficult in an L2. So, I can see both sides of this predicament - how to enhance their writing skills with the technology available to them in L2 when L1 is not available.
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