Word processing software revisited,
some tips for making better use of a basic software
application.
Dr. Terence Cavanaugh cavanaugh@tempest.coedu.usf.edu
University of South Florida
Secondary Education/Instructional Technology
Word processing software is installed on almost every
school computer and is one of the most used technology tools
in education, with applications from writing up IEP’s to
documenting lesson plans. Most teachers have some basic
experience with word processing and students are achieving
similar levels of experience. However this may not be the
case for the ESOL student. Many of our students have come
from situations where computer access has not been available
and because of that background they are trying not only to
learn a second language, but are also are trying to gain the
technology skills that they see in other students. This
article discusses some of the ways word processing can be
used, both by the teacher and by the student, to improve
language ability and learning while acquiring modern
technology skills.
Consider some of the basics of word processing. First,
many features of word processing can improve readability for
students. The word processor makes text consistently easy to
read. Whenever we write with a word processor, we're not
writing for a single situation. We're writing for repeated,
future uses of a document: rereading, editing, printing, etc.
If a student loses instructions or assignments, it is very
easy to produce an additional copy. Additionally a
teacher’s work is made easier when a document can be
adapted for a new need rather than created from scratch. By
using the word processor to write assignments, develop lesson
plans, create reports, and even to write letters home, we are
creating a personal database of material for future use.
An advantage
of word processing is the ability to change many aspects of
text appearance. Some font styles are easier to read than
others are. Some font sizes are more comfortable than others
are, and some font colors provide better contrast than
others. Research has discovered (Tinker, 1963, Prince 1967)
that very young (early elementary) or emerging readers prefer
to read a san serif font (block print) and that as they
develop they change their reading preference to serif fonts.
In addition to using a font style that is easy to read, you
can improve readability by altering the font size. Research
has found that younger children read better with larger
fonts, where children under seven prefer a font size of about
24 point and as the children get older the font size
decreases to about 11 point (Bloodsworth, 1993). If you look
in most children's books and compare their text to newspapers
and books for adults, you will see the difference in font
structure for children and adults. ESOL students are often
times at a learning stage which mimics that of emerging
readers where it is most effective for them to read san serif
fonts initially before developing ability with the serif
fonts. Word processors are generally set to use a specific
font size. This default setting may not be the best for your
situation. You can easily adjust font size by highlighting
the text, going up your toolbar (or format menu) and
selecting a new font size. A small increase in font size may
make your written material much easier for students to
understand. While the larger words will take more paper
space, the document will look less crowded, therefore making
students feel more comfortable with the amount of information
on the page. White (or open) space is important in documents.
Too many small words filling a page can be intimidating to
any student (Fleming & Levie, 1993).
Another thing
to keep in mind while writing is to make sure that you use
both upper and lower case letters: don’t write in all
upper case. The shape of the written word itself produces an
image to a reader that helps in decoding, by providing clues
to names and sentences (Tinker 1963). Check this for
yourself, by looking at a sentence written in all capital
letters, then compare it to text written in both upper and
lower case letters. The important consideration concerning
the font style is to keep it clear and simple to read.
You
can also use common word processor functions of bold,
italicize and underline text to help your students recognize
important words and phrases. You can build upon these
funcions even further with most word processors by using the
highlighting option. We can also highlight words, or
emphasize them, through the use of color. Most word
processors will allow you to change the color of your text to
emphasize a word or passage, and format the words to a new
color. Many new word processors also have the ability to
highlight text. In this case, the word processor acts as if
you used a highlighting marker, allowing you to mark over
words and passages. Research has found that the contrast that
exists between yellow and black is greater than the contrast
existing between black and white, making items highlighted in
yellow much easier for most people spot and recognize
(Outdoor First, 1999). To make a word stand out, use the word
processor’s ability to highlight or color text. It is
important to remember that if you have a color printer, you
can print color fonts and color highlights. If you have a
laser printer you may be able to use your printer to
highlight in levels of gray. Using text which has levels of
gray or even a slight change in color can make it very
noticeable when it is printed on paper. Of course not all
documents need to be printed. Many documents will be read
directly from the computer’s monitor, freeing you from
concerns about printers, paper, or ink. Additionally students
can easily adjust text that they read on the screen to a font
and size that feels comfortable to them. Research has found
that students’ prefer a larger font size of 14-16 for
reading from a computer screen (Chen and others, 1996)
Word processors usually
include several checking features. Checkers for spelling,
grammar, thesaurus and readability are useful to teachers
when creating documents for student use, as well as for
student authors. Rather than being a crutch or causing
students to develop lazy habits, spelling and grammar
checking actually provides immediate feedback and makes
students more independent writers (Garvey, 1984, Eiser, L.
1986). Students can see as they write when words are
misspelled. They choose from a list of options to make their
own corrections. With repetition, students use correct
spelling and grammar because they make the writing faster.
There is no delay between writing and receiving a corrected
paper, and there is no reliance on an outside authority for
making corrections. An important point to teach the students
here concerns the behavior of the spell checker and grammar
checker. 
Students will usually consider anything marked
by either checker to be wrong, even when this is not the case
(such as their own names or passive sentence structure). You
as the teacher might want to change the grammar
checker’s style format to a more causal setting. The
thesaurus is an excellent tool which students can use to
explore new vocabulary to include with their writing. Make
sure to check students’ writings and explain about
shades of meaning, because students tend to simply add new
words suggested by the thesaurus without checking their
meaning. Another tool available in modern word processors is
a readability statistics analyzer. Readability statistics are
useful for teachers who have students reading at various
grade levels. A document can be checked for readability, then
adapted to higher or lower grade levels with the help of
built-in readability statistics analyzer and thesaurus.
Students can even track their own writing ability, providing
their own feedback on their writing (Spiegel & Campbell,
1985).
While we may consider ESOL students to have
learning challenges to overcome, we may not have considered
using some common exceptional education tools to improve ESOL
education. Several tools exist to assist the students in
reading and with their own writing. One such tool is called a
screen reader. The screen reader is a program that evaluates
text and then "reads" it aloud. Students can look
at a document while listening to the computer as it reads.
Many of the screen readers highlight or mark the words (or
phrases) as they read, making it easier for the student to
follow along. Screen readers can also vary the rate at which
they speak, allowing the student to set a rate he or she can
comfortably follow and comprehend. Some screen readers, such
as DecTalk from the Digital Corporation not only read and
highlight, they can also read using nine different voices and
even have foreign language screen readers for pronunciation
of material written in other languages.
Word processing software provides great flexibility for
responding to students needs as far as text is concerned. In
addition, the word processor’s insert command makes it
very easy to include graphics and images in a document.
Graphics should be interesting and relevant. Avoid the
temptation to use graphics just because you can or to include
graphics without a purpose. Extraneous graphics can lead to
confusion and misconceptions by the student (Fleming &
Levie, 1993). Clip art, the Internet, scanners, digital
cameras, and drawing programs are all resources you can use
to create or acquire pictures for documents. Pictures are
often much more easily and immediately understood than words.
Students’ pictures can be very useful when writing to
parents. A page sent home could contain pictures showing what
the students need to bring or wear. Parents can respond more
readily to images than to written instructions. Many times
parents and guardians have the same reading needs and
limitations as our ESOL students.
The use of pictures will motivate students about reading,
by breaking up the page and creating more white space. When
sending notes home, try software that converts documents from
English to other languages. Be warned: none of these programs
is perfect, so it is advisable to find a native speaker of
the language to read the document and improve it, before it
is sent out.
Be aware
that word processors have the ability to go beyond just the
letters you see on the computer’s keyboard. Through use
of inserting special characters, symbols, or ASCII key codes,
you can insert letters from foreign languages. These extra
characters are useful to send a note home, or spell a
student’s name correctly. The symbol option can also
provide an additional source of icon style graphics you may
want to use or teachers can download and use icons sets that
were created for use by deaf students. 
These graphics are easily
recognized, simplistic and direct to the point. The graphics
can be used to make task analysis cards and other
instructional points, as well as to associate images with
English language words.
Some Web Resources
References:
Alki Software Corporation, 1999: access 11/18/99 11:06:50
AM. "readability statistics dialog box"
at http://wordinfo.com/how_to/dialogs/Mwdialog00000328.html
Assitive Technology Education Network (ATEN), 1999:
accessed 11/18/99 10:58:13 AM. "About ATEN"
at http://www.aten.ocps.k12.fl.us
Bloodsworth, G. G., 1993. Legibility of Print.
Eric document ED355497
Chen, M. and others 1996. The Effects of Font Size in
a Hypertext Computer Based Instruction Environment. 9p.;
In: Proceedings of Selected Research and Development
Presentations at the 1996 National Convention of the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology
(18th, Indianapolis, IN, 1996)
Eiser, L. 1986. I Love to Rite! Spelling Checkers in
the Writing Classroom. Classroom Computer Learning: v7
n3 p50-57 Nov-Dec
Fleming, M. and Levie W. H. (edrs) 1993. Instructional
Message Design. Educational Technology Publications
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System
Instructional Technology Training Resource Unit (FDLRS/TECH),
1999: accessed at 11/18/99 11:04:28 AM. "A
Specialized Center of the Florida Diagnostic and Learning
Resources System" at http://fdlrs.brevard.k12.fl.us/FDLRS_TECH/Index.html
Garvey, I., 1984. Spelling Checkers: Can they Actually
Teach Spelling? Classroom Computer Learning: v5 n4
p62-65 Nov-Dec 1984
Gemma, R., 1999: accessed 11/18/99 10:29:05 AM. "Text-to-speech
synthesis info" at http://www.ultranet.com/~rongemma/index.htm
Hawaii Education Literacy Project (HELP), 1999: accessed
11/18/99 10:29:05 AM. "HELP Read -Reading
Software" at http://www.pixi.com/~reader1/help/
Outdor first, July 1999. "Comparative
visibility of Full Value Color Combinations." http://www.outdoorfirst.com/colorcontrasts.html
Pett, D., 1993. White Letters on colored Backgrounds:
Legibility and Preference. 6p.; In: Visual Literacy in
the Digital Age: Selected Readings from the Annual Conference
of the International Visual Literacy Association (25th,
Rochester, New York, October 13-17, 1993)
Spiegel, G., and Campbell, J. J., 1985. Measuring
Readability with a Computer: What We Can Learn. Paper
presented at Meeting of UCLA conference on "Computers
and Writing: New Directions in Teaching and Research"
(Los Angeles, CA May 4-5, 1985
textHELP ® Systems Ltd., 1999: accessed 11/18/99 10:53:42
AM. "textHELP Products" at http://www.texthelp.com/products.asp
Tinker, M. L., 1963. Legibility of Print. Ames,
Iowa: Iowa State University Press. p 35-38
Terence
W. Cavanaugh Ph. D. 
