Employs a cognitive discourse analysis to analyze instructions for using a word processor written by eighth grade students. Analyzes text structure to specify underlying semantic and conceptual knowledge structures. Finds that written instructions produced by the students were deficient in content information and did not parallel the hierarchical…

A study assessed the impact of word processing on the writing of junior high school students, experienced in working with computers, for a number of tasks, including writing. Subjects, 111 eighth grade students in four communications arts classes at a Canadian middle-class suburban school, who had been using computers for writing for a year and a…

Recently a number of writers and researchers have praised the editing and text moving capabilities of word processing programs, proposing that they can be useful in helping students revise more readily and skillfully. With this premise, 16 eighth grade students participated in a program in which they used a text editor or word processing system to…

To investigate how writing might be affected by composing aloud and computer composing--two factors that are increasingly being used either to study composing processes or to alter the typical context in which students write--a study described the composing process of five junior high school students. The students wrote four compositons, one in…

This evaluation reports on a project that used word processing in process writing as a method for teaching written Norwegian to Norwegian students in grades 5 and 8. Process writing refers to the process of writing and rewriting or the various stages of producing written text. Students start with a first draft and work gradually toward a finished…