Purpose of this blog: Reviews of interesting research in English education journals. When possible, I suggest how I might apply the findings to my own classroom.
10-second review: Subjects were eighth graders. Question: Revising as you go or postponing until finished the draft. Results inconclusive.
Title: “The Effects of Revising with a Word Processor on Written Composition.” E Joram, et al. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1992), 167-193.
Assumptions: “Skillful revision is one of the hallmarks of expert writing. Expert writers engage in significantly more revision that novices…and the changes they make are associated with higher ratings of text quality…. However, revision is a difficult skill for students to acquire and it constitutes one of the stumbling blocks of writing instruction. Because of the importance of revision, interventions and technologies that increase the amount of revision and improve its quality are of great interest to writing instructors.”
Quote: “While the claim that word processors improve the quality of composition because they facilitate revision is intuitively appealing, there is little research that tests this claim….”
Quote: “…it is possible that word processors increase the frequency of only surface revision (that is, revision involving surface features of texts such as spelling) which could distract writers from the constructive processes of composing and make their writing more novice-like.”
Quote: “Simply because writers use a word processing system for a long time does not ensure that they will become skilled at text-editing.”
Comment: So the question remains: how to use word processing in teaching revision. We still do not know how to teach revision. Word processing alone won’t do it.
As for whether to revise as you go along vs. postponing until after the draft, my personal preference is to postpone until after the draft because frequent revising while writing the draft will distract from completing it, even to the point of giving up. Rays.
