Comparisons of Scores on Handwritten and Word Processed Essays

Share:    

Comparisons of Scores on Handwritten and Word Processed Essays

Share:    
Tindal and his colleagues also studied the accommodation of allowing students to use word processors to respond to essay questions instead of handwriting responses. One study (Hollenbeck, Tindal, Stieber, and Harniss, 1999) involved 80 middle school students who, as part of Oregon's statewide assessment, were given three days to compose a handwritten response to a writing assignment. Each handwritten response was transcribed into a word-processed essay, and no changes were made to correct for errors. Both the handwritten and the word-processed versions of each essay was scored during separate scoring sessions, with each response scored on six traits.

Analyses showed that for five of the six traits, the mean scores for handwritten compositions were higher than the means for the word-processed compositions, suggesting that there were differences in the ways scorers rated essays in the two response modes. For three of the traits (Ideas and Content, Organization, and Conventions), the differences between means were statistically significant. Tindall cautioned, however, that because the study participants were predominantly general education students, the findings may not generalize to students with disabilities. Tindal and his colleagues have also conducted factor analyses" to study the factor structure of word-processed and handwritten response formats (Helwig, Stieber, Tindal, Hollenbeck, Heath, and Almond, 1999). For this study, 117 eighth graders (10 of whom were special education students) handwrote compositions for the Oregon statewide assessment in February, which were transcribed to word-processed essays prior to scoring. In May the same students responded to a second writing assessment, this time preparing their responses via computer. Both sets of essays were scored on the six traits. The researchers conducted factor analyses on the sets ofscores for each response format. The factor analyses showed that when only handwritten or only wordprocessed papers were analyzed, a single factor was identified (all traits loaded on a single factor). When data from the two writing methods were combined, two factors emerged. One factor included the trait scores based on the word processed response, while the other included all the trait scores based on the handwritten response. Correlations between the trait scores for the different response formats were weak, even for scores on common traits. The researchers concluded from these findings that handwritten and word-processed compositions demonstrate different skills and are judged differently by scorers. In another study, Tindal and his colleagues examined the effects of providing a simplified-language version of a mathematics test to students with learning disabilities (Tindal, Anderson, Helwig, Miller, and Glasgow, 1999).

Study participants were 48 seventh graders-two groups of general education students enrolled in lower mathematics classes (16 per group) and a third group of 16 students with learning disabilities who had IEPs in reading. Two test forms were developed, one consisting of items in their original form and one with the simplified items. The simplification process involved replacing indirect sentences with direct sentences; reducing the number of words in the problem; replacing passive voice with active voice; removing noun phrases and conditional clauses; replacing complex vocabulary with simpler, shorter words; and removing extraneous information. Analyses revealed that the simplification had almost no effect on test scores; that is, students who were low readers but did not have an identified disability and those with disabilities performed equally well in either condition. Furthermore, the researchers found that 10 of the items were more difficult in their simplified form than in their original form. Tindal pointed out that the study had several limitations. Specifically, the sample size was small and the subjects were poor readers and students with disabilities, not English-language learners. For this part, learning a foreign language needs a leaning tools, many people choose Rosetta Stone Arabic and Rosetta Stone Chinese to learn Arabic and Chinese. He believes that the results are not conclusive and that the use of language simplification as an accommodation for students with learning disabilities needs further study.

POST COMMENT

The Most Useful Mexico Travel Tips Arranging Masquerade Ball at Ball Venues in London Office Cleaning London City Centre Eco Travel Adventure in South America American Grocery Promo Codes - Sneaky Tricks To Obtaining Grocery Coupon Codes Whenever Is Planning a Trip a tedious Job? Celebrity Makeup Looks Worth Holiday Experience during typical Fly fishing Seher presents "delhi jazz festival" Discover the city of london along with a sizzling partner Sikim (Sikkim): Travel Guide & Information Top Destination and Its Attractions to Visit on Your Malaysia Tour Finding the Best Luggage for Your Travel Needs