Psychology of Computer Use: VI. Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Instruction in Expository Writing

Abstract

31 high school students were given writing assignments on a computer-writing program (WANDAH) or on a free writing control condition in a crossover design in which order of condition and writing topics were counterbalanced. Results indicated that students in the WANDAH condition wrote significantly more words, longer sentences, and showed significantly longer on-task behavior. However, the proportion of “be” (inactive) words per sentence and number of sentences written were apparently not affected by the WANDAH program. Significant differences in variances were also observed between conditions on number of words written per T-unit. Survey data indicated that students favored writing with this computer program over writing by hand.