Computers and Composition 15, 347-371(1998)
© 1998 Ablex Publishing Corporation
ISSN 8765-4615
All rights of reproduction reserved
The Mysterious Disappearance
of Word Processing
BERNARD SUSSER
Doshisha Women’s Junior College
As an instructional technology, word processing has almost disappeared from accounts of writing with
computers, but this article argues that most student writers have never used word processing in a
meaningful sense, so that far from “disappearing/’ word processing has not yet appeared. Experimental
research reports and published practitioner accounts are examined to show that in hardly any cases can
the subjects or students be said to be using a word-processing package at anywhere near its full potential;
this is true even in reports of so-called “experienced” users. To overcome this problem, the author used a
heuristic device to encourage Japanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students to use word
processing more fully, but the results showed little improvement in the students reported use of the
functions of word processing. The conclusion draws on studies of computer use in the workplace to
evaluate the results and discusses the need for fuller exploitation of word processing in writing instruction.
computers and efficiency
EFL
computers and writing
disappearance
heuristic device
word processing
In the twentieth century, it takes a special kind of courage to continue to use a particular technology once it is
considered to be outmoded, even if that technology is more than adequate for the task at hand.
Michael Levy (1997, p.2)
The trope of disappearance has been powerful in modem composition and literary studies. Barthes
and Foucault postulated the disappearance of the author; text itself became pixeled and
desubstantiated (e.g., Balestri, 1988, pp. 16 ff.; Dorner, 1991, p. 15; Lanham, 1993, pp. 5, 75, 130).
Familiar tools like pencils and pens became invisible (Chandler, 1995, pp. 27—28); then
computers (Tornow, 1997, p. 15), word processing (Hawisher, LeBlanc, Moran, & Selfe, 1996,
pp. 186, 239), and technology itself (Bruce & Hogan, 1988, pp. 269 ff.) disappeared. 0. B.
Hardison (1989), going one step further, claimed that “the idea of humanity is changing so rapidly
that it, too, can legitimately and without any exaggeration be said to be disappearing” (1989, p.
347). Many
Direct all correspondence to: Bernard Susser, English Department, Doshisha Women’s Junior College. Kado, Kyotanabe City,
Kyoto Prefecture 610-0395, Japan. E-mail: <[email protected]>.
347
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SUSSER
have pointed to computers and word processing as the culprits because they destroy our interior,
alphabetized mental space” (Sanders, 1994, pp. 136, 146), or they create prose that “displays a
charge with less central focus and less mental integrity,” so “the pristine power of original
language is especially in danger of total oblivion” (Heim, 1987, p. 210).1 Gore Vidal (1984)
claimed that “the idea of literature is being erased by the word processor” (p. 20) while William
Gass saw the computer and word processing as responsible for the “disappearance of human
beings” (as cited in Sanders, 1994, p. 148).2
Even without the hyperbole, there is general agreement that from about 1989 the computers
and writing (C&W) field moved its focus of attention from word processing to computer-mediated
communication (CMC), hypertext, and other innovative forms of writing technology (Gerrard,
1995, pp. 283-284; Hawisher et al., 1996, pp. 86-187. 239; see also Hilligoss & Sclfe 1994, p.
340; Tuman, 1992, p. 57). This is confirmed by the rapid fall in the number of articles and
presentations devoted to word processing3 Given the tremendous enthusiasm for writing with
computers in the 1980s, this is surprising; two explanations have been offered. First, in Trent
Batson’s words, the field had reached a “dead end” (as cited in Hawisher et al., 1996, p. 11) and
was looking for something new. Driven by the rapid development of new technologies and
supported by an increasing emphasis on the social aspects of writing, the C&W field launched
itself into groupware, hypertext, and cyberspace, abandoning the “old-fashioned” (Davidson,
1996, p. 98) word processor. The inevitable result, as Marianne Phinney (1996) pointed out, was
that “in classes where groupware is employed, word processing and the development of word
processing skills take a back seat to the purposes for communication in interactions mediated
within a computer environment” (p. 142). The second explanation is that by 1990 computer
technology (including word-processing packages) had become ‘transparent’4 so
1
For similar pronouncements see, for example, Sven Birkerts, 1994, pp. 122, 156 ff.; Daniel Chandler, 1987,
1995; Michael Heim, 1993, pp. 3 ff., 55 ff.; Stephen Talbott, 1995, pp. 186 ff.
2
Barry Sanders (1996, p. 148) claimed that Gass said this in 1991 but his reference is for a book review Gass
published in 1988; the words Sanders cited do not appear in this review (Gass, 1988). Further, the title of the
review is “The Polemical Philosopher,” not “Human, All Too Human” (Sanders, 1995, p. 248). Where (If?)
Gass said this is not important, because Sanders, who has thought long and hard (if not well) about computers
and literacy, clearly believes it.
3
To confirm this, I searched the ERIC on CD-ROM database (Nisc Disc) covering the period 1985 to
December 1997. I used only the keyword word processing, which yielded many items on keyboarding
instruction. CAI, etc., as well as works on computers and writing. Even so, the results were instructive: 1985,
258 items; 1986, 267; 1987, 251; 1988, 210; 1989, 245; 1990, 181; 1991, 161; 1992, 136; 1993, 103; 1994,
84; 1995, 74; 1996, 73; and 1997, 25.
4
Here transparent means too familiar to be noticed, “simply presupposed” (Pennington. 1996, p. 40); it is in
this sense that Johndan Johnson-Eilola (1997, p. 49) cited Jacques Ellul: “The ability to forget the machine is
the ideal of technical perfection” (1964, p. 413). Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores (1986/1987, p. 164)
used word processing in their discussion of transparency (see also Levy, 1997, pp. 184-185). Joan Tornow
(1997) argued that “when a stand alone computer becomes networked, it’s as if it suddenly shifts from being
opaque to being transparent” (p. 15). Haas (1996) uses transparent in this sense (e.g., p. xi) even though her
main argument is that technology is not transparent because it affects writing (e.g., p. 34; see also Haas &
Neuwirth, 1994, pp. 321-323). See also Turkel’s (1995) discussion of the “cultural shift in the meaning of
transparency” (p. 42).
Disappearance of Word Processing
349
it was no longer an issue; it had, to borrow Hardison’s (1989) trope, “disappeared.”5 This came
about, Myron Tuman (1993) argued, just because word processing “triumphed completely” (p.
49); its very success as an “effortless, transparent support for both the theory and practice of
writing as process” meant that word processing “did not raise important pedagogical and
methodological issues” (p. 49).
Here, I argue that word processing did not disappear or become transparent but rather never
appeared in any meaningful sense. There are many definitions of word processing (see, e.g.,
Winograd & Flores, 1986/1987, pp. 5-6); Martha Pennington’s (1996) will do: Word processing
“allows many different kinds of modifications to written text before or after saving, such as
deletion, insertion, and movement of pieces of text as long as several paragraphs” (p. 31). Word
processing cannot be defined more rigorously because of the great variety of word-processing
packages with different features and structures (Bridwell-Bowles, 1989, p. 83; Haas, 1996, p. 51;
Hawisher, 1989, p.57; Pennington, 1996, pp. 43 ff.). Robert Lucky (1989) even argued that
because technology develops so rapidly, it is hard to say anything meaningful about word
processing (pp. 164-165). Terminology problems are compounded when some researchers (e.g.,
Van Haalen, 1990) seem to think that any software that allows users to input text is a “word
processor,” (see pp. 11-12); Lillian Bridwell, Geoffrey Sire, and Robert Brooke (1985) and others
even “use computer composing’ to mean whatever [participants] did while they were working
with the word-processing systems, even though several of them continued to use paper for
planning and some drafting” (p. 179). Further, computers are used for writing in a range from the
experienced users’ full employment of the software’s functions for planning, revising, editing, and
formatting to basic typing, in which the word-processing package functions as a “slick typewriter”
(Kellogg, 1994, p. 162): even the same software may be used in quite different ways by different
users (see Benesch, 1987; Bridwell et al., 1985, pp. 190 ff.). Christina Haas (1996) argued that
word processing is the “most generic of computer writing tools” (p. 77) because the functions of a
word-processing package are built into most CMC software, but when people write e-mail online,
participate in MOOs, or use CACD (computer-assisted class discussion) software, they make
comparatively little use of word processing functions.6 Even in formal writing, “truly written
composition” (Ong, 1982, p. 95) that requires “planning, care, and organization” (Elbow, 1996, p.
688), many writers make minimal use of word-processing package functions (see, e.g.,
Thiesmeyer, 1989, pp. 85-86).
5
James Kalmbach (1996) documented many remarkable parallels between the experimental introduction of
typewriters into schools in the 1930s and the adoption of computers today; research on typewriters in
classrooms “disappeared” along with the typewriters themselves (p. 64; see also Kalmbach, 1997, pp. 104 ff.).
6
This claim is based on my reading of the literature and personal observation; it has not been established
experimentally one way or the other as far as I know. Margaret Riel (1990) found that sixth graders wrote
better compositions to peers on a computer network than for teachers on an exam (p. 261; see also Cohen &
Riel, 1989) and Levy (1997) claimed that for second language learners “great care is taken in the construction
of the text” (p. 171). On the other hand, Simeon Yates (1996, p.35) noted that CMC writers do not take
advantage of the opportunities provided by the medium. See Lourdes Ortega (1997) for a review of the
research.
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SUSSER
My first task in this article is to support the previously described claim that word processing in a
meaningful sense has not really appeared in writing instruction despite the great enthusiasm for
writing with computers; this I do with a literature review, looking particularly at studies of
advanced or experienced users. Second, I present the results of an experimental use of a heuristic
and pedagogy designed to encourage students to use the word-processing packages fully. Finally,
I use recent research on computer productivity to explain why word processing never really
appeared and suggest what this-means for C&W pedagogy.
RESEARCH ON WORD PROCESSING
Before starting, I should anticipate the objections of readers who, being familiar with the vast
literature on computers and writing as well as being practitioners in the field themselves, might be
inclined to dismiss my argument as casuistry if not just plain silly. Certainly there was great
enthusiasm for word processing in the 1980s, particularly because of a perceived reciprocity with
process-based writing pedagogies; Carolyn Kirkpatrick, writing in 1987, went so far as to say that
“I simply don’t see how the process approach is feasible for most teachers at the basic writing
level without use of computers” (p. 38).7 Numerous research reports and practitioner accounts
described how word-processing packages affected both the writing process and the written
product (Herrmann, 1991, pp. 153-160). Concerning the research on word processing, I
summarized the conclusions of existing surveys in 1994 (Susser, 1994b), but more have been
published since that article was submitted (eg., Haas & George, 1996; Pennington, 1996, pp. 3167; Reed, 1996; Snyder, 1993b). The consensus is that much, if not most, of the research is not
good. Speaking of research on the effects of computers in education generally, Edward Miller,
former editor of the Harvard Education Letter, has been quoted as saying, “Most knowledgeable
people agree that most of the research isn’t valid. It’s so flawed it shouldn’t even be called
research. Essentially, it’s just worthless” (as cited in Oppenheimer, 1997, p. 47). The research on
computers and writing is no exception, providing little grounds for establishing any effects of
using word processing.8
Whatever may be said about experimental research, practitioner accounts (the term
practitioner is North’s, 1987) describe a variety of effects, some beneficial and some
7
See Bernard Susser (l994a, pp. 32-34) for an explanation of writing process terminology, and Karen Jostad
(1988, p. 32), Marjorie Montague (1990. pp. 39 ff.), Pierre Pelletier (1992, p. 252), Irene Thomas (1985, p. 2),
and David Thomas (1989, p. 135) for the association of word processing with process-based writing
pedagogies. Pennington (1996, pp. 52-53) surveyed the research on word processing and process-oriented
instruction.
8
In criticizing research on CALL (computer-assisted language learning), Carol Chapelle (1990) pointed out
that results are difficult to interpret because (a) descriptions “do not account for the details of studentcomputer interaction,” (b) general descriptions of CALL activities fail “to describe what students actually do,”
and (c) the descriptors for labeling CALL activities “have not yet specified a precise language (or formalism)
for discussing different CALL activities in terms common to all CALL and classroom activities” (pp. 204205). Chappelle asked, “How quiz-like is a quiz?” (p. 205); in other words, terms describing classroom
activities such as quiz or word processing must be defined more rigorously before they can be used in
research.
Disappearance of Word Processing
351
detrimental, that using word-processing packages seems to have on the writing process and
product (surveyed by Pennington, 1996, pp. 17-30). That the introduction of computers should
have some effect is consistent with the widespread belief that “technologies are not merely aids to
human activity, but also powerful forces acting to reshape that activity and its meaning” (Winner,
1986, p. 6; see also Bowers, 1988, pp. 27 ff.; Haas, 1996, pp. 3-47; Postman, 1992, pp. 13 ff.).
Using computers in the classroom may have affected writing for four reasons. One is the
“inevitable ‘Hawthorne effect’ by which any innovation in a work situation initially raises
productivity and morale” (Thiesmeyer, 1989, p. 85; see also Kellogg, 1994, pp. 151 ff.). This
accounts for reports emphasizing positive effects such as longer essays and more revision (as
summarized in Pennington, 1996, pp. 31 ff.). On the other hand, problems caused by the
introduction of this complicated technology explain why many teachers reported negative effects
from using word-processing packages (e.g., Crafton, 1996; Dowling, 1994; Kellogg & Mueller,
1989, pp. 7-8; Sudol, 1991), as Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass (1996) pointed out, “technical
problems have social consequences” (p. 214), in this ease turning students against writing. A third
reason is that the design of a given word-processing package can affect the user’s writing; in other
words, “system characteristics can have significant impact on writing processes” (Hayes, 1996, p.
11; see also Susser, 1994b, pp. 28-29).
The fourth reason computers may affect students’ writing is that the computer is a “writing
tool that functions in a learning environment” (Zeni, 1990, p. x; see also pp. 79, 93); it is a
technology “embedded in social practices” (Greenleaf, 1992, p 33; see also Cochran-Smith, Paris,
& Kahn, 1991; Greenleaf, 1994; Miller & Olson, 1994; Riel, 1989, 1994; Sheingold, 1987, p.
207). This concept suggests that the effects attributed to using word processing in the practitioner
accounts may have been the result of changed learning environments and teaching practices, or
the result, in Gail Hawisher’s (1989) words, of “the interaction of technology with the culture in
which it exists” (p. 64, see also Mehan, 1989, pp. 13, 19).
Further, the “rhetoric of technology” (Hawisher & Selfe, 1991) or “mythinformation”
(Winner, 1986, pp. 98 ff.) may have led practitioners to attribute characteristics to word
processing not necessarily unique to that technology. For example, the literature enthuses ad
nauseam on the “fluidity” word processing imparted to the writing process (e.g., Boiarsky, 1991;
Catano, 1985; Mullins, 1988). Undoubtedly, many who had been writing by hand with pen or
pencil found composing at the computer keyboard liberating; even so, it would be hard to prove
that it was using word processing in a meaningful sense rather than the novelty effect of a new
technology that made writing more “fluid.” Fluidity is an amorphous concept that tells us little
about how writers are using word processing or, indeed, if they are using computers at all; Ernest
Hemingway, for example, said that in comparison to the typewriter “if you use a pencil. . . it keeps
it fluid longer so that you can improve it easier” (as cited in Chandler, 1995, p. 151).
Consequently, neither experimental research nor practitioner accounts provide convincing proof
that student writers were or are using word processing in a meaningful sense.
STUDENTS’ USE OF WORD-PROCESSING PACKAGES
Word-processing packages, like other software applications, are not easy to learn, as research on
human-machine interaction (e.g., Carroll, 1990; Cross, 1990, pp. 47-48; Sulli-
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SUSSER
van, 1989, p. 21) has shown; indeed, it can be “highly stressful” for some (Herrmann, 1985a, p. 3;
see also Dalton, Morocco, & Neale, 1988), particularly for EFL students (see, e.g., Scott &
Stoller, 1996; Wallace, 1988). Further, as if the learning of any individual program were not
difficult enough, students often must deal with a bewildering “topography” of mutually
incompatible platforms, disk sizes and formats, software packages and versions, etc. (Reynolds &
Lewis, 1997, p. 275). Even so, writing teachers have been reluctant to devote much class time to
teaching computer use or the functions of word-processing packages. Barbara Griffin (1989), for
example, blithely claimed that “teachers usually overestimate the amount of time required to
acclimate students to the hardware…we spent virtually no class time on computer instruction” (p.
2), while Catherine Davidson and Alice Tomic (1994) boasted that “a new computer user can
learn the basics of a word-processing programme in a few minutes” (p. 207).9
The results, needless to say, are dismal; although most studies of student use of wordprocessing packages do not reveal the level at which participants are using the hardware and
software, occasional glimpses show that many, perhaps most students “simply do not master these
skills [file management, cursor moves, block moves, delete, and restore text] well enough for us to
cover the material we would cover if we stuck with hard copy” (Crew, 1989, p. 4). Stephen
Bernhardt, Penny Edwards, and Patti Wojahn (1989, p. 121) reported that 22% of the students in
their study were not yet comfortable with word processing at the end of a semester; Gordon
Thomas (1993) stated that the 75-minute training session in his program teaches only the basic
skills, so “the word-processing skills of most students appear to fossilize at a low level” (p. 190);
Williamson complained that some of his students cannot reliably save a file seven weeks into the
term (as cited in Magoto, 1995, p. 30). Many similar accounts of students’ inability or
unwillingness to use even basic functions of word-processing packages can be found (e.g.,
Bridwell et al., 1985, pp. 188-190; Cross, 1990; Freedman & Clarke, 1988, pp. 124 ff.; Nichols,
1986, pp. 91 ff.; Herrmann, 1985b, pp. 10, 17; Sloane, 1987; Strickland, 1987a, 1987b, 1989, pp.
10 ff.). Bruce Tone and Dorothy Winchester (1988, p. 2) reported that children were not getting
enough time-on-task to become comfortable with even the simplest functions of word-processing
packages, while some experts (Miller-Souvincy & Souviney, 1987) claimed that “elementary
students can work effectively for a whole year using only 4 or 5 commands” (p. 8). Evelyn Fella
(1989) stopped teaching “the more sophisticated func9
The amount of time spent on training students to use a word-processing package is not usually reported; when
it is, we see that most authors boast of how little time they spend on this: Hansel Burley (1994) required “only
fifteen minutes of formal classroom training” (p. 9). Carole McAllister and Richard Louth (1988), “two hours”
(p. 421); John Pufahl (1984), “ten minutes” (p. 93); Michael Williamson and Penny Pence (1989), “one-half
hour” (p. 103). Ruth Kurth (1987, p. 16) found WORDPERFECT not difficult to learn; Bailey Shurbutt (1987, p.
39) needed only an hour plus a handout for this package. For Lillian Bridwell-Bowles, Parker Johnson, and
Steven Brehe (1987), two hours was enough to get started with WORDSTAR (p. 86), although Bridwell et al.
(1985, p. 174) mentioned a 2-week course for the same software; Anne Wright (1987, p. 27) needed only five
minutes for APPLEWRITER (see also Wright, 1988, p. 37), and Haas (1996) claimed that “practiced users of
technology…tend not to need much training on word processing” (p. 79). Of course, some writing instructors
devote considerable time to word-processing instruction; Tony Dierckins (1994), for example, reported
training in word processing taking 20% of composition course class time (pp. 154-155).
Disappearance of Word Processing
tions,” because “few students ever used [them] when editing their papers” (p. 3).10
Another study of ESL writers found that many students did not exploit the computer’s
potential for reorganization of their writing; for them the spelling checker was the major
attraction (Al-Hazmi & Scholfield, 1997, pp. 118-120). In short, “students do not generally take
advantage of the computer’s capabilities for revision” (Phinney, 1989, p. 84; see also Phinney,
1996, p. 151).11
This failure to “take advantage of the computer’s capabilities” characterizes even so-called
experienced users. Studies by Ronald Owston, Sharon Murphy, and Herbert Wideman (1991,
1992; see also Owston, 1993) investigated “the impact of word processing on the writing of
middle school students highly experienced in working with computers” (1991, p. 70; see also pp.
81, 84-85; 1992, pp. 254-256). Their data showed that many students did not make use of even
basic functions of word-processing packages (1992, p. 261); one of the three types of these
experienced users is called the low-tech user who “either minimally used or made no use at all of
the technological advantages of the computer” (1992, p. 267). Chris Breese, Anita Jackson, and
Terry Prince (1996) who studied secondary students with unlimited access to word-processing
packages, were highly enthusiastic about the quality of writing produced (p. 85, see also Peacock
& Breese, 1990), but tell us nothing about the level at which students used the functions of wordprocessing packages. The computers to which these students had unlimited access was a
Cambridge Z88 laptop that “displayed six lines of text” and came with the word-processing
package PIPEDREAM, “not an easy program to use,” requiring, for example, the manipulation of 8
keys to move a block of text (Breese et al., 1996, p. 71). Although we might applaud the
participants of this experiment for willingly writing and rewriting under such adverse (by today’s
standards) conditions, we can suspect that use word processing functions was not intense.
Other researchers working with “students who had considerable experience using wordprocessing systems” (Joram, Woodruff, Lindsay, & Bryson, 1990, p. 57; see also Joram,
Woodruff, Bryson, & Lindsay, 1992, p. 187) found in their test of editing commands that “there
was only one instance when a student made full use of the computer” (p. 61); even the graduate
students they looked at for the sake of comparison had “fail[ed] to take full advantage of
computers with word-processing programs after several years of experience with them” (p. 68).
Ilana Snyder (1993a) studied secondary
10
Another problem is the definition of basic as opposed to sophisticated functions. For Fella (1989),
apparently, anything beyond “double-spacing, underlining, and centering” (p. 3) is sophisticated; Michele
Opack and Barbara Perushek (1986), sophisticated text manipulations are “copying text, deleting blocks,
indenting, and using boldface functions” (p. 34).
11
There is not enough space here to go into the important issue of typing or keyboarding skills. There is a
range of opinion in the literature originating from the belief that “typing skill is not required for successful
word processing” (Brown, 1986, p. 12; see also Gerlach, 1987; Peterson, 1993, p. 64) to those scholars who
pointed out “a degree of constraint placed on...writing due to inadequacies in…typing ability” (Dowling, 1994,
p. 229; see also Dalton & Hannafin, 1987, p. 341; Snyder, 1994, p. 152; Van Haalen & Bright, 1993, pp.
314,322, 324). Williamson and Pence (1989, pp. 95-96) offered a tortured argument intended to show that a
lack of keyboarding skills is an advantage! Even Opack and Perushek (1986), who emphasized the importance
of training in word processing, designed their word-processing course and tested carefully “to eliminate
problems with students whose typing skills are minimal” (p. 34).
353
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SUSSER
students with “more than minimal word-processing skills” (p. 10); even so, “most found that using
computers made writing more difficult” (1994, p. 150) and over the months of the course, the
students were constantly learning and helping each other with the functions of their wordprocessing package (e.g., p. 153). Edward Wolfe, Sandra Bolton, Brian Feltovich, and Art Bangert
(1996) identified students less or more comfortable and experienced with writing with wordprocessing packages but their questionnaire (pp. 281-282) asked nothing about familiarity with
word-processing functions. Glenda Conway’s (1995) study did not look at word-processing skills,
but the group she studied included both a student “with exceptionally strong word-processing
skills” and one who “consistently experienced difficulties with computer commands” (p. 85).
Conway’s study provides another example of the wide variation that usually exists even in the
same classroom (see also Joram et al., 1990, p. 63).
Among studies of postsecondary students Randall Nichols (1986, p. 91) reported that only one
of his five participants ever used block moves. Alexander Friedlander and Mike Markel (1990)
and Markel (1994) studied “experienced word-processing students” who had owned and used
computers for at least three years but concluded that many participants did ‘not report substantial
word-processing experience’ (1994, p. 53) and “were not comfortable with [Macintoshes] as
writing tools” (1994, p. 55). Other students used their Macs regularly for writing, revised on
screen, and believed that using the computer improved their writing (1994, p. 52-53), but we are
not told how or to what extent they used the functions of their word-processing packages.12
Richard Collier and Clifford Werier (1994) looked closely at the extent their participants used the
functions of word-processing packages. Although all three participants “had been using the
computer as their exclusive means of text production for at least 3 years” (p. 48), they “did not
access many of the advanced features of the word-processing package” (p. 54). Marianne Phinney
and Sandra Khouri’s (1993) study of ESL writers included two participants “comfortable” with
computers (p. 260); their data on what and how many functions students used show (see Table 6,
p. 268), for example, that novice users made a few block moves but experienced users made none.
Phinney and Khouri (1993) claimed that the participant most comfortable with the computer
“showed the kind of profile we might expect from an experienced computer user” (p. 270); by this
statement they seem to mean that he did a lot of revising on screen, not necessarily that he made
much use of or was even knowledgeable about the functions of the word-processing package.13 In
an EFL setting Olga Kehagia and Margaret Cox (1997) chose subjects who had considerable
computer experience (p. 243), yet their case study subject was “unfamiliar with the functions of
the commands available in the word-processing package” (p. 250).
This review of the literature suggests that the term word processing has been used loosely, not
to say irresponsibly. Although there must be many proficient users of word12
It is odd that in the 1990 article, the participants had “complete familiarity with the Macintosh’s wordprocessing software” (Priedlander & Market, p. 77), but in the 1994 article some of the same students did “not
report substantial word-processing experience” (p. 53).
13
WilIiam Goodrich Jones (1994) mentions a university faculty member, a heavy computer user, who “had
never bothered to learn how to use the ‘find’ command in her word-processing program, so great was her
reluctance to read the accompanying manual and so little her desire to take advantage of the options for textual
control that the software offered” (p. 168).
Disappearance of Word Processing
355
processing packages in schools and universities, the evidence suggests that we have little grounds
for claiming that a person writing on a computer is using a word processing in any meaningful
sense. Writing teachers have not devoted much time to teaching the skills of word-processing
packages, nor have they reached any agreement on what level of skills are adequate. Researchers
have for the most part ignored the important variable of the level of their participants’ skills with
word-processing packages; those few studies that have looked specifically at experienced users
have invalidated their own conclusions, given that the data they present show that many
experienced users, in fact, cannot be said to be using word-processing packages in a meaningful
sense.
AN EXPERIMENT WITH A WORD-PROCESSING HEURISTIC
Like many writing teachers in the late 1980s, I began to use word processing in my writing classes
because of my enthusiasm for this marvelous tool; however, it did not take long to see that most
students were not taking advantage of the functions of word-processing packages for writing and
revision. From 1995, I began to use a checklist of key functions as a heuristic device to encourage
students’ use of word-processing packages. This checklist, suggested by Nim-Yu Kitty Li (1994),
asked students if they had used various functions such as block moves, undo, spelling checker,
etc. (see Appendix). The assumption was that having students complete this checklist at the end of
each class would make them aware of the many computer functions they might be using and
encourage them to discover and exploit more fully the functions of the word-processing package
to facilitate their editing and revision. Although students’ responses to this checklist provided the
data presented in Table I, the purpose of this checklist was not to collect data but to intervene in
the students’ adaptation to word processing.
This report is not intended to be a study of students’ writing on computers based on
keystroke capture, protocol analyses, comparisons of drafts, etc. One assumption I made, shared
by most people in the computers and writing field, is that word processing make writing and
revising easier. Another assumption, apparently not so widely shared, was that proficiency using
word-processing packages is a prerequisite to ease of writing and revision. The checklist was a
heuristic device to encourage greater awareness of and interest in the functions of wordprocessing packages, used in tandem with a process approach, conferencing, and written feedback.
The information from the checklists is self-reported, reflecting the students’ perceptions of their
use of word processing. I assume that students who reported frequent use of block moves did in
fact make more block moves than students who reported infrequent use of this function, but I do
not have keystroke capture data to verify this assumption.
This study was conducted at two post-secondary institutions in Japan: a women’s junior
college and a four-year coeducational university. The DUET class taught during the 1995 school
year, was a year-long, advanced English composition course for second-year junior college
English majors; the students chose this section from a variety of choices (it was not the first
choice for all students). The word-processing package was DUET, a bilingual (Japanese/English)
NEC-DOS word-processing package (Just System, version 1.3, 1990), used on a 32-bit NEC PC9801FS. This version of DUET did not use a mouse; most commands required use of the escape
key to open a window of function choices, which were then selected by keystrokes or the arrow
keys, although users could take advantage
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SUSSER
of keyboard shortcuts using the control key. The course was conducted by the conferencing
method, following the principle that when students use word-processing packages, they more
readily accept the instructor’s demands for revision (Heilker, 1992, p. 62; Li, 1990, p. 5; Liechty,
1989, p. 19; Teles, 1988, pp. 296-297; Zeni, 1990, pp. 130, 133; see also Pennington & Brock,
1992).
While I conferenced with individual students on their drafts, some students worked on their
essays at computers; some of my time, especially at the beginning of the year, was spent
troubleshooting. Although many students had taken or were taking a word-processing course and
were familiar with ICHITARO, a Japanese word-processing package from Just System almost
identical to DUET in looks and operation, I required them to spend the first two or three weeks
working through a homemade set of worksheets (Do DUET) that introduced the software’s main
functions and operations. Near the end of each class, I distributed the checklist and asked students
to complete it. Although I did not look at the checklists during the course of the year, I did
regularly encourage students to use more functions and frequently taught new functions to
individual students.
The WORD class was the same advanced composition course I taught in 1996 with three
major differences. First, our computer labs were renovated for the 1996 school year so that
students had access to Microsoft WORD for WINDOWS 95 (version 7.0, 1995), a bilingual
(Japanese/English) word-processing package (Microsoft Japan); the new hardware was the Fujitsu
FMV-5 120 D5 (Pentium 120). Second, for reasons explained later, during the first few classes,
students were taught only the most basic functions, such as how to name and save files. Only after
they had finished their first drafts were they given an introductory training program (Click and
Learn, designed by my colleague Dr. Jill Robbins); this program taught a number of main
functions such as block moves, highlighting, and deletion, etc. Third, I looked at the checklists
each week after class, making note of any questions and anomalies; the following week I spoke
individually to each student on whose checklist I had made a note as well as encouraging all
students to make more use of the functions of the word-processing package. In other respects, this
class was the same as the DUET class: students had taken, or were taking concurrently, courses in
computer skills using Microsoft WORD; the course was taught by the conferencing method, and
so on.
The NISUS class, of which I taught two sections in 1996, was a required business writing
course (two sections) for senior English majors at a coeducational university. The software was
NISUSWRITER (Paragon Concepts, Japanese version by Mercury Software, 1995), used on a
Macintosh 6100/6OAV. Students used worksheets to learn the main functions and formatting
features of the software. I followed the same procedure for the checklists described previously for
the WORD class. This class was also taught by the conferencing method but with more emphasis
on formatting and other aspects of Business English, as taught in Japan.
Figures 1 through 3 show the average function use per person in these three classes. The
Japanese school year runs from April to January, with about 25 class meetings (90 minutes, once a
week) per year. The calendars of the two schools were slightly different and there are some days
for which no data exist, either because of a school holiday or because I forgot to distribute the
checklist. The figures show 24 weeks (A though X). Both the junior college sophomores and the
university seniors were in their graduating years and were absent frequently because of jobhunting, as is common in Japan. Function use is measured by activity: uses of the functions of
word-processing packages reported on the
Disappearance of Word Processing
357
Figure 1. Average function use per person in DUET class (maximum possible: 30/week)
Figure 2. Average function use per person in WORD class (maximum possible: 30/week)
checklist. The contents of the checklists differed slightly to accommodate the different platforms
but included items such as “help,” “block move,” “new function,” etc. (see Appendix). For each
item, the students could check “often” (5 points), “sometimes” (3), or “never” (0), but students
were given one point if present even if they had no “activity” that day; 0 was given for absence.
The maximum for the DUET and WORD classes was 30 points, and 25 points for the NISUS
class; the scale has not been adjusted.
Figure 1 shows the DUET class. The average use of functions clusters around 5 or 6 and the
maximum is 8; this is disappointing considering the maximum possible is 30. My conclusion was
that the checklist was a failure as a heuristic because there was little reported use of the functions
of the word-processing package. Analysis of responses for each function shows that use of some
functions followed the course rhythm. For example, the spelling checker and CORRECT
GRAMMAR (WordStar International, Inc., 1990; CORRECT GRAMMAR for WINDOWS, ver.
2.11, Softkey International Inc., 1994) were used frequently but not constantly, reflecting my
advice that students should not use them until they had completed at least one revised draft. The
“help” function was not used much except in June when many students were printing for the first
time or doing major editing on their first essays) and in the last few classes, when students were
doing new things connected with laying out and printing their projects. Fewer than half of the
students reported block moves on any given day; this may reflect the fact that on that day some
were writing first drafts while others were revising. Fewer than half the students reported use of
the control key on any given day; I seldom saw a student use the control key for any
358
SUSSER
Figure 3. Average function use per person for NISUS classes (maximum possible: 25/week)
purpose. In general, students confined themselves to surface editing (monitor monitoring), using
only the backspace, delete, and arrow keys.
The WORD class is shown in Figure 2. As mentioned previously, in this class the students
were shown functions of the word-processing package only after they finished their first drafts.
Borrowing Karin Mårdsjö’s (1996, p. 307) broad view of interface, I took advantage of WORD’S
bewildering display of icons, task bars, rulers, and so on, to pique students’ curiosity about the
functions of the word-processing package. Even though students had not been trained in the use of
functions for the first few weeks (i.e., until they finished their first drafts), I was still collecting the
checklist each week, so all students could do was check “never” for most questions. But, this had
the effect of making them curious, so, in the comments section many students wrote “What is a
block move?” or “How do I use the spelling check?” Each week, I answered their questions but
told them not to worry about advanced functions until they had finished their first draft. This
explains why the chart shows some use of functions for the first two weeks (the students were
learning how to name and save files) and then drops to almost zero for the third week, when most
students were typing their first drafts without concern for revision activities. Function use picked
up from the fourth week when some students had finished their first drafts and were going through
the training program. Even so, despite this attempt to make students more interested in using
functions, and despite the individual attention I gave to their questions and problems on the
checklist each week, the results, as shown on the chart, show the same rhythms as the DUET
class, and the level of use was just as disappointing.
Figure 4a. Heaviest function user in DUET class (maximum possible: 30/week)
Disappearance of Word Processing
359
The two sections of the NISIS class are shown in Figure 3; they were identical in content and
teaching method and, in fact, the average use of functions per person was almost the same for both
sections. The use of computer functions was higher for these Mac classes than for the DOS or
WINDOWS programs described previously: the annual average per person for the DUET class
was 85.6; for WORD, 93.6; and for the two NISIS sections 109.1 and 123.1. One explanation for
this is that the NISIS class was a business writing class and
Figure 4b. Average function use per person in WORD classes (maximum possible: 25/week)
Figure 4c. Heaviest function user in NISUS class #1 (maximum possible: 25/week)
Figure 4d. Heaviest function user in NISUS class #2 (maximum possible: 25/week)
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SUSSER
TABLE 1
Heaviest Function Users
Class
Weeks Present*
DUET
10(17)
13(19)
16(20)
20(21)
WORD
NISUS(1)
NISUS(2)
Average Score
per week present
10.2
10.1
12.1
15.1
Class Average
5.0
4.9
5.5
5.9
Note:*the number in paranthesis is the number of weeks data was collected.
the students had to learn some advanced formatting functions such as tables.14 In any case,
considering that the maximum daily score was 25 but the average was about 6, the results here
were also disappointing.
To confirm these results, I looked at the performance of the heaviest user of functions as selfreported in each class; the results are shown in Figures 4a-d and Table I. The charts show that the
heavy users of computer functions outperformed their classmates—but by no means consistently.
Table 1 shows that on average the heaviest users in the DUET and WORD classes averaged twice
as much function activity as the class averages; the gap was even greater for the NISIS classes.
These four individuals, in fact, did use computer functions heavily and showed interest in learning
new functions, but their high scores may reflect a tendency to exaggerate their computer use.15
Finally, concerning the possible influence of gender, Table 2 shows a slight difference at the
coeducational university with males reporting slightly more function use than females on average.
This difference may reflect a real difference or may be simply the result of exaggerated reporting
by males or understated reporting by females; the fact that females heavily outnumbered males
also may have influenced the results. Aside from
14
Dierckins (1994) argued that there is no significant difference between using a word-processing package on
an IBM without WINDOWS and Macintoshes: however, laboratory studies have shown not only that commands
are superior to mice, menus, and icons, but that users who have tried both tend to prefer commands (Landauer,
1995, p. 384 n. 9). In my classes, the DUET class used a command-style interface but both the WORD and NISIS
classes used a graphical user interface. It may be, of course, simply that NISIS is designed better than WORD.
Further, on the point raised by Cynthia Selfe and Richard Selfe (1994, pp. 489-490), all three packages
provide menus in Japanese but retain English keystroke options, so that saving a file is done with control (or
apple) 5, although the Japanese word printed in the pull-down window is hozon (save). Whether or not this
forces students “to think at some level in English” (Selfe & Selfe, 1994, p. 490) remains to be proven, but in
any case, is not a problem in a class for learning English.
15
The most active user in the DUET class was a dynamic individual with excellent English ability; she had
spent time in the United States and had used computers in junior high school. In the WORD class, the most
active user was an energetic student whose English ability was weak but who had strong self-confidence. The
most active user in the first NISIS class had excellent English and an outstanding attitude towards study; she
had spent her junior year in New Zealand as an exchange student. The most active user in the second NISIS
class was an above-average-but-not-exceptional student in terms of English ability and subject matter;
however, he devoted much time to learning and using computer features.
Disappearance of Word Processing
361
TABLE 2
Function Use by Gender in NISUS Classes
Male
Female
Total
Number of Students
Average Score
26
45
71
6.1
5.4
5.7
occasional complaints when things went wrong, there was little evidence of technophobia in any
of the classes; many junior college students (females) chose my course just because they hoped to
learn more about computers.
CONCLUSION
The previously described results show that the heuristic device failed to get students to make full
use of the functions of word-processing packages; indeed, the data show that many students
reported using the computer as a slick typewriter and, like the subjects described in the studies
reviewed previously, were not using word-processing packages in a meaningful sense. Of course,
the limitations of my approach may have influenced these results. First, as stated previously, my
data is self-reported and may not reflect what the students actually were doing. Second, I have not
reported information on students’ previous experience with computers, socio-economic
background, or other factors that may have influenced their use of the technology or their
checklist responses. There was no evidence that students were resisting the software; most
expressed enthusiasm for computer writing. They were not writing under conditions like the
professional writers studied by Thea van der Geest (1996), who made little use of the features of
word-processing packages because, until recently, it was “precisely those features of word
processors that make them more than just typewriters [that] prohibit[edl easy import and export to
other writing environments” (p. 22). Many student writers showed their reliance on the computer
through what might be called icon dependency—even though they did not know what most of the
icons on the screen meant, they were uncomfortable with the full screen view option that removed
the icons and ruler lines from sight.
The main reason for believing that the self-reported data reflect accurately how students were
using the word-processing package is that these results are consistent with reports of computer use
in the workplace, where it has been found that computers are not being used efficiently. Bronwyn
Fryer (1996), summarizing “hundreds of user studies,” stated that “most users take advantage of a
mere 10% to 15% of the capabilities of the technology sitting in front of them” (p. 16; see also
Belts, 1995; Gibbs, 1997). These criticisms of computer efficiency have been supported by both
experts in technology (e.g., Landauer, 1995; Wiener, 1993/1994) and social critics (e.g., Postman,
1992; Stoll, 1995, pp. 69 ff.; Talbott, 1995; Tenner, 1996, pp. 184-209).
The same claim has been made specifically about word-processing packages; some
researchers have found that “people tend to use only about 5% of the capabilities available in
word-processing software” (Gatlin, Rogers, & Kordsmeier, 1995, p. 3). Landauer (1995) provided
more data showing that the use of word-processing packages is inefficient (pp. 53-56, 147-149).
Besides failure to use functions, student use of word-process-
362
SUSSER
ing packages may be unproductive because of time wasted on formatting and what Mike Sharples
(1994) called displacement activities (p. 222) or lost to computer glitches (Kellogg, p. 159).
Numerous studies have pointed out that using computers motivates student writers
powerfully (see, e.g., Hawisher, 1989, p. 52; Murray, 1995, p. 112; Snyder, 1993b, p. 61). On the
other hand, research has shown that using computers does not necessarily improve the quality of
writing (reviewed in Pennington, 1996, pp. 32 ff.). The main reason for this is that writing quality
cannot be improved by new tools but only by proper instruction; even granting this, isn’t it
obvious that, as Wolfe et al. (1996) pointed out, “students who have little or no word-processing
experience or have poor keyboarding skills would have difficulties producing high quality writing
in that medium” (p. 271; see also Kellogg, 1994, pp. 147-148)? When students use wordprocessing packages in a meaningful way, it may turn out that writing quality will improve. This
claim must be tested by redoing the computers and writing studies of the past with participants
actually word processing.
The literature review showed that students are not using a word processing fully; my
classroom experiment showed that passive heuristic devices such as a checklist are not sufficient
to develop skills for word processing. Given this, C&W teachers must first require that students
get thorough training in the use of word-processing package.16 We cannot rely simply on the
diffusion of computers to accomplish this training in the use of word-processing software.
Although we certainly will be seeing more students who, like the writer quoted by Sherry Turkle
(1995), “think[s] in Microsoft WORD” (p. 61), the evidence cited previously shows that even
experienced computer users will not necessarily be using the software fully. Additionally, we
should try in our feedback to make explicit the relationships between revision and wordprocessing operations just as business and technical writing instructors make explicit connections
between content and publication or presentation with desktop publishing and presentation
software. Beyond the classroom, we should lobby for redesigned interfaces for word-processing
packages that encourage writers to use the functions essential for revision in particular. For
example, one word-processing package the students in my class used (Microsoft WORD for
WINDOWS 95, ver. 7.0, English-Japanese bilingual edition) has a pull-down menu for the basic
editing functions such as cut and paste; however, these are just two in a list of 16 items, eight of
which lead to further windows filled with additional choices. Given this wealth of choices and the
dazzling array of icons, tool bars, menus, rulers, and so on that crowd the screen, and the fact that
most school computers are used by many students in the course of a week so cannot be configured
to individual taste, it is no wonder students are overwhelmed and consequently adopt a minimalist
procedure for using word-processing packages.
If we can attain these objectives—students well-trained in using word-processing packages,
pedagogy that overtly links revision operations with word-processing functions, user-friendly
software design—then one day word processing will genuinely disappear, in the sense described
by Ian Colford (1996): “As we work and grow familiar with [the computer], the keyboard, like the
pen, becomes an extension of our will. The word-processing command language becomes
internalized; we forget to even think about it” (p.
16
Marityn Schaeffer (1987) proposed a seven-year program from kindergarten through grade six.
363
Disappearance of Word Processing
53). Before this can happen, student writers have to become aware of and learn the functions of
word-processing packages and as writing teachers, we have to take a visible hand in bringing this
about if we expect computers to fulfill their potential as powerful tools for writing and writing
instruction.
Acknowledgment: Parts of the research on which this article is based were presented at the
following conferences: TESOL ‘96 (30th Annual Convention; Chicago, IL, March 26-30, 1996);
the Twelfth Computers and Writing Conference (Utah State University, Logan, UT, May 30-June
2, 1996); The Sixth Language Seminar (Doshisha University, Kyoto,. Japan, July 13, 1996); and
the Thirteenth Computers and Writing Conference (Kapi’olani Community College, Honolulu,
HI, June 5-9, 1997). I am grateful for the comments made by the persons who attended these
presentations and by the three anonymous reviewers of an earlier draft. Thanks also to Corey
Wick for his help during the research phase.
Bernard Susser teaches EFL writing using computers in Kyoto, Japan. He has published articles
on computers and writing from the EFL perspective. His main research interests are ComputerAssisted Language Learning and cross-cultural communication. His e-mail address is
<[email protected]>.
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APPENDIX
Checklist for WORD Class
MS WORD CHECKLIST
NAME: ____________________________________________________ DATE: _____________________________
Often
Sometimes Never
1. Did you use the HELP function today?
____
____
____
2. Did you use the CUT and PASTE funeions today?
____
____
____
3. Did you use the UNDO function today?
____
____
____
4. Did you use the SPELLING CHECK today?
____
____
____
____
____
____
5. Did you use CORRECT GRAMMAR today?
6. Did you have computer trouble today?
____
____
____
7. Did you use any new functions today?
____
____
____
Which?_______________________________________
8. Which do you use most, the mouse or keyboard commands?
Mouse
Keyboard
9. Circle the special keys you used today: BackSpace Delete
Home
End
PageUp
PageDown
Arrowkeys
Ctrl+ [any key]
Alt+ [any key]
Esc
Other:____________
Comments: