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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23257
Description
Title
Word processing and the minority basic writer
Author(s)
Bello, Yahaya
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Rodgers, Frederick A.
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Education, Technology of
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Language
eng
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine how the quality of writing of minority basic writers, their level of writing apprehension, and their evaluation of their first college writing course would be affected by: (a) the use or non use of word processing/text editing, (b) their initial level of writing apprehension, (c) and their level of meaningful contact with members of the majority American community.
Four class sections of the EOP Rhetoric 104 course were involved in the study. Two of the sections were designated by the Rhetoric Department as computer sections and were taught via computers in the Department's computer laboratory. These two sections served as the experimental group. Two other Rhetoric 104 sections, not using computers as part of the instructional process, were randomly chosen and served as the control group. Three writing samples were collected from each student. The first was a pretest essay written during the first week of class. The second was one of two post test essays written during the last week of class. The first posttest essay was written in class during a regularly scheduled 50 minute class period; the second was written out of class and had been revised once before it was collected. Two methods were used to rate the essays: (a) all essays were rated holistically, and (b) a sample of the essays were rated by counting the number of intellectual processes used.
The instruments used in the study were: the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test, the Bello Meaningful Ethnic Contact Questionnaire, and the Course Evaluation Questionnaire. The intellectual processes counted were those described in Odell's Taxonomy. The data was analyzed using 3 x 2 ANCOVA, 3 x 2 ANOVA, and regression equations.
The analysis of the data indicated that the holistically rated out-of-class posttest essays written by the students in the computer group were significantly better than those written by the control group. The initial levels of apprehension, and the level of meaningful contact had no significant effect on the quality of essays. The use or non use of computers was found to be the only significant contributor to the difference between the quality of the essays of the computer and control groups.
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