Do Spell Checkers Make You Dumb?

“To clean up the spelling, I click spell check, highlight
and click it,” he says.

It’s quicker and easier, but does it help Jeffery learn
to spell?

“My spelling … hmmm. I wouldn’t describe
it well,” he admits.

That wouldn’t surprise researchers at the University
of Pittsburgh, who found that otherwise good spellers made
twice as many mistakes when they used the computer’s
spell checker. The reason for this finding, researchers say,
is because kids only look for words underlined by the computer
and assume that’s good enough.

“Exactly – what I do is look through and there’s
the red line, OK, go to spell check,” Jeffery says.

And experts say that when kids follow Jeffery’s lead,
they’re just clicking and not thinking.

“There’s something about the action of saying
I need to know what this word is, picking up a dictionary,
thumbing through it [and] finding the word, they retain it
longer,” says Debra Christy, a high school English teacher.

And spell checkers can’t tell the difference between
words that sound alike.

“Some teachers are still telling them you have to know
the difference between there, their and they’re, but
they’re not going to the screen and saying you see how
MS Word is telling you this, this is where they’re wrong,”
Christy says.

Experts say parents should proofread a paper with
their child and show him or her all of the errors spell check
can miss. That’s one way to improve both spelling and
vocabulary, but reading is the most powerful way to boost
comprehension.

“It’s the single biggest piece of advice I can
offer … kids that read spell better, write better, understand
more. They’re better in oral communication, they’re
better in every area of communication in their lives,”
Christy says.

A new study from researchers
at the University of Pittsburgh suggests that relying too
heavily on spell-check computer software while writing may
actually hinder a student. The study evaluated 33 undergraduate
students as they proofread a business letter – half
using Microsoft Word’s spell check and the other half
using no references. Researchers found that the software did
help students find and correct errors, but in several cases,
students were prompted to change phrases or sentences flagged
as grammatically suspicious, even though the phrases were
correct.

Children in early grades are encouraged to
write freely and develop a joy of self-expression. Oftentimes,
this exploration leaves behind the rules of punctuation and
spelling, which can be a concern for parents. But many experts
agree that once kids have learned to love writing, they will
learn to spell, too. Therefore, parents should emphasize the
importance of writing early on in their children’s lives.
The Educational Resources Information Center suggest the following
strategies for help your child along the road to becoming
a grammar wiz:

• Support the development of a large
  vocabulary. Use many new and different words on a
  daily basis in your own conversations with your child. When
  your child asks what a certain word means, give him or her
  a definition he or she can understand. Your child will draw
  from this oral vocabulary when he or she is learning to
  read, write and spell.
• Support and encourage your child’s
  writing by listening. When your child completes a
  piece of writing, have him or her read it to you out loud.
  Give your child feedback on specific words or phrases that
  were well chosen. Oftentimes, you can offer suggestions
  or alternative words. It is important that your child gain
  confidence in his or her writing as it is also a crucial
  point in his or her language development.
• Help you child review for spelling
  tests. Keep an up-to-date spelling list for your
  child of words with which he or she is having trouble. Help
  your child master trouble words by playing spelling games
  and practicing them over and over. Persistence pays off.

While using a spell checker may help your child refine his
or her writing, it is important to remind him or her that
such software is not foolproof. The experts at Schwab Learning,
part of a nonprofit foundation that funds programs in learning
disabilities and human services, suggest reminding your child
of the following limitations associated with spell-checking
software:

• When words sound alike but have different meanings (there/their/they’re),
  the spell checker doesn’t show a wrong spelling because
  the word is spelled right even though it’s not used
  correctly.
• When a word is spelled phonetically (nawty), it may not
  be recognized. The spell checker suggests words that begin
  with the same two or three letters typed in (Nate, nat,
  natty).
• Spelling that’s not phonetic isn’t recognized,
  so no suggestions for the correct word are given.

Educational
Resources Information Center
Schwab
Learning
University of Pittsburgh