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1、TheComputervs.thePen:AComparativeStudyofWordProcessinginaHongKongSecondaryClassroomF.S.Lam&MarthaC.PenningtonIntroductionOneofthecentralaimsofeducationistoteachstudentstocommunicateeffectivelywiththewrittenword,i.e.,tobeeffectivewriters.Writingoncomputerscanhelpstuden
2、twritersattainthisgoal.Ateachermaytrytomakeuseofthenoveltyofthemachinetoarousestudentsinterestinwriting.Besides,asEtchison(1987,p.36)observes,itiseasiertopeckakeythanitistoholdapenandwritelettersoutespeciallyifthepaperisofanylength.Comparedwithtraditionalpenandpaper,m
3、anystudentswouldprefertocasttheirwordsorideasonamagicpaperviaakeyboard.Writingonawordprocessorisoftenanexcitingandstimulatingexperiencetostudents,astheycanlearnanduseEnglishinanovelway.Duringtheprocessofwritingoncomputers,studentwriterscanmakeanyinstantaneouschangeswh
4、eneverandwherevertheylike.Thus,whenaccomplishedonawordprocessor,writingistemporaryandfluiduntilthefinalprintoutishandedin(Williamson&Pence,1989).Inaddition,studentsneednotrecopyduringtheprocessofrevisingtheirwriting.Theyarealsofreefromhandwritingproblemsandmessinessin
5、presentationoftheircompositions,makingitaneasyjobforbothteacherandstudentstoreadandgivefeedbackafterwards.Onthewhole,writing-oncomputerscanrelievephysical,psychological,andcognitiveconstraintstoacertaindegree,oratleasttakesomeofthedrudgeryoutofwritingforstudentwriters
6、(Daiute,1981,1985;Etchison,1987).Asaresult,writingiseasier,morefun,moreexciting,andlessofapunishmentwhendoneonacomputer.Mostimportantly,writingonawordprocessormaybeabletostimulatestudentscreativity,theirexplorationofideas,andtheirevaluationandrevisionofthoseideasinthe
7、targetlanguage(Pennington,forthcominga).Mostcomparativestudiesofhandwritingandwordprocessinghaveconcentratedonfirstlanguagelearners(e.g.,Noordhoom,1988)anduniversitystudents(e.g.,Etchison,1985,1987);somehavelookedatESLstudents(seePennington,1992)forreviewofstudies.Ver
8、ylittleresearchhasbeenconductedsofarwithESLlearnersinsecondaryschoolsinHongKong,thoughLi(1990)completeda5-monthprojectonwrit
