How do technologies meet the needs of the writer with dyslexia? An examination of functions scaffolding the transcription and proofreading in text production aimed towards researchers and practitioners in education

TY - JOUR

T1 - How do technologies meet the needs of the writer with dyslexia? An examination of functions scaffolding the transcription and proofreading in text production aimed towards researchers and practitioners in education

AU - Mossige, Margunn

AU - Arendal, Erik

AU - Kongskov, Laura

AU - Svendsen, Helle Bundgaard

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Dyslexia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - Technological reading and writing tools can help students with dyslexia improve their writing, but students do not use reading and writing functions as much as expected. However, research addressing relevant technological functions is scarce. This study explored the needs of writers with dyslexia and how technological writing tools developed for three Nordic languages meet these needs. Snowball sampling was used to identify different technological features, spellchecker, word prediction, auto-correction, text-to-speech and speech-to-text functions available in nine widely used programmes were investigated. The results indicated that students with moderate spelling difficulties can now achieve accurate spellings using the most sophisticated spelling aids; however, most of these features require time and attention, and this can disturb writing fluency and hamper text production. The implication of this study is that the underlying conflict between spelling accuracy and writing fluency must be actively managed, which necessitates competence in the use of technological tools for both students and teachers in school. Also, further development of tools for scaffolding transcription must consider the dilemma of achieving both writing fluency and spelling accuracy. Further, the accuracy of the aid for students with severe spelling difficulties remains unclear and must be investigated.

AB - Technological reading and writing tools can help students with dyslexia improve their writing, but students do not use reading and writing functions as much as expected. However, research addressing relevant technological functions is scarce. This study explored the needs of writers with dyslexia and how technological writing tools developed for three Nordic languages meet these needs. Snowball sampling was used to identify different technological features, spellchecker, word prediction, auto-correction, text-to-speech and speech-to-text functions available in nine widely used programmes were investigated. The results indicated that students with moderate spelling difficulties can now achieve accurate spellings using the most sophisticated spelling aids; however, most of these features require time and attention, and this can disturb writing fluency and hamper text production. The implication of this study is that the underlying conflict between spelling accuracy and writing fluency must be actively managed, which necessitates competence in the use of technological tools for both students and teachers in school. Also, further development of tools for scaffolding transcription must consider the dilemma of achieving both writing fluency and spelling accuracy. Further, the accuracy of the aid for students with severe spelling difficulties remains unclear and must be investigated.

KW - assistive technology

KW - dyslexia

KW - spelling accuracy

KW - writing fluency

KW - Reading

KW - Students

KW - Humans

KW - Writing

KW - Educational Status

KW - Dyslexia/diagnosis

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171546735&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/dys.1752

DO - 10.1002/dys.1752

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37726146

AN - SCOPUS:85171546735

SN - 1076-9242

VL - 29

SP - 408

EP - 425

JO - Dyslexia

JF - Dyslexia

IS - 4

ER -