How dictation systems benefit the education of students with writing difficulties.

These benefits are in addition to the obvious advantages of being able to produce more and better spelt work whilst actually dictating. Bear in mind that these studies were carried out with very much more primitive versions of voice recognition software than are available today.

Devon LEA

Martin Miles, Di Martin & Jim Owen in A Pilot Study into the Effects of Using Voice Dictation Software with Secondary Dyslexic Pupils (Devon LEA Feb 1998) looked at 12 dyslexic pupils in two schools who were allowed to use IBM VoiceType Simply Speaking whenever they could over a ten week term (= semester in the US).

• Over this period their reading “age” improved on average by 13.4 months (according to the British Ability Scales Reading Test);
• Their spelling age improved by 6.1 months according to the Schonell SpellingTest;
• On a 30 minutes free writing test by hand writing the 8 children who were measured produced 45% more words (with 1.3% more errors);
• In addition the researchers reported that the students produced more and better quality work and showed improved self-esteem and motivation.

An exchange on spk2wrt

spk2wrt was a mailing list and web site (no longer active) for people working with people with a disability using speech recognition:

This suggests that students who dictate (whether to a computer or to an amanuensis) can be expected to:

• Use longer and richer words;
• Write more creatively;
• Organise their work better;
• Complete more work.

Subject: SR & increased vocabulary usage

Date: 5/6/98 4:46 PM
From: JGold@edc.org (JGold)

Today I was working with a 14-year-old, extremely verbal student with DragonDictate. Approximately the 5th time I’ve worked with him, he’s extremely resistent to using DD, because he keeps claiming he can type faster than dictate. During this session, I first had him dictate a paragraph about anything he wanted, while I made his corrections for him. He dictated a really, really creative paragraph, using advanced vocabulary, and telling a great story.

However, he kept insisting that he could have done it faster TYPING it. So, I challenged him to a little test and told him I’d time him doing it both ways to see which was faster.

I had him first TYPE three sentences about anything he wanted, then DICTATE those same sentences. The results are very interesting. First of all, the vocabulary he used in the sentences he TYPED was clearly less advanced than the first paragraph he DICTATED. Also, it was a much less creative piece, and it was filled with many spelling and context errors. Then, when he went to DICTATE the same three sentences, he switched over to using more advanced words again, often substituting simple words he had typed for more advanced words.

The end result was that it took him the same amount of time to do both, but mainly because he purposely dictated as slowly as he possibly could so that the typing would win out in our little test. And so it was difficult for him to give in to the fact that DD was still faster. However, as I saw, DICTATING had such a HUGE benefit over typing, due to his subconcious use of more advanced vocabulary when he didn’t have to worry about spelling.

Have other people encountered situations like this? Would love feedback.

Thanks. Jennifer Gold
Education Development Center, Inc.

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I encounter this sort of thing on a daily basis. My students do not yet have the advantage of having DD to independently produce their works but it is precisely this sort of comparative framework that has convinced me it is so critical for the students to have this technology. As you have said the stress and knowledge of having to spell words and produce grammatically correct sentences is a real overload. Typing or writing by hand the children are almost at virtual road blocks before they begin. Right now my students dictate a story to me and I act as their secretary. One would not even think the data represented the same grade level let alone the same student. The context is much better. Students use much more description and add more creative ideas when they are speaking. They can keep their thoughts more orderly and do not lose ideas they have started. Stories that are dictated have more order in sequence and semantics. In writing, the “finished product” lacks any sort of form as a real piece of wrriting, yet when they can dictate their ideas, a much more developed story sense emerges.

I have found this most clearly in narrative writing/dictating but also in research completion for completing projects. Students who can dictate their informational writing tend to be able to put in much more of what they have learned compared to trying to make notes or produce written compositions.

Hope this helps.

Sharon Peterborough, Ontario CANADA
sballan@oncomdis.on.ca

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And here is a view from one 16 year old student, also posted on spk2wrt:

1. It is easier to talk than to learn to type when I have to produce written work.
2. If software is good enough, it will type enough words correctly so that I only have to correct a few mistakes and keep working. I don’t stop because of exhaustion or frustration.
3. Dictating allows me to do more things in my head because speaking is so much easier - I edit while speaking.
4. I could not deal with the teachers real or imaginary snide glances when I asked for help because of how difficult writing and handwriting are.
5. I had to let someone make the arrangements. Teachers did not believe me.

Updated 2006 Ian Litterick.

Article last updated: 20 November 2006