The transition from pens to keyboards: How may teachers generate reforms towards learners’ spelling mistakes?

Abstract

Under the current abrupt intervention of technology, the transition from handwriting to keyboard texting challenges Orthography in terms of logography and spelling. The sensorimotor skills are majorly impacted by the unbalanced modes of writing. Speaking about learning one skill of a foreign language, which is writing, the impact of social media, particularly texting, deteriorates the quality of that respective acquisition. Accordingly, correlational research was proceeded in the Algerian context, operating on, first, an experimental investigation of causality between texting and learners’ spelling mistakes, followed by teachers’ observation outcomes, where the ultimate aim was to enhance teachers’ observation and critical thinking towards spelling mistakes reasons, in addition to improve their teaching autonomy through their consideration of respective reforms to the alleged matter. The researcher opted for a 30 pupils’ sample, at third-year middle school level, where she led an experiment, embedding 60 words and non-words constituted from one to four syllables in a text. This research is constituted of six test stages upon both modes: typing and writing, where the unit of measurement was the calculation of mistakes rate for each mode, followed by teachers’ observation for each stage. The first experiment showed that pupils commit fewer spelling and logographic mistakes as hand writers on a repetitive process, accompanied with the same result concerning the transition from handwriting to keyboard typing, compared to the reversed transition. This highlights that, unlike the typing mode, handwriting motivates visual, haptic, and fine motor skills, which stimulates the sensory memory, through practicing writing, to assimilate and conceptualize the logographic aspect of a word, which leads to its correct spelling. The second stage outcomes, demonstrated that teachers could identify the difference between both modes and suggested reforms respectively, which emphasize on teacher capacity to lead a self-oriented training based on reflection on action.