THE IMPACT OF WORD-PROCESSING ON THE PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN ESSAYS IN A TERTIARY COURSE OF STUDY

This study investigated whether the use of word processing in the crea tion and submission of written essays by tertiary students, resulted i n the achievement of higher grades compared with conventional methods. The study was conducted among 240 student teachers in the first year of a degree course and studying a pre-service unit in teacher educatio n. Students' marks in an essay were gathered along with details of the submission method used; word processed, typed or hand-written. Initia l statistical tests showed that students who used word processing as a method for essay submission scored significantly higher essay marks t hat students whose essays were typed or hand-written. Further tests, h owever, revealed than it was the level of revision carried out rather than the submission method that accounted for the differences in achie ved scores.