Record Detail

Much research has been conducted to investi-gate the quality of writing and high-level revisions in wordprocessing-assisted and pen-and-paper writing modes.Studies that address cognitive aspects, such as experienceand comfort with computers, by which students composeessays during writing assessments have remained relativelyunexplored. To fill this gap, the present study investigatesthe impact of writing using computers versus traditionalwriting with pen-and-paper based on 366 undergraduatestudents in Singapore. It analyses the students’ thinkingprocesses, the quality of their written work, and their per-ceptions of working with computers. The results indicatethat the students demonstrated a positive attitude towardsworking with computers. Furthermore, the computer-delivered writing mode has a positive impact on theirquality of writing in both technical aspects (content,organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics)and global aspects (setting macro rhetorical goal andordering information in achieving the macro rhetoricalgoal). On the other hand, the results show that there was nosignificant difference between the paper and computerwriting modes in their effects during the planning stage ofwriting in-class reflections. The study contributes to writ-ing research by encouraging teachers to give students anoption of delivery modes, beyond traditional pen-and-paper, for their writing assessments