In a world where almost everything is automated, there’s a heightened concern that kids aren’t mastering the fundamental principles behind the way things work—from levers to locks to the written language.
Since the first spell-checker appeared on personal computers in 1980, the tool has caught uncounted misspellings and common usage errors. But, language experts say we’ve grown so accustomed to our trusty spell-check button, that we are using it less like a helpful reminder of the grammar rules, and more like a crutch.
And that’s not good, because in addition to fixing our mistakes, spelling, and grammar checkers point out words and sentences that are not incorrect, and fail to correct other, more contextual errors, like the difference between “bore” and “boar.”
The problem is even more dramatic for kids, who are still learning about the written word and often rush through the editing process. Dennis Galletta, PhD, professor of information systems at the Katz Business School, says he thanks his lucky stars that he has the verbal abilities to know that the sentence, “Whose that knocking at my door?” needs editing, even if there are no squiggly lines underneath it. Galletta and a team of doctorate students at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study showing that people with differing levels of language skills are relying too heavily on spell-check—to their detriment.
Galletta asked thirty-three undergraduates to proofread a one-page business letter—half with the spell-check on and half with it off. The letter included the sentence, “Michael Bales would be the best candidate. Bales has proven himself in similar rolls.” The software detected the “s” in “Bales” and suggested conjugating the word as if it were plural, from “has” to “have.” And, just when the spell-check overreacts in one area, it totally ignores another: failing to correct “rolls” which should be “roles.” The students in the experiment were supposed to catch such mistakes.
With spell-check off, students with high verbal SAT scores made an average of five auditing errors and students with lower SAT scores made an average of 12.3 errors. With the spell-check on, high-scoring SAT students made an average of 16 errors, and low-scoring students made 17.
