Effect of Making an Audio Recording of a Term Paper on Writing Quality

Abstract

Writing‐to‐learn assignments engage students with a problem while they develop writing skills. It is difficult in large classes to provide training in proofreading and editing techniques. The purpose of this project was to determine if a term paper was improved after making an audio recording of a draft of the paper. Data from 2 years of papers were analyzed. In Year 2, 2 days before the final written draft was due, students submitted an audio recording of a draft of their term paper read aloud. Comparing Year 2 papers to those from an identical writing assignment from the previous year prepared without an audio recording presented an opportunity to determine the effect of making an audio recording on the quality of the written paper. Grammar, technical word use, appropriate paragraph usage, overall flow, general content, and content‐animal relationship were scored from final written papers submitted by each group. Groups did not differ in overall ability, as measured by average exam scores. Submitting an audio recording was associated with improved technical word use and content but not grammar, paragraph usage, or overall flow. When written copies of the papers were compared to their corresponding audio recordings, grammar, paragraph usage, and overall flow were most often read aloud correctly even though errors remained in the written papers. Technical word use and content errors were subsequently corrected in the written papers turned in after the readings.