What Can Screen Capture Reveal About Students’ Use of Software Tools When Undertaking a Paraphrasing Task?

Abstract

Previous classroom observations, and examination of students' written drafts, had suggested that when summarising or paraphrasing source texts, some of our students were using software tools (for example the copy-paste function and synonym lookup) in possibly unhelpful ways. To test these impressions we used screen capture software to record 20 university students paraphrasing a short text using the word-processing package on a networked PC, and analysed how they utilised software to fulfil the task. Participants displayed variable proficiency in using word-processing tools, and very few accessed external sites. The most frequently enlisted tool was the synonym finder. Some of the better writers (assessed in terms of their paraphrase quality) availed themselves little of software aids. We discuss how teachers of academic writing could help students make more efficient and judicious use of commonly available tools, and suggest further uses of screen capture in teaching and researching academic writing.

Digital Writing, Word Processors and Operations in Texts: How Student Writers Use Digital Resources in Academic Writing Processes

“…The results of this study indicate that the participating students mainly used a single word processor when writing their essays. This is in line with what previous research has claimed: that students seem more unfamiliar with other word processing tools than they do with the most standardized, such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs (Bailey & Withers, 2018;Bray, 2013;Ching, 2018). However, although it has been described as "polished and professional" (Ching, 2018), Microsoft Word also has resources that enable writers to work more with texts in a process.…”

“…Screen capture technology was used to generate data in this study. This technology has been increasingly adopted by researchers focusing on writing (Asselin & Moayeri, 2010;Bailey & Withers, 2018;Bhatt, 2014;Geisler & Slattery, 2007;Kirkpatrick & Klein, 2016;Seror, 2013;Takayoshi, 2015). Earlier studies have addressed the question of what screen captures can reveal about students' use of software tools for paraphrasing (e.g.…”

“…Earlier studies have addressed the question of what screen captures can reveal about students' use of software tools for paraphrasing (e.g. Bailey & Withers, 2018). Some studies have focused explicitly on revisions in the writing process (e.g.…”

“…To address the questions of how different software tools are used by students and how such programs and other digital resources can create opportunities and challenges when writing, the study draws on examples from fine-grained data of students' activities on screens as they write an academic essay. The focus is not on the materiality of the digital hardware itself, as in research presented earlier, but rather on the software that it entails, and how such software may influence the writing process (Bailey & Withers, 2018;Bray, 2013;Ching, 2018)…”

Paraphrasing Prowess: Unveiling the Insights of EFL Students and Teachers on QuillBot Mastery

“…As a result, existing literature has sought to identify ways to overcome this barrier through technological innovation [4,5]. This stands out as the most effective technique for harnessing students' enthusiasm for technical devices.…”