This was a very long article to say just a few things:
Composition teachers should beware of the impact of "our word processor's grammar and style checker," on their students. ( Microsoft Grammar Checker)
It could make our students, Lazy, confused about their iwerd suggestio0ons or it just make their conventions wrong! This is similar to introducing calculators to math students, except that they are more accurate.
Teachers must teach students to ,"recognize computer interfaces are noninnocent.."
2 A second concern is that this real time grammar and style checker, as it pops up as the student is typing, will cause students to believe that grammar is more important than content.
We are all teaching that Content and voice, word choice are all important and save the
It is ubiquitous, nearly invisible, and increasing in power.
3Are the people , linguists and computer geeks wise enough to know what suggestions to make? Apparently not. I believe I have ignored everything except spell check.
I admit, I have come to lean on that and I dislike that this blog does not have it. In addition the computer I use at home only gives me a red line but no suggestion for a better way to spell words - BECAUSE- it bothers my husband so much he turned that tool off!
So apparently it is possible to muffle the MSGC
I don't believe that the MSGC was meant to take the place of a teacher any more than the calculator in math class. I do think that it was, for better or worse, a selling point on the computer word processor - like a GPS on a car. Are they more accurate than map quest which often steers people the wrong way? I don't know as we don't have one ... yet!
4. The MSGC takes away the choices a student might think about, as an author, if he were just putting the pencil to the paper instead of word processing.
Micro soft is apparently working to make more changes and update this tool , but for many it is too littel too late.
My only connection with this problem is that when I use alta vista translator. When I need to send a note to a Spanish speaking parent, I type in my paragraph in English and then click , it translates my paragraph into Spanish.. Well sort of. This includes similar problems. It may mistake a homonym with the wrong meaning. For example Manana means tomorrow and also morning. So if I wrote " I will see you tomorrow at 2:00 , it may say, " I will see you this morning." usually it is a bigger mistake that leaves the sentence not making sense.
However, I am on guard! I check the entire paragraph carefully and confidently make corrections when I am finished. After all I can write in Spanish fairly well. I use Alta vista because it is faster and easier. Does that mean I am lazy? I prefer to think that I am managing my time!
The suggestion at the end of the article does make sense. Teach our students what MSGC is and how inaccurate it can be. Discuss the shortcomings and encourage them to look at the options. Have them compare their answers to MSGC.
nancy
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I agree that Microsoft’s style and grammar checker creates several pitfalls for students who are unfamiliar with the rules of grammar. I especially enjoyed your comparison between the checker and the calculator in math. You also think that you articulated a point that was largely glossed over in the piece, and that is the purpose of both the grammar checker and the calculator; both are intended as tools, not the replacement of teachers. It seemed to me that the article implied that Microsoft created this part of the program to teach or in some way aid the teaching of grammar. I have difficulty believing that this is the case. I think the best point that the article does bring up, as it was mentioned in your response, was the importance of explaining how the program works to our students. If the students know the program’s faults, they can better avoid them.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting that we have a couple of thousand years of literature which was written without the benefit of spell check and grammar check? To my mind, some of it isn't technically the most proper or grammatical. But it is still beautiful and expresses the human experience better than others at the time were able to do. We wouldn't still be reading it if it weren't truly art. Who is going to invent the ARTISTIC CHECK, which will put a purple squiggle under banal sentences, tired phrases, and other forms of BS?
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