Foreign-language writing aid
[3] With advancements in technology, aids in foreign language writing are no longer restricted to traditional mediums such as teacher feedback and dictionaries.
[4] In comparison with correction feedback from the teacher, the use of word processors is found to be a better tool in improving the writing skills of students who are learning English as a foreign language (EFL), possibly because students find it more encouraging to learn their mistakes from a neutral and detached source.
[2] Foreign language learners' awareness of the conventions in writing can be improved through reference to guidelines showing the features and structure of the target genre.
[8] Spelling proficiency has been identified as a good indicator of a learner’s acquisition and comprehension of alphabetic principles in the target language.
Although spell checkers are commonplace in numerous software products, errors specifically made by learners of a target language may not be sufficiently catered for.
[13] This is because generic spell checkers function on the assumption that their users are competent speakers of the target language, whose misspellings are primarily due to accidental typographical errors.
[15] In view of the deficiency of generic spell checkers, programs have been designed to gear towards non-native misspellings,[14] such as FipsCor and Spengels.
[16] Grammar (syntactical and morphological) competency is another indicator of a non-native speaker’s proficiency in writing in the target language.
Grammar checkers are a type of computerised application which non-native speakers can make use of to proofread their writings as such programs endeavor to identify syntactical errors.
[18] Although grammar checkers have largely been concentrated on ensuring grammatical writing, majority of them are modelled after native writers, neglecting the needs of non-native language users.
[19][20] The Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia has a computerised grammar checker for native Spanish speakers of EFL to help identify and correct grammatical mistakes without feedback from teachers.
[22] Collocational information also enable non-native language users to make clearer distinctions between words and expressions commonly regarded as synonyms.
In addition, corpora information about the semantic prosody; i.e. appropriate choices of words to be used in positive and negative co-texts, is available as reference for non-native language users in writing.
These online dictionaries allow learners of a foreign language to find references for a word much faster and more conveniently than with a manual version, thus minimising the disruption to the flow of writing.
In recent years, there is also specialised dictionaries for foreign language learners that employ natural language processing tools to assist in the compilations of dictionary entries by generating feedback on the vocabulary that learners use and automatically providing inflectional and/or derivational forms for referencing items in the explanations.
[32] Its original sense of 'dictionary or encyclopedia' has been overshadowed by the emergence of the Roget-style thesaurus[32] and it is considered as a writing aid as it helps writers with the selection of words.
[34] Foreign language learners can make use of thesaurus to find near synonyms of a word to expand their vocabulary skills and add variety to their writing.
[30] Nonetheless, good bilingual dictionaries capitalize on the fact that they are useful for learners to integrate helpful information about commonly known errors, false friends and contrastive predicaments from the two languages.
[30] Studies have shown that learners of English have benefited from the use of bilingual dictionaries on their production and comprehension of unknown words.
[47] Over-reliance on the aids also hinder the development of learners' writing skills, and is viewed as an act of plagiarism since the language used is technically not produced by the student.
[49] Online orthography aids[50] provide language learners with a step-by-step process on learning how to write characters.
These are especially useful for learners of languages with logographic writing systems, such as Chinese or Japanese, in which the ordering of strokes for characters are important.
[55] This, however, does not improve their ability to link pronunciation with characters, which suggests that these learners need more than orthography aids to help them in mastering the language in both writing and speech.
