INVESTIGATING THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF DIGITAL SPELL-CHECKERS ON ESL LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS IN PAPER-BASED WRITING CONTEXTS

Abstract

This study seeks to examine teachers’ perceptions of the impact of digital spell-checkers on academic writing skills of ESL learners in traditional paper-based writing contexts. Adoption of digital spell-checkers and writing assistants has incessantly enhanced in the ESL writing contexts. Consequently, the academic writing skills of learners may have been compromised. The study is qualitative in nature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 10 ESL teachers from the district of Bahawalpur. Then, the researcher transcribed the interviews to enhance an in-depth understanding of the data. Furthermore, the qualitative datasets were subjected to inductive thematic analysis by following the six steps proposed by Braun and Clark (2004). The study is grounded in the theoretical framework proposed by Rimbar (2017) which outlines a mechanism for detection of spelling errors using spell-checkers. The results of the study showed that although digital spell-checkers offer various benefits such as increased writing fluency, save time, and provide immediate feedback, they also pose multiple challenges like over-dependence, weaker foundational skills, and diminished engagement in paper-based academic writing tasks.