Relationships Among Writing Quality, Attitudes Toward Writing, and Attitudes Toward Computers in a Computer-Mediated Technical Writing Class for English as a Foreign Language Students

Investigation of word processor use by foreign college writers and their attitudes toward writing, writing revision practices, writing quality, attitudes toward the use of computers, and time spent on computers indicates that students' attitudes toward writing and their perceptions of computer usefulness significantly affected their writing quality.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of word processor use by foreign college
\nwriters and their attitudes toward writing, writing revision practices, writing quality, attitudes toward the use of computers, and time spent on computers. The results indicate that students' attitudes toward
\nwriting and their perceptions of computer usefulness significantly affected their writing quality. Students with more positive attitudes toward writing and the usefulness of computers tended to produce better quality writing. In addition, the findings indicate that students' writing revision practices significantly affected their attitudes toward writing. Students who revised their writing more frequently tended to have better attitudes toward writing than those who did not. In contrast, students' levels of computer anxiety, computer confidence, computer liking and their writing revision practices did not significantly
\naffect the quality of their writing. Furthermore, the amount of time that students spent on computers did not significantly affect their attitudes toward using computers in writing.