Herold, M.P. (Marina Patricia)Alant, ErnaBornman, Juan2008-04-152008-04-152008Herold, M, Alant, E & Bornman, J 2008, 'Typing speed, spelling accuracy, and the use of word-prediction', South African Journal of Edcuation, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 117-134. [http://www.journals.co.za/ej/ejour_educat.html]0256-0100http://hdl.handle.net/2263/5017Children with spelling difficulties are limited in their participation in all written school activities. We aimed to investigate the influence of word-prediction as a tool on spelling accuracy and typing speed. To this end, we selected 80 Grade 4 – 6 children with spelling difficulties in a school for special needs to participate in a research project involving a cross-over within-subject design. The research task took the form of entering 30 words through an on-screen keyboard, with and without the use of word-prediction software. The Graded Word Spelling Test served to investigate whether there was a relationship between the children’s current spelling knowledge and word-prediction efficacy. The results indicated an increase in spelling accuracy with the use of word-prediction, but at the cost of time and the tendency to use word approximations, and no significant relationship between spelling knowledge and word-prediction efficacy.920199 bytesapplication/pdfenEducation Association of South Africa (EASA)Spelling difficultiesWord approximationsWord-predictionWriting supportSpelling disabilityArticle