Spell checking: working online and working in

contextE.A. Draffan and Abi James

Not all spell checkers are equal

In accuracy and functionality!

Possible Strategies to consider for spelling support….

• Specialist software with phonetic spelling and homophone checkers: e.g. TextHelp Read and Write, ClaroRead, VeritySpell

• Browser spell checkers – built in or add-ons e.g. Google toolbar, ieSpell, Firefox British Dictionary

• Spell checkers built into an application – MS Office, part of a web page or integrated into the text editor e.g. Facebook etc.

• Web based ‘content sensitive checkers’ e.g. Ginger and Ghotit.

Which spell checking approach to choose?

Toolkit approach – Ira David Socol

The right tool

Online or

offline

Spelling, homophones

grammar?

While writing or as part of

proofing?

What support is included in

the checker?

What “type” of error? How easy

to correct?

TEST – for spell checkers

No one spell checking solution will fit ALL the environments & tasks that a student will encounter during their course

So we must give them the skills to choose the appropriate tool at the appropriate time in line with their learning preferences.

How are the students spell checking blogs, wikis etc?

Guildford College – 15 students 6 depended on using MS Word with ‘Cut and Paste’.

32 LexDis participants http://www.lexdis.org some used assistive technologies, others said ‘not sure it is right’ ask a human, others cut and pasted from Word, used Google etc…

34 Post graduate students 4 suggested use of Word, Google search and toolbar or Safari on Mac

Is online word processing here?

• Who would win in a fight: Microsoft Office or Google Docs?

• Microsoft Office 51% (1365 votes)• Google Docs 37% (994 votes)• Tie: They're Both Good 12% (315 votes)• Total Votes: 2674 (Mashable Nov. 09)

Office 2010 ??

The message from students – Keep it simple!

So how accurate are spell checkers?

Non-word error testWhy? assess the accuracy of spell checkers and how close to the top of a suggestion list the target word occurs.Used database and tests from James & Draffan (2005) of errors made by dyslexic adults and children in free writing and spelling tests1.Random sample of 96 errors, includes duplicate errors for the same target word2.Random sample of 30 miss-spelling for 30 words from publically available sub-section of the James & Draffan database.

Single non-word error accuracy

No updates Results may be updated from users errors

Results may be updated from server database

4 7 1 6 (1) 1 1 0 0 7

Some checkers can also correct real word errors

Real word errors can be a caused by a…– Homophone e.g. piece / peace– Typing error, e.g. form / from– Spelling error creating a real-word which a poor

reader is unable to detect e.g. told / fold

Homophone checkers identify homophone and suggest alternatives spellingsContextual spell checkers claim to be able to identify and correct any real-word errors.

What is the difference between grammar checkers and contextual checkers?• Similarities:– Can both change the context of a sentence– Can both change correct text

• Differences:– Contextual checkers look for words out of

place– Grammar checkers try to apply grammatical

rules & correct ALL errors.

Grammar and contextual checking in Word 2007

How do we test contextual spell checkers

Not based on a wordlist or lexicon. Need to:– Identifying the real word error– Suggest correct wordReasons for failure, in order of magnitude:1.Not identifying the real-word error (false

negative)2.Identifying a correct word as an error (false

positive)3.Identifying a real-word error but not suggesting

the correct word

Test 1: Controlled data• Created 30 sentences, each containing a non-

word error from the James & Draffan (2005) database.

• Then added a real-word error to each sentence. • Real word error could be:– A homophone e.g. need / knead– Letter transposition, addition or removal to produce

a real word e.g. bank / blank– Similar looking or sounding word e.g. involved /

evolved

Results of controlled data

Test 2: Free writing example74 word paragraph by a dyslexic learner:

He duse this at the begen by saying about this purson “sat in a wheeled chair, wating for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was fare away from the solder like he is looken on to the solder. Then leter on in the poem he get moor clowser to him and sturts to discrid his amosins and even get the reader in the amoshen like if you where the solder.

11 non-word errors 7 real-word errors

Word 2007 corrected version

He does this at the begen by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was fare away from the solder like he is looking on to the solder. Then later on in the poem he get moor closer to him and starts to discrid his amosins and even get the reader in the amoshen like if you where the solder.

4 non-word errors 7 real-word errors remain7 errors corrected

IE Spell corrected version

He duse this at the begen by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was fare away from the solder like he is looking on to the solder. Then later on in the poem he get moor closer to him and starts to discrid his emotions and even get the reader in the amoshen like if you where the solder.

4 non-word errors 7 real-word errors remain7 errors corrected

Google toolbar corrected versionHe duse this at the begen by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was fare away from the solder like he is looking on to the solder. Then later on in the poem he get moor closer to him and starts to discrid his amosins and even get the reader in the amoshen like if you where the solder.

5 non-word errors 7 real-word errors remain6 errors corrected

VeritySpell corrected version

He does this at the begen by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was far away from the solder like he is looking on to the solder. Then later on in the poem he get moor closer to him and starts to describe his emotions and even get the reader in the emotion like if you were the solder. 1 non-word error 5 real-word errors remain13 errors corrected

Ginger corrected version

He does this at the begen by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was far away from the soldier like he is looking onto the solder. Then later on in the poem he gets more closer to him and starts to describe his emotions and even get the reader in the emotions like if you where the solder.

1 non-word error 4 real-word errors remain14 errors corrected

Read & Write 9 toolbar corrected version

He does this at the beginning by saying about this person “sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,” now Owen in this poem starts off if he was fare away from the solder like he is looking on to the solder. Then later on in the poem he get more closer to him and starts to describe his amosins and even get the reader in the emotion like if you were the solder.

1 non-word error 4 real-word errors remain13 errors corrected

Summary

Non-word errors remaining

Real-word errors remaining

Errors corrected

Word 2007 4 7 7

IE Spell 4 7 7

Google Toolbar

5 7 6

VeritySpell 1 5 13

Ginger 1 4 14

Read & Write 1 5 13

Conclusions• Online working is a reality but learners don’t

adopt the same proofing strategies as off line working

• There are many spell-checking tools that can be used with online work– But their usability and accuracy vary– Who knows of their existence?

• Contextual correction has arrived• REMEMBER – keep it simple & personal

Personalisation•Will this do for all of you? Showing one size t-shirt•No that won’t fit me •We are all unique with individual needs and requirements

Useful Links

• LexDis Project website:www.lexdis.org

• James and Draffan (2004):www.dyslexic.com/accuracy

Contact Details

E.A. DraffanLearning Societies Lab,Electronics and Computer Science,University of Southampton.Mobile 07976 289103E-mail: ead@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Abi JamesIansyst LtdCambridge01223 420101E-mail:abi@iansyst.co.ukwww.dyslexic.com