Didn't You Run the Spell Checker? Effects of Type of Spelling Error and Use of a Spell Checker on Perceptions of the Author

We investigated expectations regarding a writer's responsibility to proofread text for spelling errors when using a word processor. Undergraduate students read an essay and completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the author and the quality of the essay. We manipulated type of spelling error (no error, homophone error, non-homophone error) and information provided about the author's use of a spell checker (no information, author did not use a spell checker, author did use a spell checker). Participants' perceptions of the author's abilities and the quality of the essay suffered when the essay contained non-homophone spelling errors—errors that are typically flagged by a spell checker. Further, participants reported that they would be most likely to blame the writer rather than the spell checker for spelling errors contained in the text. These findings suggest that perceptions of both an author's abilities and the written products are affected by spelling errors. Even when supportive tools are available, the responsibility for producing error-free text remains with the author.

Notes

^a Statistically significant (p < .05) univariate main effect of error type.

^a Statistically significant (p < .01) main effect of spelling error condition.

¹The number of false positives was correlated with six rating questions and the number of errors circled was correlated with seven rating questions. To check whether these variables affected the results, we ran two multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) using the number of false positives and the number of errors circled as covariates and we found no differences between the MANOVA and MANCOVA analyses. Thus, number of false positives and errors circled were not a concern for our analyses of rating questions.

^a Statistically significant (p < .05) main effect of author's use of spell checker.