A Review of Speech Recognition Technology for Supporting Writing in Schools

Abstract

Speech Recognition (SR) has been used as a technology tool to support students with writing, but how has student use of SR been documented in schools and to what extent has it been studied? This article presents a review of thirteen empirical studies conducted between 1995 to 2018 on the use of SR in K-12 and higher education environments. The goals of this paper include: (a) identifying the research designs and methods researchers have used, (b) understanding how SR has been used by students and (c) learning about the impact of SR on student writing ability. Results indicated that researchers have used a variety of research designs and methods to study outcomes of SR use. Overall findings suggested that SR can support students by offering a means to improve the quality and fluency of their writing. An important implication of this study was that students can use SR as an alternative medium to compose text while learning new writing strategies. This is crucial, since the way in which a student completes a writing task can influence their outcome of success, and SR provides students will yet another way to learn how to write beyond using a keyboard or pencil and paper.