Development and Evaluation of Writing Process Supporting Tool

Abstract

A writing process support tool called 'Card Processor' for sentence production for creating composition has been developed and evaluated. In this tool 'Card Processor', the user interface allows the user to make sentences and arrange the structures of sentences by way of card arrangement. An evaluation experiment for composing with 'Card Processor' and the text editor (Microsoft Word 97) was done. The results of this experiment suggest that there is a tendency to construct sentences on a lot of numbers of topics concerning the theme when sentences were made using 'Card Processor'. A characteristic difference was found between both tools in time spent, in input work and in final production work, i.e., the polished work. It was clarified that 'Card Processor' supports "generating, organizing, and goal setting" in the sentence making process, whereas text editor supports only "reading and editing" in the sentence making process.