Taped versus traditional instruction in presenting the keyboard to seventh grade junior high school personal typewriting students.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement of seventh grade beginning typewriting students who used the professionally prepared taped instructions in learning the keyboard with the achievement of students who received "traditional" instruction at the Oregon Trail Junior High School during the 1978-79 school year. Eight classes of seventh grade personal typewriting students were used for the study. The experimental groups consisted of four classes, with a total enrollment of 88 students. The control groups consisted of four classes, with a total enrollment of 74 students. Two methods of presenting the keyboard in typewriting were used in this study. The experimental groups received taped instruction while the control groups received traditional method of instruction. Students in the experimental and control groups were tested at the conclusion of the presentation of the keyboard. The test consisted of three, three-minute timed writings. The gross words per minute and the number of errors made were computed for each student. Statistical significance was evaluated through the use of a single classification analysis of variance. The analysis of the data revealed that there was no significant difference in mean gross words a minute between the experimental and control groups. The data also indicate there was no significant difference in mean errors made between the experimental and control groups. Therefore, the null hypothesis was accepted.