Evaluation of a Visual Feedback Tool for Spelling Errors of Learners of Japanese During Typing

Typing in Japanese is a difficult process for novice and intermediate learners of Japanese due to the writing system of the Japanese language and its comparatively involved input method on a keyboard. Considering that spell checkers, which enable the user to check and correct their own errors and select the correct kanji word, are designed for native speakers, the learners of Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) may not recognize their spelling errors and are thus unable to selfcorrect using this built-in tool. The present study addresses this problem and conducts an experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of a visual feedback tool by its error recognition rate on the learners spelling errors when typing in Japanese. The participants were 46 beginner level JFL learners in a third semester Japanese course, and the majority consist of native speakers of Chinese or English. The participants participated in two experimental sessions. In both sessions, participants were audio recorded while reading aloud a list of words in Japanese for pronunciation analysis and screen recorded while typing the same list of Japanese words. These recordings are used to analyze the characteristics of error patterns in both pronunciation and typing. During the typing sessions, visual feedback is provided to the participants via a customized dictionary tool when participants make a spelling error. The results show that regardless of the native language, the learners have difficulty on certain words that include long vowels or double consonants. The recorded error patterns align with the findings of previous studies (Hatasa, 2001; Nakazawa, 2003; Tsuchiya, 2000), and the visual feedback showed an average error recognition rate of 76% of the participants’ spelling errors. The participants also assessed the dictionary tool in terms of usability, and their responses indicate that such tools are very useful during typing. The researcher concludes that using a visual feedback dictionary tool is effective in recognizing the spelling errors of the learners when typing, and it increases the learner’s awareness of spelling accurac