Digital Desktop A Computer Program for the Teaching of Writing Skills

Abstract

This article describes a computer program designed to support the teaching of writing skills to pupils of Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) − compulsory secondary education − aged between 12 and 16 in Spain. Within this relatively under−investigated field, our aim was to provide language teachers with a tool that would help them tackle the difficulties pupils demonstrate when faced with a writing task. Such difficulties not only affect their performance in language study but also that in many other areas of the school curriculum and can even hinder access to certain cultural and social activities. The project was undertaken by the "Multimedia Educational Learning" Research Group at the Institute of Educational Sciences, University of Barcelona, which was set up to study the potential of information and communication technologies in education.