There are definite advantages to having pupils compose written assignments using a word processor. For starters, many young authors are reluctant to write with pencil or pen because they know that, after initial editing, they’ll eventually have to reconstruct the work again and again and again. Typing their thoughts, no matter how meager the text, saves nascent scribes the hassles and frustrations of rewriting. Once aspiring writers have captured the essence of their ideas in digital form crystallizing and refining concepts becomes even more efficient. The availability of a built-in dictionary/thesaurus ever present, ever ready to offer linguistic assistance makes word processing even more attractive. Digital manipulation of written assignments also makes sharing drafts with teacher and peers possible and much more likely. For educators who are prudent enough to allow learners to integrate technology in this manner there’s an additional perk: an online text analysis resource from UsingEnglish.com. After pasting student-generated text into the UE Text Content Analyser this useful site displays statistics such as:

• a word count
• the number of unique words in the work
• the number of sentences in a pasted passage
• the average words per sentence
• information about lexical density
• and data regarding the Gunning Fog readability index.