COMPUTER‐ASSISTED ITEM WRITING—1 (SPELLING ITEMS)1

The current study demonstrates the potential usefulness of the computer as a tool for an item writer. A spelling item type was used for this demonstration, as it seemed to have the fewest facets or dimensions. An analysis was then made of the types of misspellings which are used by writers of spelling items. A set of error-generation rules was developed and a computer program, The MISSPELLER, was written. A sample of words was fed into the computer and a list of misspelled words, separated into previously defined error categories, was created. The list was then evaluated by spelling-test developers and judged to be a useful resource.