W 065 F

Introduction
Using a word processor may be a part of your life nowadays, especially if you are a student at the English Department in Pécs. With my research I would like to find out how students use it and in what way did it help them. I would also like to learn about word processing and about students' views on that. I expect that they like using them, because as Zinsser has written in his book, On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Non-Fiction,: "the word processor frees writers from drudgery of writing and rewriting and retyping; it also makes them better writers"(205).

Method
I carried out a survey among 10 JPTE English majors. I selected students from each form and from both genders. In the Questionnaires that I handed to them I asked 12 questions in connection with the usage of a word processor( for example how often, for what purpose they use it; which functions and which word processing function they prefer). They had to gave either short answers or could choose from the alternatives I gave. I wrote the questions in Hungarian and the students had to answer also in Hungarian.

Results and Discussion
First I asked whether they had ever used a word processor. Not surprisingly, everybody had. Then I was interested in how long they had used it. Here the answers already differed. Most students started using it at primary school, one of them at grammar school, and the rest only at the university. I also noticed that all of the boys belonged to the first group, so they have been using it for at least six years.

The third question was: how often do you use it. Here I got various answers. A fourth-year student used it the most rarely: twice in a semester; and an undergraduate the most often: almost every day. Five other people use it once a week, one two or three times a week and another student in every two days. In general, boys used it more often then girls.

Then I learned for what purpose English students used a word processor. Everyone used it for writing an essay but two of them used it only for that. The others sent E-Mails or played games or used the Internet, too. Four of them used computers for all of these purposes.

I also asked which word processing program they used. They mentioned Microsoft Word 6.0 and 7.0 the most frequently. Others wrote Word 5.7, 8.0, 2.0 and 3.1.

If you use a word processor, you do not have to retype what you had already typed in. According to Zinsser you only have to "go back and making repairs" (209). The best thing in a computer is that "It puts your words right in front of your eyes for your instant consideration- and reconsideration"(209). Students can use all kinds of functions to arrange and rearrange the text.

If you want to rearrange your text you will find word processing functions most helpful.

Students listed these functions they used: setting page numbers, italics, insertion, cutting out, changing size and type of words, print view, footnote, spell check, tabulator, underlining, making a title page, a table of contents, lists, double space, charts, setting the margin and writing dates.
For the 7th question the students had to choose their favourite function. On the first place they mentioned spell check. They also wrote footnote, size of letters, setting page numbers and thesaurus. A third-year student had not got a favourite function.

From the answers to the 8th question it turned out that each of them has already written at least one English essay. Two of them wrote between 1-5, four of them between 6-10, one person between 11-15, and three people wrote more than 16.

These English majors typed quite slowly. They type approximately one or two sentences in a minute. One girl wrote that she can only type with one hand. Three of these students can type one paragraph in a minute, but one boy could not decide how fast he typed.

It was a surprise for me to learn that students spend so much time in front of a computer a one occasion. Only two people chose one or two hours, the others three or five hours except for one undergraduate who works more than five hours on the machine.

Students also listed the advantages of a word processor to the typewriter and handwriting. There are more functions on it than on a typewriter; you can arrange your text, delete the mistakes, so you do not have to write it again. The computer preserves the work so you can use it again whenever you want. You can also print it and you get a readable work that looks nicer. When you type on the keyboard of a computer and not on a typewriter it does not click so loudly.

But there are also several disadvantages. If you have not got a computer at home, then you may face some difficulties in finding one. A computer can cause a headache after a while, and it lasts longer to make an essay with it than with writing with your hands. According to two people there are no disadvantages of a word processor.

My last question was: Has it changed your life that using a word processor became so important nowadays? It changed everyone's life, but the opinions differed whether in a positive or in a negative way. Half of the students wrote it made life easier as they can save time and energy or because their essays are easy to survey. The problem of the others who do not prefer word processing was all related to time. A girl wrote that from that time she was always angry when she had to write an essay, because she usually spent a whole night working on it.

Conclusion
Today we cannot do without some knowledge about computers. We use them in many fields of life. English students use them quite frequently, especially for essay writing as teachers require from them to hand in their works typewritten or word processed. It is worth learning about computers as much as possible, because for those who know how to use the word processor it does not have any disadvantages but for those who do not know much about the usage, it can cause some hard moments sometimes.

For me it was useful to do this research as I did not know much about word processing although I had to use it for writing an essay in English very often this semester; almost every week. But I only started using computers at the university, so there is still a lot of things I should learn. As I read the questionnaires got to know such functions I did not heard of before such as print view and setting page numbers. Until now I did not even know that people can use more word processing programms. I hope that as I could find something that was new for me, anyone else who reads it will also be able to.