ABSTRACT
These experiments (a) studied adult subjects’ performance while learning to dictate, and (b) subsequently compared subjects’ performance in four methods of composing letters and one-page essays. Subjects were videotaped so that pause times, generate times, and review times could be quantified for each method. Results showed that, as subjects learned to dictate, their pause times and review times decreased in relation to their generate times. In the comparison experiments, the distributions of pause, generate, and review times depended on the method of composition. Planning times, as inferred from the data, however, were equal in the various methods. Of practical significance, subjects required the same time to compose dictated and written letters. The resultant quality was equal, even though subjects were just learning to dictate.
