“It is not always very cooperative”: Distributed agency in the use of spell check software in a lower secondary classroom

Abstract

This study focuses on the distribution of agency in software-based spell checking in L1 (Language and Literature) teaching. Drawing on video-ethnographic data from a Swedish-medium school in Finland, the research shows that built-in spell checkers can both afford and constrain students’ digital writing. Through examining the micro-dynamics between human and material agency in use of spell checking, the analysis illustrates that the software does not always work as expected from the user's perspective, and hence becomes framed as a ‘trouble source’, assigned ‘linguistic authority’, and held accountable for not meeting human intentionality. We argue that technology's inherent functions and properties play a central role in the co-constitution of agency in digital writing practices, and call for a greater awareness of generic spell checkers’ opportunities and limitations in teaching and learning.