Unscripted text:

This summer I went to Italy with my family this included my sister and also my mother. We went on a three week long trip and we went to many cities starting from Rome and then we went to Florence, Venice Tuscany yeah bologna and also the last city, which was a Sorrento animal he close coast. It was a really fun trip but every once in a lifetime as Covid postponed many things for my phone, they were many things to see my favorite was Rome because of the historical architecture, and the famous Roman food, I was shocked at how courteous and excepting the Italians were of many different cultures and nationalities, who were visiting to see Italy from selves. I had a really nice time every morning there was handmade, cappuccinos and breakfast ready for us, and Tuscany was irreplaceable taking a tour to see the medieval castles and bakeries. That was definitely one of my most memorable times, if I could, I would visit Italy in the next few years it’s definitely one of those countries that you could visit for many times and still have lots to see and lastly, we had some really great photos which I still need to print but the Colosseum the wineries and also the Amalfi coast were unimaginable. Oh, and I totally forgot to mention about Pompei starting from textbooks does not do justice of the real archaeological site. It was amazing.

How does the text deviate from conventions of written English?

Spelling: The text deviated from spelling and presented errors due to misinterpretation when voice transformed to text. There were additional plural words with s’s and a lack of hyphenation. In addition, some cities were spelt in English Romanization rather than the authentic spelling of Italian cities. Specifically, Amalfi Coast was missed and the speech-to-text came out with “animal he close coast.” In written English, I feel that a writer would know when conventions could be appropriately inputted or what type of conventions are necessary to carry out the intent in a the written piece.

Punctuation: As for punctuation, I noticed that if I spoke slower and with an exaggerated tone, expression, and volume, the punctuation was more accurate rather than speaking fast in a monotone approach. What was ironic was that in some places, there was a lack of commas and in some places, an overuse of commas. No exclamation marks came out in the unscripted text despite my exaggeration. There were no dashes, hyphens, quotes,  or brackets. This differentiates from written English as it is critical to identify the main idea to related examples in a written piece.

Capitalization: Some specific nouns were missed in capitalization such as Bologna. Overall, capitalization did not demonstrate as much of an issue compared to spelling and punctuation. In written English, capitalization would be easily corrected with editing.

Grammar: Dependant on the speed of speech, preposition and conjunction words were missed in sentences. This made the grammatical structure of some sentences incorrect. If a user completed a writing piece with written English it would have been easier to catch some of these little errors, using read-aloud strategies, drafting, typing, and outlining.

Paragraphing: The unscripted text came out as one, long paragraph. I wouldn’t think that the microphone function would have the technological ability to analyze speech-to-text into a multi paragraph format. Versus in written English output, writers are often very aware of writing in a particular format including an opening statement, thesis, introduction, body paragraph(s), and a conclusion paragraph.

What is “wrong” in the text? What is “right”?

As mentioned above, the combination of various convention errors make for a very informal, incorrect, and personal narrative written piece. Although it is acceptable, it does not formulate an articulate and edited piece of work. In my opinion, it does not communicate the sequencing needed to depict main ideas, examples, and feeling.

What are the most common “mistakes” in the text and why do you consider them “mistakes”?

Upon review, I felt that punctuation was the most common “mistake.” I consider them “mistakes” as I know how I would personally narrate, grammatize, and express my ideas in written output. When I read it over, it didn’t feel as if I wrote it.

What if you had “scripted” the story? What difference might that have made?

If I had “scripted” the story, I would have been able to edit and include further details on the experiences I had. I could have included more of the “5 senses” (smell, taste, sound, touch, sight) when describing the different cities I’ve visited. It was hard complete speech-to-text because I felt forced to keep speaking into the microphone. I felt that it was a difficult task, multitasking, and working a different part of my brain – explicit neuro-speech functioning. This was something I was not use to.

In what ways does oral storytelling differ from written storytelling?

Oral storytelling jumps from detail to detail, and it goes by feeling. Whereas written storytelling allows the reader to formulate details from beginning to end. I think both are just as valuable but could be used for different settings and for informal/formal assessments. Both can be used in the classroom, during discussion, assignment output, design, etc. It is hard as an educator to assess what “acceptable” forms of speech-to-text are when there is evidence of continuous convention errors. But that’s where it is important to take the time to review the speech-to-text written output and to do an overall edit with the student to further practice literacy/writing/reading skills.