--- Forwarded Message from [log in to unmask] (Gordon Hartig) ---

>Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 12:42:41 -0500
>Subject: Re: Character Codes
>To: [log in to unmask]
>From: [log in to unmask] (Gordon Hartig)

I have prepared a handout listing alphabetically the 2-, 3- and 4-digit
alternate character set codes for foreign language characters and other
symbols that seem useful (e.g., ALT 168 being the upside-down question
mark used in Spanish).  This has been more reliable than trying to have
students access the character map.  The codes work on every computer we
have, even if the character map is no where to be found.  And using the
character map takes more time.

Why would using the codes result in weaker spelling skills?  I have used
the codes for years with correspondence German students who want to type
the work they submit, and these students have been no more likely to make
spelling errors on handwritten exams than students who did all their work
by hand.  The same codes work in most standard fonts, as well as in most
e-mail systems and in many other applications.  So it seems convenient as
well as reliable.
>
>
>Question.  I realize that making students use code for extended ascii
>caracters (three-digits) will yield consistant results, but I have found
>that students who do this do not learn the spelling of accented words as
>well as those who use other means of rendering accents with their
>computers.

Gordon Hartig
Language Lab Coordinator
Middlesex Community College
33 Kearney Square
Lowell MA  01852
(978) 656-3358