A deliberate practice account of typing proficiency in everyday typists

The concept of deliberate practice was introduced to explain exceptional performance in domains such as music and chess. We apply deliberate practice theory to intermediate-level performance in typing, an activity that many people pursue on a regular basis. Sixty university students with several years typing experience participated in laboratory sessions that involved the assessment of abilities, a semistructured interview on typing experience as well as various typing tasks. In line with traditional theories of skill acquisition, experience (amount of typing since introduction to the keyboard) was related to typing performance. A perceptual speed test (digit-symbol substitution) and a measure of motor abilities (tapping) were not significantly related to performance. In line with deliberate practice theory, the highest level of performance was reported among participants who had attended a typing class in the past and who reported to adopt the goal of typing quickly during everyday typing. Findings suggest that even after several years of experience engagement in an everyday activity can serve as an opportunity for further skill improvement if individuals are willing to push themselves.