Improving the English writing ability of the second year English majors through automated writing evaluation system

Abstract

Since the middle of the last century, the research on the application of intelligent tutoring systems in English teaching has begun, and its development in English writing has made rapid progress and many automated writing evaluation systems (AWE) are created according to the principles of intelligent tutoring system (Sleeman & Brown, 1982). However, most of the research focuses on the consistency f the AWE system with human raters and how to use the system to decrease the workload of teachers, but little research has been done on improving students' English writing ability. The 'Pigai' system can be regarded as the most widely used AWE system in mainland China, its role in improving students' English writing ability should be tested. In this study, we took the role of school technology coordinator to test the effectiveness of this AWE system and try to provide useful suggestions for its improvement. Experimental design through quantitative approach was adopted. The participants were the 100 second-year English major students in a public university in mainland China. This paper reports two research questions of the study: 1) Does the AWE system significantly improve students’ English writing grades compared with traditional teacher evaluation? 2) Are there differences in students' learning attitudes towards the AWE system and that towards traditional teacher evaluation? After four weeks’ intervention, this study found that both the AWE system and traditional teacher evaluation can improve students’ English writing ability, however, the AWE system could improve better, and students held a very positive attitude towards this system.