My Access and Writing Error Corrections of EFL College Pre-intermediate Students

Purpose – This study aims to examine the effects of Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) feedback on pre-intermediate EFL students’ writing performance. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to inspect the effects of AWE on self-correction in multiple submissions. Design/participants – This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods. The participants were students whose English proficiency was at the pre-intermediate level, below CEFR B1. They were enrolled in a two-hour, 18-weeks elective college English writing course for non-English majors. Twenty-seven students completed at least two submissions of drafts on an essay prompt. Through convenience sampling, two male and three female senior students majoring in Business, Chinese and Accounting participated in face-to-fact interviews. Methodology/approach/instrumentation – This study uses descriptive statistics and correlational analysis to evaluate the data. Research data were obtained during 18 week period. My Access was used as an auxiliary writing tool in the college English writing course for non-English-majors. Students’ writing performance, self-correction with My Access feedback and self-reported perceptions of using My Access were used as the instruments. Findings –  The findings of the study can be summarized as follows: 1) based on analyses of qualitative data the individual student made improvement in various writing traits in revisions; 2) while the students were  more capable of self-correcting in usage type of lexical and syntactic errors using AWE, they were relatively incapable of handling independently mechanics and style types of errors; 3) the results of the interviews and self-reported student perceptions of My Access confirmed the effectiveness of AWE feedback in revisions and self-correction; 4) although findings of this study supported positive effects of My Access feedback for independent revision and correction, the importance of teachers’ role in writing instruction and periodic teacher-student interactions in enhancing particular writing skills is stressed. Practical implications/value – The application of AWE influences writing instruction in both ESL and EFL contexts by both assessing strengths and weaknesses of student writing and enhancing writing quality. Investigating the effectiveness of AWE feedback in the meditational process of constructing and revising text is thus of great importance to ensure its validity and usefulness. Utilizing AWE can, no doubt, be effective with the participation of teachers. Writing teachers play a crucial role in assisting and guiding students in the writing process.