Impact of Research-Informed Integration of AWE Among Chinese EFL Undergraduates

Recent years have seen growing attention to the use of automated writing evaluation (AWE) in the L2/EFL writing classrooms. While it is generally agreed that teachers should provide scaffolding to students when introducing AWE to the class, a paucity of research has an explicit focus on investigating methods for optimizing the integration of AWE feedback. To fill the gap, the present study proposed a research-informed integration of AWE based on the literature and explored empirically its impact on students’ writing performance and their perceived usefulness of AWE feedback in the context of Chinese EFL undergraduates. Data of the study include writing scores and student responses to a questionnaire. The study found that the student participants made significant improvements in content, organization, and holistic score, but not in accuracy, and they seemed to perceive the automated feedback more positively after the intervention. The findings of the study can contribute to knowledge regarding the integration of AWE feedback and provide insights to teachers who are interested in utilizing AWE in L2 writing classrooms.