Evaluating the effectiveness of using Automated Written Corrective Feedback on EFL University Students' Writing

Abstract

This study investigates how Automated Written Corrective Feedback (AWCF) can facilitate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing teaching and evaluation in Arab schools and universities. The study addresses a significant research gap in the Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) literature by examining the impact of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems' feedback on EFL University students' writing. A mixed-methods approach was used to conduct a longitudinal controlled experiment at Northern Border University (NBU) in Saudi Arabia. The study involved questionnaires with 120 students and interviews with 27 students and 4 teachers. An exploratory factor analysis was employed to analyze perceptions of AWCF. The data analyzed the impact of ease of use, clarity, usefulness, EFL learners' perceptions, and feedback explicitness on AWCF use. The findings proved that EFL students and teachers found AWE systems easy to use and useful for corrective feedback. Furthermore, students preferred using Grammarly's specific AWCF strategies over Writing Mentor's generic feedback, influencing EFL students' use of AWCF tools. Therefore, developers should consider diverse factors influencing EFL learners' preferences and views of AWCF to create useful, clear, and desirable tools.