The present study performs a three-level meta-analysis to investigate the overall effectiveness of automated writing evaluation (AWE) on EFL/ESL student writing performance. 24 primary studies representing 85 between-group effect sizes and 34 studies representing 178 within-group effect sizes found from 1993 to 2021 were separately meta-analyzed.…

This paper addresses the question of how classroom-based peer assessment practices can be improved in relation to student interpretations of subjective assessment criteria. To achieve this, this research study considers the possible pedagogic benefits and implications of using a comparative judgement (CJ) approach to the peer assessment of GCSE…

To investigate how task complexity cognitive factors influence the lexical complexity in essay writing, this study was guided by Robinson's Cognition Hypothesis (CH) and Skehan's Limited Attentional Capacity Model (LACM), and examined the effects of task complexity on lexical complexity in undergraduates' essay writing. Using Lu's Lexical…

Lexical diversity (LD) is an important indicator of second language lexical development. Much research has investigated LD indices, with a focus on learners of English. However, further research is needed in languages that are typologically distinct from English, such as Korean. In this study, we evaluated the reliability and validity of LD…

This research uses Bloom's taxonomy in English-language writing and speaking skills assessment rubrics. A descriptive qualitative research method was adopted, and data were collected through observations, interviews, and English major students' course grades. Five lecturers and 25 students participated in the research, and the findings revealed…

Measuring lexical diversity in texts that have different lengths is problematic because length has a significant effect on the number of types a text contains, thus hampering any comparison. Treffers-Daller et al. (2018) recommended a simple solution, namely counting the number of types in a section of a given length that was extracted from the…

Corrective feedback (CF) has long been a hot topic in language education circles and has received extensive research attention. However, there is still controversy over the effectiveness of CF use and error correction in language classes. To address this discrepancy, the current study probed the effectiveness of different CF types in improving…

Syntactic complexity has long been used to gauge language learners' performance, proficiency, and development, offering language teachers valid recommendations for syllabus design and materials development. Progress in syntactic complexity research foreshadows the imperative of measuring syntactic features at a high level of granularity, which…

Language immersion programs seek to develop multilingual, multiliterate individuals able to engage with academic content. Studies of immersion students' language development provide details regarding language proficiency and accuracy, yet they generally do not address how features of written, academic language, for example, syntactic and lexical…

As integrated writing tasks in large-scale and classroom-based writing assessments have risen in popularity, research studies have increasingly concentrated on providing validity evidence. Given the fact that most of these studies focus on adult second language learners rather than younger ones, this study examined the relationship between written…

This study investigated the efficacy of varying degrees of written corrective feedback (WCF) explicitness on the accuracy of revised drafts and new pieces of writing among learners of different proficiency levels. A total of 130 learners of English were divided into three proficiency groups (basic, independent, and proficient users), with learners…

Task design has been viewed to be essential in the context of language assessment. This study investigated whether increasing task complexity affects learners' writing performance. It employs three writing tasks with different levels of complexity based on Robinson's Componential Framework. A cohort of 278 participants was selected using a simple…

With the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (AI) frameworks (e.g., the generative pre-trained transformer [GPT]), a growing number of researchers have started to explore its potential as an automated essay scoring (AES) system. While previous studies have investigated the alignment between human ratings and GPT ratings, few…

This study conducts a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of OpenAI's language model, ChatGPT 4, for grading Task 2 writing of the IELTS exam. The objective is to assess the alignment between ChatGPT's grading and that of official human raters. The analysis encompassed a multifaceted approach, including a comparison of means and reliability…

This study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), self-regulated learning strategies (SRLSs), and writing proficiency of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in English as a second language writing learning context, using Bourdieu's theory of social practice as a framework. This study's conceptual model specifies that…