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 study investigates the validity and reliability of generative large language models (LLMs), specifically ChatGPT and Google's Bard, in grading student essays in higher education based on an analytical grading rubric. A total of 15 experienced English as a foreign language (EFL) instructors and two LLMs were asked to evaluate three student…

The release of ChatGPT marked the beginning of a new era of AI-assisted plagiarism that disrupts traditional assessment practices in ESL composition. In the face of this challenge, educators are left with little guidance in controlling AI-assisted plagiarism, especially when conventional methods fail to detect AI-generated texts. One approach to…

In 2016, Lawley proposed an easy-to-build spellchecker specifically designed to help second language (L2) learners in their writing process by facilitating self-correction. The aim was to overcome the disadvantages to L2 learners posed by generic spellcheckers (GSC), such as that embedded in Microsoft Word. Drawbacks include autocorrection,…

Automated writing evaluation (AWE) software is an increasingly popular tool for English second language learners. However, research on the accuracy of such software has been both scarce and largely limited in its scope. As such, this article broadens the field of research on AWE accuracy by using a mixed design to holistically evaluate the…

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…

There is a rich body of literature that details the effects of automated writing evaluation (AWE) on second language (L2) students. However, these studies mostly focus on the impact that automated feedback has on writing performance, i.e. that is, there is a dearth of research on its influence on affective factors. Hence, this study was conducted…

English writing and critical thinking are not only fundamental to academic success but also play a crucial role for the holistic development of primary students. This study investigated the effects of a cloud-based gamified instruction integrating peer assessment on primary student English writing and critical thinking. A pre- and post-test with a…

This study examines the use of ChatGPT, in conjunction with other applications, Grammarly and Quillbot, as an automated writing evaluation (AWE) tool in a Recount and Narrative essay course for 18 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students in Indonesia. The primary objective was to investigate the impact of these tools on the development of…

Online grammar checkers have increasingly been used in writing instruction to detect and remove English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' grammatical errors. This study investigated the effects of the automated writing evaluation software "Grammarly" on Iranian EFL learners' article errors which are common in EFL writing. Ninety…

This study investigated the effectiveness of applying pedagogical translanguaging by utilizing Google Translate to facilitate college juniors in writing presentation scripts. Participants included 109 non-English major juniors divided into high- and low-proficiency groups, with 56 and 53 students, respectively. Each participant first drafted their…

This study aims to develop a robust rubric for evaluating artificial intelligence (AI)--assisted essay writing in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. Employing a modified Delphi technique, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and administered Likert scale questionnaires. This process yielded nine key evaluation criteria,…

This study explores the effectiveness of using ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language model, as an Automated Essay Scoring (AES) tool for grading English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' essays. The corpus consists of 50 essays representing various types including analysis, compare and contrast, descriptive, narrative, and opinion…

In recent years, there has been a growing trend of using informal styles in academic writing, including research articles. To examine the degree of formality in students' writing, this corpus-based study aimed to analyze the formal linguistic features in the academic writing assignments of English-major students at a Thai university. The learner…

This study seeks to clarify whether teachers are able to distinguish between essays written by English L2 students or generated by ChatGPT. 47 instructors who hold experience teaching English to native speakers of Japanese in universities or other higher education institutions were tested on whether they could identify between human written essays…