A Comparative Study On IWrite Machine Evaluation Feedback And The Teacher Feedback On EFL Writing

Feedback is a crucial part for students in second language writing.For college students who do not have specialized English writing courses,the improvement of English writing ability mainly relies on autonomous learning outside the classroom.iWrite English Writing Teaching and Assessment System,which aims to automatically and instantly correct students’ errors in written texts,compensates for the lack of feedback after class.However,relevant research on the distinction of impact on students’ second language writing between iWrite machine evaluation feedback and traditional teacher feedback is insufficient.Accordingly,this study,based on the current writing situation of sixty freshmen and under the guidance of the College English Teaching Guide and the Sociocultural Theory,conducts experimental research by questionnaires,semi-structured interviews and text analysis to find the answer to the following two questions: 1)After receiving the feedback from iWrite and the teacher separately,does students’ English writing proficiency improve? If so,in what aspects has it changed? 2)What are students’ perceptions of these two different feedback? The following conclusions can be figured out:1)Students’ English writing proficiency improves after receiving iWrite machine evaluation feedback and the teacher feedback respectively.The accuracy,fluency and complexity of students’ writings are changed significantly,but the specific effects of feedback are not exactly the same.iWrite performs well in correcting errors in grammar,textual structure and technical specifications effectively.However,students’ improvement in the content and overall organization is slight.The teacher feedback is helpful to increase the content richness and the coherence of discourse,besides modifying vocabulary and grammar.However,the details of technical specifications,such as basic punctuation errors,are always ignored easily.2)Students have an affirmative attitude towards both iWrite and the teacher feedback.They both have a positive delay effect on stimulating students’ interest in writing and facilitate autonomous learning.Although iWrite obtains the praise of students for its efficient and timely feedback which is not limited by time and space,students are accustomed to its corrective suggestions for reasons,such as: the mechanization of comments and templated scoring mechanism,which results in their boredom with revision and reflection on mistakes and reduces their enthusiasm in writing.The teacher feedback obtains the trust of students with its authoritative,comprehensive and targeted characteristics and alleviates students’ fear of writing.Students attach importance to the participation of teachers in writing,which evokes them to self-examine mistakes and consolidate existing knowledge while absorbing new knowledge,then to build up a knowledge framework and enhance writing skills.However,the time-consuming teacher feedback,to some extent,also weakens students’ initiative in writing.According to research results,the suggestion is made that,with regard to the students’ writing situation,the way to combine the teacher feedback and automatic feedback by iWrite can improve college students’ English writing proficiency rationally and effectively.