Effects Of Automated Writing Evaluation System On The English Writing Proficiency Of Junior High School

Writing is not only a basic language skill,but also reflects the comprehensive capability of English learners.Feedback makes a critical difference in English writing.Zhou Yimin(2013)proposed that effectiveness of writing feedback directly affects advancement of students writing proficiency,and it also mirrors teachers’ teaching efficiency.With the widespread use of computer-assisted instruction,many teachers have adopted the Automated Writing Evaluation system(AWES)as their teaching assistants because of its convenience and timeliness,etc.The thesis tries to explore the application of Pigai.org platform to English writing teaching feedback of junior high school,since Pigai.org platform has been widely put into use among Automated Writing Evaluation system.Two questions are covered in the thesis:(1)What are effects of Pigai.org platform on student writing capability in terms of content,organization,vocabulary,language use and mechanics?(2)What are students’ attitudes towards Pigai.org platform? With the purpose of addressing these two questions,taking two classes of Grade Two from a junior high school in Yinchuan as research subjects,the author randomly selected one class as the experimental class and used Pigai intelligent feedback in this class,while chose the other class as the control class and adopted teacher feedback in the control class.Pre-test,post-test,questionnaires and interviews were employed as research methods.Results of the study show that: in the first place,Pigai.org platform is conductive to improving writing competence of junior high school,and Pigai.org platform performs better in giving students detailed feedback in light of vocabulary,mechanics,grammatical errors,while it has little effect in promoting students’ writing content,language use and organization,and it can’t replace teacher feedback.Secondly,it can be found from in general,most students hold positive attitudes towards Pigai.org platform since Pigai.org platform contributes to providing timely feedback,stimulating writing motivation,enhancing writing confidence,enlarging students’ vocabulary and reducing grammatical errors.Therefore,this study has following insights: teachers can apply pigai.org platform to assisting English writing teaching with the purpose of improving efficiency of writing feedback in junior high school,leaving the detailed feedback such as grammar,vocabulary,and writing norms to the Piagi.org platform,so that teachers can devote more effort to giving students writing feedback in accordance with content,language use and organization.