- My research agenda bridges corpus-based genre analysis, genre-based writing pedagogy, automated writing evaluation, a... moreMy research agenda bridges corpus-based genre analysis, genre-based writing pedagogy, automated writing evaluation, and computer-assisted language learning and assessment – all converging to address teaching and learning needs within the field of English for Specific Purposes.edit
Research Interests: Psychology, Education, English for Academic Purposes, Language Testing, Writing Assessment, and 9 moreCurriculum and Instruction, Classroom Assessment, Diagnostic Assessment, Language Culture and Communication, Computer Assisted Language Testing, Sentence, Validity Argument, Automated Writing Evaluation, and Educational methods
Research Interests: Discourse Analysis, Computer Science, Educational Technology, Computer Assisted Language Learning, Learning Technology, and 15 moreFormative Assessment, Academic Writing, Linguistics, Protocol Analysis, Observation, Language Learning, English language and literature, Interviews, Color, Conceptual Framework, Likert Scales, Qualitative Data, Formative evaluation, Data Consistency, and Automated Writing Evaluation
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Research writing poses a great challenge for graduate students who are novice writers struggling with transitioning from peripheral to full participation in the discourse of their disciplinary community. At the same time, teaching... more
Research writing poses a great challenge for graduate students who are novice writers struggling with transitioning from peripheral to full participation in the discourse of their disciplinary community. At the same time, teaching research writing is often daunting for writing instructors due to the unfamiliar disciplinary conventions of research genres. Addressing these learning and pedagogical challenges necessitates an understanding of the individual-cognitive and socio-disciplinary dimensions underpinning research writing. In this first chapter, I elaborate on what these dimensions entail and how they intertwine in the construct of research writing competence. To further reason about how that applies to L2 research writing pedagogy, I discuss two epistemologically different genre teaching traditions — linguistic and rhetorical. I then put forth a rationale for enhancing L2 research writing instruction with genre and corpus-based AWE technology that can foster fundamental linguistic and rhetorical principles.
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Writing analytics has emerged as a sub-field of learning analytics, with applications including the provision of formative feedback to students in developing their writing capacities. Rhetorical markers in writing have become a key... more
Writing analytics has emerged as a sub-field of learning analytics, with applications including the provision of formative feedback to students in developing their writing capacities. Rhetorical markers in writing have become a key feature in this feedback, with a number of tools being developed across research and teaching contexts. However, there is no shared corpus of texts annotated by these tools, nor is it clear how the tool annotations compare. Thus, resources are scarce for comparing tools for both tool development and pedagogic purposes. In this paper, we conduct such a comparison and introduce a sample corpus of texts representative of the particular genres, a subset of which has been annotated using three rhetorical analysis tools (one of which has two versions). This paper aims to provide both a description of the tools and a shared dataset in order to support extensions of existing analyses and tool design in support of writing skill development. We intend the descripti...
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The increasing dominance of English has elevated the need to develop an ability to effectively communicate in writing, and this has put a strain on second language education programs worldwide. Faced with time-consuming and copious... more
The increasing dominance of English has elevated the need to develop an ability to effectively communicate in writing, and this has put a strain on second language education programs worldwide. Faced with time-consuming and copious commenting on student drafts and inspired by the promise of computerized writing assessment, many "educational technology enthusiasts are looking to A WE [automated writing evaluation] as a silver bullet for language and literacy development" (Warschauer & Ware, 2006, p. 175). This chapter reviews what AWE offers for learners and teachers and raises a number of controversies regarding A WE effectiveness with the underlying message that clear milestone targets need to be set with respect to A WE development, implementation, and evaluation in order to ensure positive impact of this technology on L2 writing. In support of this message, the chapter introduces an examplelADE, a prototype of contextbased A WE conceptualized and operationalized to addr...
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Despite the appeal of automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools, many writing scholars and teachers have disagreed with the way such tools represent writing as a construct. This talk will address two important objections – that AWE heavily... more
Despite the appeal of automated writing evaluation (AWE) tools, many writing scholars and teachers have disagreed with the way such tools represent writing as a construct. This talk will address two important objections – that AWE heavily subordinates rhetorical aspects of writing, and that the models used to automatically analyze student texts are not interpretable for the stakeholders vested in the teaching and learning of writing. The purpose is to promote a discussion of how to advance research methods in order to optimize and make more transparent writing analytics for automated rhetorical feedback. AWE models will likely never be capable of truly understanding texts; however, important rhetorical traits of writing can be automatically detected (Cotos & Pendar, 2016). To date, AWE performance has been evaluated in purely quantitative ways that are not meaningful to the writing community. Therefore, it is important to complement quantitative measures with approaches stemming fro...
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Learner corpora have become prominent in language teaching and learning, enhancing data-driven learning (DDL) pedagogy by promoting ‘learning driven data’ in the classroom. This study explores the potential of a local learner corpus by... more
Learner corpora have become prominent in language teaching and learning, enhancing data-driven learning (DDL) pedagogy by promoting ‘learning driven data’ in the classroom. This study explores the potential of a local learner corpus by investigating the effects of two types of DDL activities, one relying on a native-speaker corpus (NSC) and the second combining native-speaker and learner corpora. Both types of activities aimed at improving second language writers’ knowledge of linking adverbials and were based on a preliminary analysis of adverbial use in the local learner corpus produced by 31 study participants. Quantitative and qualitative data, obtained from writing samples, pre/post-tests, and questionnaires, were converged through concurrent triangulation. The results showed an increase in frequency, diversity and accuracy in all participants’ use of adverbials, but more significant improvement was made by the students who were exposed to the corpus containing their own writin...
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The primary goal of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in general, and of online language instruction in particular, is to create and evaluate language learning opportunities. To be effective, online language courses need to be... more
The primary goal of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in general, and of online language instruction in particular, is to create and evaluate language learning opportunities. To be effective, online language courses need to be guided by an integrated set of theoretical perspectives to second language acquisition (SLA), as well as by specific curricular goals, learning objectives and outcomes, appropriate tasks and necessary materials, and learners’ characteristics and abilities – to name a few factors that are essential in both online and face-to-face teaching (Xu & Morris, 2007). Doughty and Long (2003) articulate pedagogical principles for computer-enhanced language teaching, which highlight the importance of exercising task-based activities, elaborating the linguistic input, enhancing the learning processes with negative feedback, and individualizing learning. Chapelle (2009) further puts forth a framework of evaluation principles that define the characteristics of tasks...
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This chapter presents a conceptual model for the design of genre-based AWE for L2 research writing. The model is needs-based and combines theoretical and operational frameworks. The theoretical framework underscores desired learning... more
This chapter presents a conceptual model for the design of genre-based AWE for L2 research writing. The model is needs-based and combines theoretical and operational frameworks. The theoretical framework underscores desired learning phenomena, drawing from Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the Interactionist Approach to Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and Skill Acquisition Theory (SAT). I discuss these theories here in terms of their main tenets as well as in terms of their relevance to L2 writing, indicating areas that could be strengthened by genre-based AWE.
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This chapter recounts empirical evidence supporting theory-driven claims about four CALL qualities investigated to evaluate IADE: Language Learning Potential, Meaning Focus, Learner Fit, and Impact. In reporting the findings, I first... more
This chapter recounts empirical evidence supporting theory-driven claims about four CALL qualities investigated to evaluate IADE: Language Learning Potential, Meaning Focus, Learner Fit, and Impact. In reporting the findings, I first introduce the students’ perspective and then present the insights derived from introspective and inferential interpretations. Throughout the chapter, I diligently infiltrate students’ voices and writing excerpts to illustrate phenomena that help construe the effects of this corpus-based AWE prototype.