Partnering with Automatic Writing Evaluation

Abstract

Formative feedback is an important element in writing instruction and benefits students' domain-specific skills as well as their overall writing development. As an instructional method, feedback is primarily delivered by teachers in many classrooms. Current technological advancements create affordances for Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE). While many studies explore students' perspectives, this study explores two vocational high school English teachers' experiences in appropriating Grammarly in their writing instruction. This research employed narrative inquiry and used oral narrative and narrative frames to gather the teachers' experiences. The data were then analyzed using content analysis. It is found that teachers value AWE positively because it allows students to be independent in learning. The teachers also could focus on giving feedback on content, while the machine generates feedback on forms. Nevertheless, the teachers apply different pedagogical approaches to the machine integration. Hence, AWE seems to continue to remain significant in the current digital era.