Automated Writing Instruction and Feedback: Instructional Mode, Attitudes, and Revising

This study evaluates high school students' perceptions of automated writing feedback, and the influence of these perceptions on revising, as a function of varying modes of computer-based writing instruction. Findings indicate that students' perceptions of automated feedback accuracy, ease of use, relevance, and understandability were favorable. Immediate perceptions of feedback received on a selected essay were minimally related to how and whether students revised their essays. However, attitudes formed over multiple sessions were significantly related to revising. More importantly, the mode of instruction appeared to influence how feedback perceptions shaped revising behaviors. Students who engaged in traditional writing-based training and practice seemed to focus on their own perceived writing abilities when deciding how to revise. In contrast, students who also received strategy instruction and game-based practice attended more carefully to the perceived quality of the automated feedback. [This paper was published in: "Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2018 Annual Meeting," Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2018, pp.2089-2093.]