Text Coherence and Judgments of Essay Quality: Models of Quality and Coherence

Scott A. Crossley, Danielle S. McNamara

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

66 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study investigates the importance of human evaluations of coherence in predicting human judgments of holistic essay quality. Of secondary interest is the potential for computational indices of cohesion and coherence to model human judgments of coherence. The results indicate that human judgments of coherence are the most predictive features of holistic essay scores and that computational indices related to text structure, semantic coherence, lexical sophistication, and grammatical complexity best explain human judgments of text coherence. These findings have important implications for understanding the role of coherence in writing quality.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011
EditorsLaura Carlson, Christoph Hoelscher, Thomas F. Shipley
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages1236-1241
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831877
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011 - Boston, United States
Duration: Jul 20 2011Jul 23 2011

Publication series

NameExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011

Conference

Conference33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period7/20/117/23/11

Keywords

  • Coherence
  • Cohesion
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Computational Models
  • Writing Quality

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

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