Using automatic scoring models to detect changes in student writing in an intelligent tutoring system

This study compares automated scoring increases and linguistic changes for student writers in two groups: a group that used an intelligent tutoring system embedded with an automated writing evaluation component (Writing Pal) and a group that used only the automated writing evaluation component. The primary goal is to examine automated scoring differences in both groups from pretest to posttest essays to investigate score gains and linguistic development. The study finds that both groups show significant increases in automated writing scores and significant development in lexical, syntactic, cohesion, and rhetorical features. However, the Writing-Pal group shows greater raw frequency gains (i.e., negative v. positive gains).