To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?

OpenEssayist is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of OpenEssayist, (named a ‘rainbow diagram’), illustrates how well the key co...

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Main Authors: Stephen Foster, Denise Whitelock, Simon Cross, Karen Kear
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Liverpool John Moores University 2022-03-01
Series:PRISM
Subjects:
Online Access:https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/415/385
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author Stephen Foster
Denise Whitelock
Simon Cross
Karen Kear
author_facet Stephen Foster
Denise Whitelock
Simon Cross
Karen Kear
author_sort Stephen Foster
collection DOAJ
description OpenEssayist is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of OpenEssayist, (named a ‘rainbow diagram’), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing are connected. The rainbow diagram element has been subjected to research by Whitelock et al., (2014), who determined that participants could identify patterns across the diagrams, identifications which corresponded to essays awarded low-grade or high-grade marks by tutors. The research reported as part of this paper is a follow-on study, developed to determine how participants might use the rainbow diagram to improve academic writing. Thirteen (n=13) PhD students were interviewed face-to-face whilst an eye-tracker recorded their gaze on a rainbow diagram produced from an example of their own writing. The current work confirms that students can use rainbow diagrams to identify content that corresponds to high-grade and low-grade work in essay writing. Building on Whitelock’s research, the study also shows that the rainbow diagram can be used further, to enable students to understand coherence and structure within academic writing, and to facilitate reflection on what actions should be taken to improve their writing.
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spelling doaj.art-24087cba4aab440388eaba9740453a872022-12-22T03:02:48ZengLiverpool John Moores UniversityPRISM2514-53472022-03-01414155https://doi.org/10.24377/prism.ljmu.0401213To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?Stephen Foster0Denise Whitelock1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9897-4975Simon Cross2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8741-8503Karen Kear3Institute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University, UKInstitute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University, UKInstitute of Educational Technology (IET), The Open University, UKFaculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), TheOpen University, UKOpenEssayist is an automated writing evaluation system (AWE) designed to provide immediate textual and graphical feedback to students to help them improve their academic writing. One of the graphical visualisations as part of OpenEssayist, (named a ‘rainbow diagram’), illustrates how well the key concepts within the writing are connected. The rainbow diagram element has been subjected to research by Whitelock et al., (2014), who determined that participants could identify patterns across the diagrams, identifications which corresponded to essays awarded low-grade or high-grade marks by tutors. The research reported as part of this paper is a follow-on study, developed to determine how participants might use the rainbow diagram to improve academic writing. Thirteen (n=13) PhD students were interviewed face-to-face whilst an eye-tracker recorded their gaze on a rainbow diagram produced from an example of their own writing. The current work confirms that students can use rainbow diagrams to identify content that corresponds to high-grade and low-grade work in essay writing. Building on Whitelock’s research, the study also shows that the rainbow diagram can be used further, to enable students to understand coherence and structure within academic writing, and to facilitate reflection on what actions should be taken to improve their writing.https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/415/385automated writing evaluationopenessayistrainbow diagramstudent academic writingwriting skills
spellingShingle Stephen Foster
Denise Whitelock
Simon Cross
Karen Kear
To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
PRISM
automated writing evaluation
openessayist
rainbow diagram
student academic writing
writing skills
title To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
title_full To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
title_fullStr To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
title_full_unstemmed To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
title_short To what extent can graphical feedback from a ‘rainbow diagram’ help students develop coherence in their academic writing?
title_sort to what extent can graphical feedback from a rainbow diagram help students develop coherence in their academic writing
topic automated writing evaluation
openessayist
rainbow diagram
student academic writing
writing skills
url https://openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk/index.php/prism/article/view/415/385
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