Essay Marks Research Articles

Reliability of ChatGPT in automated essay scoring for dental undergraduate examinations

BackgroundThis study aimed to answer the research question: How reliable is ChatGPT in automated essay scoring (AES) for oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) examinations for dental undergraduate students compared to human assessors?MethodsSixty-nine undergraduate dental students participated in a closed-book examination comprising two essays at the National University of Singapore. Using pre-created assessment rubrics, three assessors independently performed manual essay scoring, while one separate assessor performed AES using ChatGPT (GPT-4). Data analyses were performed using the intraclass correlation coefficient and Cronbach's α to evaluate the reliability and inter-rater agreement of the test scores among all assessors. The mean scores of manual versus automated scoring were evaluated for similarity and correlations.ResultsA strong correlation was observed for Question 1 (r = 0.752–0.848, p < 0.001) and a moderate correlation was observed between AES and all manual scorers for Question 2 (r = 0.527–0.571, p < 0.001). Intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.794–0.858 indicated excellent inter-rater agreement, and Cronbach’s α of 0.881–0.932 indicated high reliability. For Question 1, the mean AES scores were similar to those for manual scoring (p > 0.05), and there was a strong correlation between AES and manual scores (r = 0.829, p < 0.001). For Question 2, AES scores were significantly lower than manual scores (p < 0.001), and there was a moderate correlation between AES and manual scores (r = 0.599, p < 0.001).ConclusionThis study shows the potential of ChatGPT for essay marking. However, an appropriate rubric design is essential for optimal reliability. With further validation, the ChatGPT has the potential to aid students in self-assessment or large-scale marking automated processes.

Assessing the assessors: investigating the process of marking essays.

Pressure for accountability, transparency, and consistency of the assessment process is increasing. For assessing complex cognitive achievements, essays are probably the most familiar method, but essay scoring is notoriously unreliable. To address issues of assessment process, accountability, and consistency, this study explores essay marking practice amongst examiners in a UK dental school using a qualitative approach. Think aloud interviews were used to gain insight into how examiners make judgements whilst engaged in marking essays. The issues were multifactorial. These interviews revealed differing interpretations of assessment and corresponding individualised practices which contributed to skewing the outcome when essays were marked. Common to all examiners was the tendency to rank essays rather than adhere to criterion-referencing. Whether examiners mark holistically or analytically, essay marking guides presented a problem to inexperienced examiners, who needed more guidance and seemed reluctant to make definitive judgements. The marking and re-marking of scripts revealed that only 1 of the 9 examiners achieved the same grade category. All examiners awarded different scores corresponding to at least one grade difference; the magnitude of the difference was unrelated to experience examining. This study concludes that in order to improve assessment, there needs to be a shared understanding of standards and of how criteria are to be used for the benefit of staff and students.

Techniques, Methods, and Analysis of Text Mining: A Review

Recent technological advances have led to the availability of new types of observations and measurements that were previously not available and that have fueled the ‘Big Data’ trend. Along with standard structured forms of data (containing mainly numbers), modern databases include new forms of unstructured data comprising words, images, sounds, and videos which require new techniques to be exploited and interpreted. This study focuses on Text Mining, which is a set of statistical and computer science techniques specifically developed to analyze text data. New sources of text data are now available, such as text messaging, social media activity, blogs, and web searches. The increasing availability of published text, sophisticated technologies, and growing interest in organizations in extracting information from text have led to replacing (or at least supplementing) the human effort with automatic systems. Text mining can be used for a variety of scopes, ranging from basic descriptions of text content through word counts to more sophisticated uses such as finding links between authors and evaluating the content of scripts (e.g., automated marking of essays). Its basic purpose is to process the unstructured information contained in text data in order to make text accessible to various Data mining statistical algorithms. This could help make text data as informative as standard structured data and allow us to investigate relationships and patterns that would otherwise be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to discover. This study takes a quick look at how to organize and analyze unstructured text data using R programming language. And implementing various text mining operations to clean and structure the “eng_news_2020” dataset. This study also represents some association between the words using the chi-square test and clustering procedure.

Techniques, Methods, and Analysis of Text Mining: A Review

Recent technological advances have led to the availability of new types of observations and measurements that were previously not available and that have fueled the ‘Big Data’ trend. Along with standard structured forms of data (containing mainly numbers), modern databases include new forms of unstructured data comprising words, images, sounds, and videos which require new techniques to be exploited and interpreted. This study focuses on Text Mining, which is a set of statistical and computer science techniques specifically developed to analyze text data. New sources of text data are now available, such as text messaging, social media activity, blogs, and web searches. The increasing availability of published text, sophisticated technologies, and growing interest in organizations in extracting information from text have led to replacing (or at least supplementing) the human effort with automatic systems. Text mining can be used for a variety of scopes, ranging from basic descriptions of text content through word counts to more sophisticated uses such as finding links between authors and evaluating the content of scripts (e.g., automated marking of essays). Its basic purpose is to process the unstructured information contained in text data in order to make text accessible to various Data mining statistical algorithms. This could help make text data as informative as standard structured data and allow us to investigate relationships and patterns that would otherwise be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to discover. This study takes a quick look at how to organize and analyze unstructured text data using R programming language. And implementing various text mining operations to clean and structure the “eng_news_2020” dataset. This study also represents some association between the words using the chi-square test and clustering procedure.

Reliability of the Reflective Essay Marking Scale (REMS): a scale for marking of students’ reflective essays

Abstract Personal practice (PP) is widely practised and a requirement across major psychology and psychotherapy organizations and modalities. However, one of the challenges for training institutions is how to assess the quality of such PP. The Reflective Essay Marking Scale (REMS) was developed to improve standardization of marking reflective essays in cognitive behavioural psychotherapy (CBT) training. A small sample of 16 expert CBT participants recruited by email used the REMS to rate two mock reflective essays in a within-subjects design. The internal consistency of REMS was acceptable (Cronbach’s α=.73) with excellent inter-rater reliability. Across the raters, it sufficiently differentiated quality (t12=4.91; p&lt;.0001). Although these are the results of a preliminary and very small study with a small sample using mock essays, the REMS may be a useful scale, allowing CBT courses to account for students’ reflective work in a standardized way. A larger validation study is required in the future. Key learning aims (1) To improve the thinking about what raters should focus on when rating the reflective essays of trainee therapists. (2) To describe the development of the scale and how its reliability was tested. (3) To improve the transparency and objectivity in assessing and rating reflective practice.

Analyzing Items Used in Developing Descriptive Essay Marking Rubrics: Focussing on Vocabulary Use

Driven by the pathological situation caused by this COVID-19 pandemic, this paper discusses the human ideal as argued by Nietzsche in his concept of the Übermensch (Superman). It also exposes the Filipino’s yearning to live the human ideal through “magpakatao” (to be human). Using textual analysis, I attempt to see the similarities and the differences between Nietzsche’s Übermensch and the Filipinos’ “ magpakatao” in order to come up with a synthesized and better concept of human ideal. To be Superman, Nietzsche encourages one to live life on earth to the fullest by rejecting inter alia, Christianity. Opposed to Nietzsche, Filipinos need to surrender themselves to Bathala (God) which at times hinder them live this material world to the fullest in Nietzsche’s sense. However, this paper concludes the relevance of Nietzsche’s philosophy to reconstruct the Filipino notion of “magpakatao.” With this reconstructed notion of human perfectabillity, I believe Filipinos and people all over the world could overcome any challenges that will come in their lives and still live and authentic and meaningful life amid this pandemic.

CRITICAL READING AS AN APPROACH TO ENHANCE ESSAY WRITING IN TAMIL AMONG FORM 2 STUDENTS

This study was conducted to evaluate respondents' writing ability through the Bloom’s Taxonomy 1956 theory using a critical reading approach. This study was based on three objectives: assessing respondents’ essay writing quality before introducing critical reading, assessing respondents' writing quality after critical reading exposure, and examining the perspective of exposing the critical reading approach. There were 10 form 2 students from an intermediate school located in Negeri Sembilan who were enrolled in the study. All data was collected and analysed from a test sheet, questionnaire and essay marking scheme. There are four reading passages used from form one and two textbooks. The respondents were evaluated by a post test to determine the effectiveness of the teaching of learning about critical reading applications in essay writing. This teaching process has been conducted for four weeks and the respondents have improved their essay writing skills with a critical reading approach. At the end of this study it was realized that critical reading approach can improve essay writing.

Secularity and Non-Religion in American Politics: A Review Essay

Political Science QuarterlyVolume 136, Issue 3 p. 547-552 Review Essay Secularity and Non-Religion in American Politics: A Review Essay Mark Alan Smith, Mark Alan SmithSearch for more papers by this author Mark Alan Smith, Mark Alan SmithSearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.13237 Left: POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume136, Issue3Fall 2021Pages 547-552 RelatedInformation

Making sense of cultural bumps: Supporting international graduate teaching assistants with their teaching

ABSTRACT This article reports on a study with over 100 Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs), 69 of whom were international GTAs. We explore their experiences of ‘cultural bumps’ in their transition into one UK University. Following the principles of practice-based enquiry, data collection combined interviews with data generated in workshops, including transcripts, fieldnotes, student feedback and LEGO® models. We focus on three themes of starting teaching, essay marking and classroom boundaries to explore ‘cultural bumps’ where GTAs experience adjustment stresses transitioning into UK higher education teaching. We connect ‘cultural bumps’ to challenges reconciling teaching and researcher roles for GTAs. We conclude with an agenda for research work to further develop our understanding of international GTAs’ experiences.

NUNNIYA VAASIPPU ANUKUMURAIYAI PAYANPADUTTI KATTURAI EZUTHUM THIRANAI MEEMPADUTHUTHAL [IMPROVE ESSAY WRITING SKILLS BY USING CRITICAL READING APPROACH

Based on the Secondary school Tamil language standard curriculum form 2 students must eventually become capable of creating multiple forms of writing. Thus, this study has been conducted to evaluate students' writing ability through the Bloom's Taxonomy 1956 theory using a critical reading approach. This study is based on three objectives that assessing students’ essay writing quality before critical reading, assessing students' writing quality after critical reading, and examining the perspective of critical reading approach. All data were collected and analysed from a test sheets, questionnaire and essay marking scheme. The students were evaluated by a post test to determine the effectiveness of the teaching of learning about critical reading applications in essay writing at the end of this study it was realized that critical reading approach can improve essay writing.

A Study on the Effectiveness of Automated Essay Marking in the Context of a Blended Learning Course Design

This paper reports on a study undertaken in a Chinese university in order to investigate the effectiveness of an online automated essay marking system in the context of a Blended Learning course design. Two groups of undergraduate learners studying English were required to write essays as part of their normal course. One group had their essays marked by an online automated essay marking and feedback system, the second, control group were marked by a tutor who provided feedback in the normal way. Their essay scores and attitudes to the essay writing tasks were compared. It was found that learners were not disadvantaged by the automated essay marking system. Their mean performance was better (p&lt;0.01) than the tutor marked control for seven of the essays and showed no difference for three essays. In no case did the tutor marked essay group score higher than the automated system. Correlations were performed that indicated that for both groups there was a significant improvement in performance (p&lt;0.05) over the duration of the course and that there was a significant relationship between essay scores for the groups (p&lt;0.01). An investigation of attitude to the automated system as compared to the tutor marked system was more complex. It was found that there was a significant difference in the attitudes of those classified as low and high performers (p&lt;0.05). In the discussion these findings are placed in a Blended Learning context.

Writing evaluation in university English preparatory programs: Two universities of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

Scholars have given little attention to testing’s influence on the outcomes of university English preparatory programs (UEPP). Variations on the two main classifications of writing evaluation, the holistic and the analytic were examined. The objectives were to identify the assumptions for inclusion of writing in UEPPs, analyze the skills and abilities tested and finally, to examine the correlation between program assumptions and testing and the potential of different testing methods to impact student motivation. The aims and assumptions of the programs and course materials were analyzed via synchronic and diachronic comparisons of program structures and teaching materials, using two examples from the past and one currently in use. Results revealed that testing instruments designed and used only for grading, failing and promotion of students do not provide constructive student feedback, which is a demotivating factor. Testing and evaluation in general should be primarily constructive and positive. UEPP writing examinations should be evaluated analytically rather than holistically for reasons of fairness and to provide constructive and serious feedback to students. Rubrics should be constructed for the marking of paragraphs and essays to ensure fair and consistent marking in large programs with team teaching. The objective testing of writing skills must be implemented to support instructional goals. Thus, evaluation should be analytical, not holistic. The attention drawn to the linking of student motivation to elements of analytical writing evaluation is the significant contribution of this study.

Using “just in time” online feedback to improve first year undergraduate nursing students’ essay writing performance

Undergraduate nursing students often find essay writing challenging, and feel underprepared, yet the impact of using online feedback to support essay writing has been underexplored. First-year nursing students from a regional university were involved in a project that encouraged them to access an online tutoring service, as part of their development of an essay task. Significant differences were found in students’ final essay marks for those who accessed the online writing support. Students who accessed online writing support were also more likely to be deep, rather than surface learners. The findings indicate that the provision of prompt or ‘just in time’ feedback, using an online feedback mechanism, can greatly enhance students’ essay writing performance.

Using “just in time” online feedback to improve first year undergraduate nursing students’ essay writing performance

Undergraduate nursing students often find essay writing challenging, and feel underprepared, yet the impact of using online feedback to support essay writing has been underexplored. First-year nursing students from a regional university were involved in a project that encouraged them to access an online tutoring service, as part of their development of an essay task. Significant differences were found in students’ final essay marks for those who accessed the online writing support. Students who accessed online writing support were also more likely to be deep, rather than surface learners. The findings indicate that the provision of prompt or ‘just in time’ feedback, using an online feedback mechanism, can greatly enhance students’ essay writing performance.

Investigating a new method for standardising essay marking using levels-based mark schemes

Standardisation is a procedure used by Awarding Organisations to maximise marking reliability, by teaching examiners to consistently judge scripts using a mark scheme. However, research shows that people are better at comparing two objects than judging each object individually. Consequently, Oxford, Cambridge and RSA (OCR, a UK awarding organisation) proposed investigating a new procedure, involving ranking essays, where essay quality is judged in comparison to other essays. This study investigated the marking reliability yielded by traditional standardisation and ranking standardisation. The study entailed a marking experiment followed by examiners completing a questionnaire. In the control condition live procedures were emulated as authentically as possible within the confines of a study. The experimental condition involved ranking the quality of essays from the best to the worst and then assigning marks. After each standardisation procedure the examiners marked 50 essays from an AS History unit. All participants experienced both procedures, and marking reliability was measured. Additionally, the participants’ questionnaire responses were analysed to gain an insight into examiners’ experience. It is concluded that the Ranking Procedure is unsuitable for use in public examinations in its current form. The Traditional Procedure produced statistically significantly more reliable marking, whilst the Ranking Procedure involved a complex decision-making process. However, the Ranking Procedure produced slightly more reliable marking at the extremities of the mark range, where previous research has shown that marking tends to be less reliable.

Leveraging Language: Preliminary evidence from a language-based intervention at the University of Cape Town

This paper assesses the effectiveness of essay tutorials offered to first-year economics students at the UCT (University of Cape Town) in their first language (L1). All students in the study are first-language speakers of an African language. Firstly, using propensity score matching, we econometrically assess the impact of these tutorials on students’ essay marks. Although our sample size is small [n=220], our findings provide preliminary evidence of a positive impact of the intervention on a student’s final essay mark. The results show that the average gain for students who attended an essay tutorial in their L1 was 4.85%, with this result being statistically significant at the 10% significance level. Secondly, students’ perceptions of the tutorials’ effectiveness, as documented by online evaluations and focus groups, are examined. These findings suggest that allowing for unmediated L1 use in tertiary education classrooms can foster inclusivity and promote participation in otherwise largely monolingual spaces.

Research on College English Writing Teaching under the Background of Big Data: Taking Leshan Normal University as an Example

In recent years, online education has been in the ascendant in China’s education market. Among many competitors in this market, the Pigai system, an intelligent online English essay marking system based on big data analysis, is standing out from the crowd. More and more universities, colleges, even middle schools are taking advantage of it. This paper mainly introduces the reform of writing teaching model by utilizing this system in Leshan Normal University. The experiment of the teaching reform has shown that Pigai can shorten the working hours for teachers, develop students’ habit of autonomous study and improve their writing motivation and good language expression ability.

Exploring writing apprehension amongst Afrikaans-speaking first-year students

Writing apprehension relates to a reluctance to write or even fear of writing and little research has been done on this phenomenon in the South African context, especially in terms of compulsory academic literacy and academic linguistic modules. This article aimed at determining the nature of writing apprehension in these two modules in terms of the Daly and Miller’s Writing Apprehension Test (DM-WAT), essay marks and gender at a South African university. The DM-WAT was conducted with two groups of first-year students. An exploratory factor analysis was administered and this led to the identification of four distinct factors which are also associated with related aspects in the literature: positivity towards writing, negativity towards writing, evaluation apprehension and selfefficacy and writing. It is evident that in the context of this study, the chosen instrument could not be used to measure writing apprehension, rather the four identified factors. No linear relationships between essay marks and the identified constructs were clear. Also a practical significant difference between genders was found in terms of the identified constructs. Significantly, students in the compulsory academic literacy module showed a greater tendency towards apprehension in terms of the four identified factors than students from the linguistics module. The chosen instrument could be used to gauge the identified factors. Writing in compulsory academic literacy modules should be taught through individualised student-centred methods, affective support and reflective instruction, positive personal feedback, with additional support through counselling as well as effective modelled writing behaviour from lecturers.

In Final Examinations, Quality of Essay Plan Correlates with The Essay Mark

Despite issues over the assigning definitive marks to essays (Bloxham et al., 2015), they remain a key assessment tool in many programmes (Scouller et al., 2008). Course work is often constructed using word processors but, essays written in end of year examinations are traditionally hand written and time limited, despite evidence that different skills are required (Mogey &amp; Fluck, 2014). We investigated whether planning, that has been suggested to positively contribute to essay quality (Hounsell, 1984), correlated with the mark awarded to the essay. The method was a post‐hoc examination of a complete set of recent final examination scripts for the three Units of the Physiological Sciences programme. Ignoring the mark sheet, so as to remain blind to the mark awarded, each essay booklet was examined to establish if there was an essay plan. Plans were graded according to a four point criteria with a maximum total of 10 marks: Title present = 0 to 1 mark Structure evident = 0 to 2 marks Scope of theplan= 0 to 4 marks Reference works listed = 0 to 3 marksAfter the plans were evaluated, the mark awarded for each essay (the mean of two marks) were taken from the official records of the examination. The essays that did not have a plan were excluded from the analysis.Overall there were 104 essays that qualified. The marks for plan and essay were both normally distributed. The marks for the plan had an average of 4.1 (range 1 to 10) and for the essay the average was 63.8% (range 42 to 94%). Evidence of an association between the mark given for the essay and the plan was determined by a Pearson correlation analysis. A statistically significant non‐zero correlation was found to exist (p&lt;0.001). The Pearson correlation coefficient (r2), which indicates the degree of correlation, was 0.57.In summary, there is a statistically robust correlation between the mark awarded to the essay plan and the mark independently awarded to the essay. The mark awarded to the plan and the mark awarded to the essay were normally distributed and showed a positive correlation with an r2 value greater than 0.5, which is a large effect. The data support the assertion that students who plan their structure of their essay achieve higher marks despite the loss of writing time. Ongoing work will test the hypothesis that planning improves performance in written argument.

What Do Consistency Estimates Tell Us About Reliability In Holistic Scoring?

Essay writing assessment is a largely used test in many examination types. Preferred fortheir “validity and authenticity” (Hamp-Lyons, 2003:163), direct writing tests are prevailing in entrance, placement examinations, as well as in continuous assessment. However, when compared to indirect writing testing, their level of reliability is questioned and their scoring procedures incriminated. True scoring does not exist; errors stem from various sources: theraters, their training, the task (Huot, 1990); rendering essay marking doubtful, and raters’scoring inconsistent. This study reports on a large scale, high-stake writing proficiency test taken by 441 students. The essays were holistically scored on a 7-point scale by 16 raters. ThePearson correlation coefficient was used for assessing the degree of consistency between raters. The coefficientwas calculated for each pair of judges in the 25 groups of students. Results show positive correlation, but consistency in relationship has revealed some degree of variability between the paired samples. The range of correlations fell between .16 and .91. with the majority between .50 and .74. These findings raise issues about the factors that threaten consistency of scoring in writing tests.