Manuscript received March 8, 2023; revised April 27, 2023; accepted June 27, 2023.
Abstract—Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE)
software has gained popularity in the field of writing related
research. Most studies focused on perception and
acceptance of AWEs and improvements in writing. However,
this study was carried out based on the technicality of the
writing which are often discussed as readability. The
objectives of the study are to investigate the improvement in
writing and to compare the results between the control and
the experimental groups. The study employed a descriptive
research design with two groups (control (n=49) and
experimental n=72)) undergoing two tests (pre-test and
post-test). The gap between these tests was 10 weeks where
the control group went on the traditional teaching and
learning method while the experimental group were exposed
and trained to use AWE. Using the Flesch Reading Ease
Scale and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, the readability of
the writings as well as the grade level required to
understand the writings were tested. The findings revealed
that the improvement of the readability in the experimental
group fared slightly less compared to the control group.
However, it is still safe to conclude that AWE does help to
improve writings.
Index Terms—Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE),
readability, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading
Ease, writing
Luqmanul Hakim Zulkornain, Azman Che Mat, and Nurul Ajleaa
Abdul Rahman are with Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti
Teknologi MARA Terengganu, Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia.
*Correspondence: luqman562@uitm.edu.my (L.H.Z.)
Cite: Luqmanul Hakim Zulkornain*, Azman Che Mat, and Nurul Ajleaa Abdul Rahman, "Does Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) Improve Students’ Writing? Focus on Technical Aspects and Readability," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 1656-1662, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).