Enhancing the use of evidence in argumentative writing through collaborative processing of content- based automated writing evaluation feedback

Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) systems have been found to enhance the accuracy, readability, and cohesion of writing responses (Stevenson Wang et al., 2020). However, how learners might collaboratively process content-based AWE feedback remains an open question. This study intends to fill this gap by following a group of five Chinese undergraduate EFL students’ collaborative processing of content-based AWE feedback on the use of evidence in L2 argumentative writing during five writing tasks over a semester. Student collaboration was examined through tracking the recordings of collaborative discussion sessions as well as their written drafts and revisions, and through collecting interview responses from individual learners. The findings revealed that the collaborative processing of AWE feedback was experienced in three phases, namely the trustful phase, skeptical phase, and critical phase. Although content-based AWE feedback could facilitate the development of some aspects of evidence use, collaborative discourses were instrumental in developing learners’ understanding and skills for certain aspects of evidence use that AWE feedback failed to address. The findings suggest that collaborative discourse around content-based AWE feedback can be an important pedagogical move in realizing the potential of AWE feedback for writing development.