ERIC Number: EJ982601
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0735-6331
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
On the Reliability and Validity of Human and LSA-Based Evaluations of Complex Student-Authored Texts
Seifried, Eva; Lenhard, Wolfgang; Baier, Herbert; Spinath, Birgit
Journal of Educational Computing Research, v47 n1 p67-92 2012
This study investigates the potential of a software tool based on Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA; Landauer, McNamara, Dennis, & Kintsch, 2007) to automatically evaluate complex German texts. A sample of N = 94 German university students provided written answers to questions that involved a high amount of analytical reasoning and evaluation. LSA-based evaluations were compared to evaluations of six human graders. Results showed that LSA-based evaluations agreed as well with human graders as human graders agreed with each other. Agreement of human graders and LSA-based evaluations did not differ depending on the standard of comparison used by LSA, that is, whether scoring was based on one single text ("gold standard") or on a sample of previously scored assignments ("nearest neighbors"). Moreover, LSA-based evaluations of students' assignments predicted students' results in a final exam. These results show that LSA can support university teachers in giving feedback and grading complex German texts. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Computer Software, Computer Software Evaluation, Computer Uses in Education, Computational Linguistics, College Students, Assignments, Feedback (Response), German, Writing Evaluation, Validity, Interrater Reliability, Prediction, Student Evaluation, Essays, Educational Technology, College Instruction, Comparative Analysis, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A