The journal Science has an interesting article Computers as Writing Instructors, an article that stirred up a conversation on the WPA listserv. Some of the concern relates to what Richard Haswell, a professor emeritus of English at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, stated in the article:
One peril, says Haswell, who has studied both traditional and electronic measures of writing, is that the programs pick up quantifiable indicators of good writing--average sentence length, for instance--yet ignore qualities such as whether an essay is factually accurate, clear, or concise, or whether it includes an element of wit or cleverness. "Those are all qualities that can't be measured by computer," he says.
When I read such statements, I wonder if supervisors worry about architects using computers to create and modify designs because computers can't measure the aesthetic qualities of the design. The computer is a tool. Of course, any tool can be abused. And if all teachers did were to use the program for assessing student writing and never offered their own feedback, that would be a problem. Still, no one seems to worry about architects using computers.
Flow
One thing I see as good about such tools, if they work (which is a requirement, of course), is that they incorporate conditions of flow, a state of intrinsic motivation, such as:
- immediate feedback
- clear goals
- focused attention
- tasks that challenge (without frustrating) one's skills
Motivation is crucial in engaging students to spend time on their writing, to work at improving it. (For more on motivation and flow, see Engagement and Flow.)
Immediate Feedback
Although learning and instruction may meet conditions 2-4, seldom is immediate feedback given in composition classes. In one semester, students might write from three to six essays, depending on the instructor, which means that feedback on essays is given every two to three weeks. In addition, the feedback of peer reviews generally takes place hours after the last version, unless a student pulled an all-nighter for an 8:00 am class. In this case, most of the feedback will be seen through a haze. The feedback of instructors usually occurs days later after they have looked at all of them.
The importance of immediate feedback with cognitive tutors has been demonstrated in teaching LISP, algebra, and geometry. In their abstract, Anderson et al. write,
Early evaluations of these tutors usually but not always showed significant achievement gains. Best case evaluations showed that students could achieve at least the same level of proficiency as conventional instruction in one-third of the time.
Those "best case evaluations" are in the lab where there are no distractions, but even in real classrooms, Anderson and Schunn (pdf) have found achievement gains equal to one letter grade. Learning is directly due to time on task, that is, practice. (Of course, practicing the wrong tasks leads to mislearning.) Thus, providing immediate feedback helps to eliminate wasted time in trying to figure out how to do something, which in turn, decreases the time required to learn a particular activity.
Now, writing is a fuzzier than math. Math usually has a correct answer, while writing doesn't. But perhaps by limiting one's focus to particular aspects of writing, such as coherence, cognitive tutors like WriteToLearn may be of help to students in developing their writing.
Interaction
Alex Reid, however, questions interacting with computers instead of with other students:
The Science article explains that these computer programs are necessary because teachers cannot read and respond to as much student writing as the students should be doing; so the machine reads them instead. Hmmm.... what other possibilities could there be I wonder? .... Maybe the other students? Maybe the could be reading each others' work? Maybe they could even actually be writing to one another? Maybe they could be using these networks to write to other students around the world? Maybe they could be composing texts that were addressed to other humans rather than to machines and which might actually have some real meaning and value?
I think that interaction with others is important for learning, too, but that does not necessitate an either-or dichotomy of interacting with students and others versus interacting with computers. In fact, using a computer doesn't necessarily mean that students are not interacting with others. Anderson et al. wrote,
When students are in the laboratory, they are working one-on-one with the machines, but that hardly means they are working in isolation. There is a constant banter of conversation going on in the classroom in which different students compare their progress and help one another. ... An effective teacher is quite active in such a classroom, circulating about the class and providing help to students who cannot get the help they need from either the tutor or their peers. (p. 200)
In addition, it would seem to be useful for students to have such a program at home when they are alone, according to Anderson and Schunn, because of "difficulties of [self-]generation and dangers of misgeneration." In other words, much time can be wasted in writing to others and also mislearned, with respect to learning specific aspects of writing.
Meaning and Value
As noted above, Reid's thrust is on the "meaning and value" of student writing. However, meaning and value shouldn't be limited to writing to people. It's interesting that just as we don't question architects using computers to aid in creating aesthetically pleasing buildings, neither do we question coaches who have their players practice drills over and over and over to perfect their skills. No one says, These drills don't have meaning. And no one asks, Why don't you just let them play games that have meaning instead of mindless drills? No one does because it's understood that honing one's skills is valuable for playing the game well. And skills like coherence are crucial to writing well.
Meaning and value are relative. What meaning and value do videogames have? Isn't it primarily just for pleasure, part of which derives from improving one's skills. And for that pleasure, people, especially youngsters, can play for hours on end, as can athletes. Supposedly, ex-NBA star Larry Bird felt shooting "200 free throws before school, every day" had meaning and value. From the article, Jenkins' students apparently found the writing tutor meaningful and valuable, as indicated by their improvement in writing:
Jenkins suspects that English language learners (ELL)—educationese for children who speak another language at home—may be among those who can benefit the most from using writing-instruction software. Last year, 92% of his ELL students passed the writing portion of the state assessment test, he says, compared with 31% of his ELL students before he started using the software. That percentage is also well above the statewide ELL rate of 58%.
That's a tremendous difference. Of course, there is a danger of limiting writing to what a standardized test can measure, and of dumbing down instruction, which is well-documented in George Hillocks' book The Testing Trap: How State Writing Assessments Control Learning.
Having said that, although writing with a purpose to others, just like practice, can help to improve one's writing, such an approach has its limits. And to move beyond those limits requires studied practice (see The Expert Mind in Scientific American). And if some computer program can help in that regard, great!
Motivation
As noted above, cognitive tutors, if designed appropriately, can motivate students to spend more time on task, which is the most important factor in learning. Anderson et al. wrote,
Students' own attitudes to the tutor classrooms are quite positive, to the point of creating minor discipline problems. Students skip other classes to do extra work on the tutor, refuse to leave the class when the period is over, and come in early.
How often does that happen in our classes? Students coming in early, not wanting to leave at the period's end, and preferring to do our homework instead of others'?
In their conclusion, Anderson et al. mention an anecdote:
The student, frustrated by restrictive access to the LISP tutor, deliberately induced a 2-day suspension by swearing at a teacher. He used those 2 days to dial into the school computer from his home and complete the lesson material on the LISP tutor. (p. 204)
And the Science article says that Jenkins found similar results with his students:
Maria had more confidence in her writing abilities--and passed the writing portion of the state assessment test. "It's not a cure-all, but what a difference it's made in what the kids have shown they can do," says Jenkins, who began using the software last year.
As Anderson et al. assert, "learning achievement is a very empowering experience," and one that has "meaning and value" to the students.
Values
So, why wouldn't compositionists applaud the use of computers as tutors? Asao Inoue, in his review of the book Machine Scoring of Student Essays: Truth and Consequences stated,
More importantly, most in the present collection do not acknowledge or address (accept [sic] arguably Haswell, Anson, and Broad) a core premise of the book, that what is at issue is a paradox of technology. We already use and need technologies of assessment, yet we are fighting against certain kinds of technologies because they take us in different directions, shape our practices, assumptions, student arrangements, and working conditions in ways we do not value enough to pursue.
This particular technology is too quickly dismissed. Not because it may not work but because present practices and assumptions have attained canonical status rather than being critically re-examined. Of course, we shouldn't uncritically accept new technology, either. But if it meets my values of motivating students to work on their writing and actually helps to improve their writing, then I'm interested in learning more about it.