Abstract: As automated essay scoring (AES) and formative assessment are beginning to be implemented in Chinese schools, research continues in an effort to understand and expand the practice. Current research seeks to answer questions such as:
- What is the best way to implement AES in English language classroom in China?
- What kind of support do teachers need to use AES effectively?
- How should we use AES data?
- Can AES be used beyond middle school English language classroom?
In this proposed research, we intend to collaborate with Beijing Foreign Studies University Online Education Institute to recruit 30 Chinese schools to participate in our study. The plan is to select 10 middle schools, 10 vocational education institutes and 10 universities in China to conduct pilot study of English language teaching using CTB's AES product Writing Roadmap 2.0 (WRM). This research is built upon experience and support from CTB China office and from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Since 2007, Yihong Wang, CTB China manager, has experimented integrating WRM in over 10 schools across elementary, middle, high schools, colleges and after school training institutions in China. She has successfully implemented teacher training programs using WRM in Dalian, China. Currently, a scaled up online teacher training program using AES is under planning.
This study is in part funded by Ministry of Education, People's Republic of China as a 3-year National Educational Science Key R&D project. Gaining Chinese government recognition and approval for using CTB AES WRM product as formative assessment tool in Chinese classroom has significant impact on Chinese education improvement and on CTB brand name recognition in China. We will answer some of the above-mentioned research questions in 2010. The deliverables include research report that describes research design, first year implementation experience and initial survey and score data analysis results.
