2004-8-11
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education
Report.
Last year, a report by a committee of education experts said a
lot of American students cannot write well. The report noted the
concerns of business leaders and teachers. The experts said more
students should have to pass a writing test before they can finish
high school. They pointed out that major college entrance tests are
changing now to include a writing part.
Educators know that teaching students to write well is not easy.
One problem is the amount of time needed to read through large
amounts of work. So some companies have developed computer programs.
These can grade student writing much more quickly than a human can.
Writing tests can also cost less to administer by computer than by
paper-and-pencil.
These computer systems are known as e-raters. They use artificial
intelligence to think in a way like teachers. In the state of
Indiana, computer grading of a statewide writing test began with a
test of the system itself. For two years, both a computer and humans
graded the student writing. Officials say there was almost no
difference between the computer grades and those given by the human
readers.
The entrance test commonly used by business schools, the GMAT,
already uses e-readers. The G.R.E. and TOEFL tests might start;
officials are deciding. The G.R.E. is the Graduate Record
Examination. TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
Systems are also being used to grade writing in college classes.
The computers read a few hundred examples of student writing already
graded by humans. Then the systems compare new essays against those
already examined.
How do teachers feel about all this? Many say machines can never
do the job as well as people can. A computer can find spelling and
grammar mistakes. But these teachers say it can never really
understand what a writer is trying to say. Critics say a program
cannot follow a thought or judge humor or understand a beautifully
expressed idea.
But creators of the programs say computer grading guarantees that
each piece of writing is graded in the same way. They also say the
systems are meant to judge knowledge more than creativity.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy
Steinbach. This is Steve Ember.