Research project

Exploring AI application in essay-based assignments: affordances and risks

  • Research groups:
  • Lead researchers:
  • Status:
    Not active

Project overview

This project is supported by University's 2023 CHEP Enhancement Funds. Through in-depth interviews with four participants from the University, this research investigated AI applications in essay evalua?tion, utilising data from 12 AI-generated essays and their corresponding feedback. The aims of the study are to evaluate tutors’ abilities in discerning human and AI-generated essays, as well as evaluating the quality of AI-generated feedback from their perspectives. Findings showed that assessors could detect certain characteristics consistent with AI generation and noted ethical concerns regarding deviations from academic standards. Participants also acknowledged AI’s capacity for swift feedback delivery as compared to human. The results of this study help enhance our under?standing of AI’s affordances and risks in assessment and feedback, particularly in the less explored university essay assignments.

Staff

Lead researchers

Dr Ying Zheng PhD

Associate Professor
Research interests
  • Psychometrics and test validation; Human scoring vs. machine scoring; Statistics in applied linguistics; Comparative Judgement in language testing
  • Mandarin exams in the UK school system, including A-Level and GCSE exams; Mandarin Chinese teachers’ professional development
  • Learner motivation and language teaching pedagogy;?ESL/EFL learner characteristics and test performance
Connect with Ying

Collaborating research institutes, centres and groups

Research outputs