Cambridge offers free cloud-based automated writing anaylsis

Wouldn’t it be great if students’ essays could be marked automatically using a software program, and thus reduce the workload of teachers? This idea is close to being realised as Cambridge English has recently launched Write & Improve, a cloud-based program that analyses a student’s writing and gives feedback on vocabulary, spelling, grammar and writing style.

The student goes to the Write & Improve website and picks a topic which can be something as simple as writing a letter to a friend, or a harder task such as writing a descriptive essay on a student’s favourite possession. The student then submits the essay through the website and it is sent to the cloud which then processes the essay using an algorithm that assesses the quality of the student’s writing. The student is then able to get immediate feedback on the level of English and how to improve his or her writing.

The amazing feature of this service is that the more essays that are sent to the cloud, the better the service becomes because “it captures data and distills meaning from that”, according to Saul Nassé, Cambridge English Language Assessment chief executive, at the service’s launch held at the English Australia Conference in Hobart, Australia.

Cambridge English stress that the service is a “rich English resource” and is there to aid teachers as a supplementary service, but it cannot replace the vital work they do as marking still requires the human touch.

In the future, Write & Improve may include additional paid-for services.

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