Korean EFL College Writers' Perceptions of Criterion

Previous research has reported positive results on the effectiveness of automated feedback programs, and some of the studies stated that Korean EFL writers preferred automated feedback to human feedback. This study explored Korean EFL writers' perceptions of the automated feedback program Criterion. Seventy-two Korean university students whose proficiency levels were intermediate and low participated in the current study and answered a questionnaire at the end of the semester. The analysis of the questionnaire indicated that the participants preferred receiving teacher's feedback during the writing conference to receiving Criterion feedback. The main reason was that they could negotiate meaning during the writing conference if they had questions. However, participants sometimes did not know how to revise their essays with the given feedback from the automated tool because they could not ask for clarification from the automated program. The results of bivariate regression analysis indicated that only one factor, organization and development, contributed to the participants' satisfaction levels of Criterion feedback. The results of this study can provide language instructors and researchers who plan to use an automated tool with information about language learners' perceptions and the strengths and weakness of Criterion.