An innovative approach for automatically grading spelling in essays using rubric-based scoring

Fazal, A; Hussain, FK; Dillon, TS

An innovative approach for automatically grading spelling in essays using rubric-based scoring

Fazal, A Hussain, FK

Dillon, TS

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 2013, 79 (7), pp. 1040 - 1056
Issue Date:: 2013-11-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Fazal, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Hussain, FK https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1513-8072	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Dillon, TS	en_US
dc.date.issued	2013-11-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 2013, 79 (7), pp. 1040 - 1056	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0022-0000	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/29554
dc.description.abstract	Automated Essay Grading (AEG) is defined as a computer technology that evaluates and scores written prose. A number of AEG systems have been developed since the 1960s and in most of them, an ad-hoc or generalized approach is used to grade spelling even though it is an important element of an essay-scoring rubric. Existing approaches do not therefore give an accurate representation or measure of spelling in essays. According to the rubric-based scoring method used in the National Assessment Program "Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia, spelling is marked in three steps" first, by identifying the correct and incorrect words in the essay; second, by categorizing each word based on the difficulty level into one of four classes: Simple, Common, Difficult or Challenging, and counting the number of correct and incorrect words in each category; finally, by using the pre-defined NAPLAN rubric scale to assign the mark. Only a small number of existing AEG systems can be used for rubric-based scoring, and none can be used to grade spelling according to the NAPLAN rubric. In this paper, we address this shortcoming in the existing literature and present an innovative approach to automatically mark spelling using rubric based scoring. We develop two algorithms based on the rules and heuristics of the English language to formulize the rubric for spelling and then implement these algorithms in Java language and perform a series of evaluations of our system using an essay dataset. Our results are very promising, even though it is the first system of this kind.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Computer and System Sciences	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.jcss.2013.01.021	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Computation Theory & Mathematics	en_US
dc.title	An innovative approach for automatically grading spelling in essays using rubric-based scoring	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	7	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	79	en_US
utslib.for	0805 Distributed Computing	en_US
utslib.for	0802 Computation Theory and Mathematics	en_US
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Computer Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Software
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CAI - Centre for Artificial Intelligence
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	7	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	79	en_US

Abstract:

Automated Essay Grading (AEG) is defined as a computer technology that evaluates and scores written prose. A number of AEG systems have been developed since the 1960s and in most of them, an ad-hoc or generalized approach is used to grade spelling even though it is an important element of an essay-scoring rubric. Existing approaches do not therefore give an accurate representation or measure of spelling in essays. According to the rubric-based scoring method used in the National Assessment Program "Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia, spelling is marked in three steps" first, by identifying the correct and incorrect words in the essay; second, by categorizing each word based on the difficulty level into one of four classes: Simple, Common, Difficult or Challenging, and counting the number of correct and incorrect words in each category; finally, by using the pre-defined NAPLAN rubric scale to assign the mark. Only a small number of existing AEG systems can be used for rubric-based scoring, and none can be used to grade spelling according to the NAPLAN rubric. In this paper, we address this shortcoming in the existing literature and present an innovative approach to automatically mark spelling using rubric based scoring. We develop two algorithms based on the rules and heuristics of the English language to formulize the rubric for spelling and then implement these algorithms in Java language and perform a series of evaluations of our system using an essay dataset. Our results are very promising, even though it is the first system of this kind.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/29554