Reflexiones y percepciones sobre la evaluación automatizada del discurso escrito

Abstract

espanolEste articulo presenta reflexiones y percepciones acerca de un potencial problema en la ensenanza y aprendizaje de la escritura en el ambito escolar y universitario: su evaluacion con instrumentos computarizados. El conflicto entre esta evaluacion y la realizada por humanos puede constituir motivo de debate y analisis, como ya lo es en Estados Unidos. Alli, varios experimentos han intentado automatizar las evaluaciones de composiciones escritas. Sin embargo, los resultados han sido insatisfactorios desde el punto de vista tanto de los investigadores como de los estudiantes, a cuyos productos escritos se les ha aplicado dicha evaluacion. Este articulo, por tanto, surge de la inquietud por indagar las percepciones de estudiantes universitarios acerca de su disposicion a recibir retroalimentacion y evaluacion de sus composiciones escritas a traves de un instrumento automatizado. Para recabar esta informacion, se les solicito que contestaran en linea si estarian dispuestos o no a someter la evaluacion de sus trabajos escritos a una computadora con la posibilidad de agregar comentarios. Las respuestas y los comentarios fueron categorizados como positivos, negativos e indecisos. Las negativas obtuvieron la mayoria, seguidas de las positivas y las indecisas. Se concluye que faltan estudios de mayor envergadura que exploren las percepciones tanto de estudiantes como de profesores de produccion escrita para obtener resultados mas consistentes y que las instituciones que decidan. EnglishThis article describes the thoughts and perceptions regarding a potential problem when teaching and learning writing skills in school and university environments: assessments of writing using computerised instruments. The conflict between this assessment and the one carried out by humans may be subject to discussion and analysis, as it has been in the United States, where several experiments have attempted to automate written compositions. However, the results have been unsatisfactory according to both the researchers and the students whose written output had been subjected to such assessment. Therefore, the present article aims to enquire into the perceptions of university students with respect to their willingness to receive feedback and evaluations on their written compositions through an automated instrument. To gather this information, students were asked to respond online as to whether they would be willing to subject their work to evaluation by a computer, including the option to add comments. Responses and comments were classified as positive, negative and undecided. Most of them responded negatively, followed by positive and undecided votes. It can be concluded that there is a need for further in-depth studies exploring the perception of both students and professors to obtain more consistent results. In addition, institutions that opt to use automated instruments to assess written assignments should explain its advantages and disadvantages.