Related papers: Characterizing the Influence of Features on Readin…
In order to ensure quality and effective learning, fluency, and comprehension, the proper identification of the difficulty levels of reading materials should be observed. In this paper, we describe the development of automatic machine…
Using NLP to analyze authentic learner language helps to build automated assessment and feedback tools. It also offers new and extensive insights into the development of second language production. However, there is a lack of research…
The widespread use of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESFL) has sparked a paradigm shift: ESFL is not seen merely as a deviation from standard English but as a distinct linguistic system in its own right. This shift highlights the…
Automatic essay scoring (AES) refers to the process of scoring free text responses to given prompts, considering human grader scores as the gold standard. Writing such essays is an essential component of many language and aptitude exams.…
Proper identification of grade levels of children's reading materials is an important step towards effective learning. Recent studies in readability assessment for the English domain applied modern approaches in natural language processing…
The occurrence of unknown words in texts significantly hinders reading comprehension. To improve accessibility for specific target populations, computational modelling has been applied to identify complex words in texts and substitute them…
English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers often struggle to engage in group discussions due to language barriers. While moderators can facilitate participation, few studies assess conversational engagement and evaluate moderation…
A recent study (Kuribayashi et al., 2025) has shown that human sentence processing behavior, typically measured on syntactically unchallenging constructions, can be effectively modeled using surprisal from early layers of large language…
Automatically predicting the level of non-native English speakers given their written essays is an interesting machine learning problem. In this work I present the system "balikasg" that achieved the state-of-the-art performance in the CAp…
English proficiency assessments have become a necessary metric for filtering and selecting prospective candidates for both academia and industry. With the rise in demand for such assessments, it has become increasingly necessary to have the…
Previous studies have shown that enhanced student assessment literacy can lead to improvements in academic performance in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writing. Additionally, psychological factors such as self-efficacy, achievement…
To date, most investigations on surprisal and entropy effects in reading have been conducted on the group level, disregarding individual differences. In this work, we revisit the predictive power of surprisal and entropy measures estimated…
Current Large Language Models (LLMs) are predominantly designed with English as the primary language, and even the few that are multilingual tend to exhibit strong English-centric biases. Much like speakers who might produce awkward…
Our research aims at better understanding what makes a text difficult to read for specific audiences with intellectual disabilities, more specifically, people who have limitations in cognitive functioning, such as reading and understanding…
With the rapid development of large language models (LLMs), the applications of LLMs have grown substantially. In the education domain, LLMs demonstrate significant potential, particularly in automatic text generation, which enables the…
We develop a method that is based on processing gathered Event Related Potentials (ERP) signals and the use of machine learning technique for multivariate analysis (i.e. classification) that we apply in order to analyze the differences…
Readability assessment is the process of identifying the level of ease or difficulty of a certain piece of text for its intended audience. Approaches have evolved from the use of arithmetic formulas to more complex pattern-recognizing…
As Automated Essay Scoring (AES) systems are increasingly used in high-stakes educational settings, concerns regarding algorithmic bias against English as a Second Language (ESL) learners have increased. Current Transformer-based regression…
This article addresses Second Language (L2) writing development through an investigation of new grammatical and structural complexity metrics. We explore the paradigmatic production in learner English by linking language functions to…
The impact of text length on the estimation of lexical diversity has captured the attention of the scientific community for more than a century. Numerous indices have been proposed, and many studies have been conducted to evaluate them, but…