ChatGPT and TOEFL Writing 2. Did you know that you can use ChatGPT to accurately grade your TOEFL Writing 2: Writing for an online academic discussion? This blog post will show you how!
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a computer program created by OpenAI. It works by reading and understanding text that people type in. Then, it uses that information to write responses that make sense and fit the conversation. It can be used for many different things like answering questions and writing text.
How can ChatGPT help me with TOEFL Writing 2?
ChatGPT can help you evaluate and score your TOEFL Writing Task 2 by analyzing the content, structure, and language of your essay. Here’s how it can work:
- Content Evaluation: ChatGPT can check if your essay addresses the given topic and follows the instructions for the task. It can assess if you have included relevant arguments and ideas, whether they are clear and well-organized, and if your essay has a logical flow.
- Grammar and Language: ChatGPT can analyze the language you’ve used in your essay. It can identify grammar and spelling errors, sentence structure issues, and vocabulary choices. It can suggest improvements to make your writing more precise and fluent.
- Coherence and Cohesion: ChatGPT can assess how well your essay is connected and structured. It can check if you have used transition words and phrases effectively to connect ideas and paragraphs, making your essay easier to follow.
- Scoring Rubric: If you provide ChatGPT with the specific scoring rubric used for TOEFL Writing Task 2, it can assign scores to each criterion based on its analysis. This includes scores for content, organization, language use, and overall quality.
- Feedback: After evaluating your essay, ChatGPT can provide you with feedback and suggestions for improvement. It can point out specific areas where you can enhance your writing and achieve a higher score.
Remember that ChatGPT can be a useful tool for initial feedback and guidance, but it may not be as accurate or reliable as human evaluators, especially when it comes to nuanced aspects of language and context. It’s essential to use ChatGPT’s suggestions as a starting point and consider seeking additional feedback from human experts or practicing with official TOEFL preparation materials to improve your writing skills.
What data should I give ChatGPT so that it accurately grades my TOEFL Writing Task 2?
You will need to provide several pieces of data in order for ChatGPT to know how it should grade your TOEFL Writing Task 2:
- Online Academic Post Instructions
- The professor’s context
- Discussion Post Prompt
- Student A Post Reply
- Student B Post Reply
- Grading Rubric
- Your 100+ word post
Furthermore, you should provide specific instructions to ChatGPT on how to process the data you supply.
Which instructions should I provide to ChatGPT to ensure precise grading of my TOEFL Writing Task 2?
Here are the instructions you can provide to ChatGPT for precise grading of your TOEFL integrated writing practice test:
1. I need you to grade my TOEFL Writing Task 2: Writing for an Online Academic Discussion whose purpose is write a 150-250 word paragraph. The paragraph should use a formal tone typically found in undergraduate college classes:
- The discussion post should begin with an assertion (topic sentence) in which the test-taker states an explicit argument.
- Then the test-taker should agree with one of the discussion posts and then add something new. The writer should use a specific, personal “I” point-of-view example to support the argument.
- The writer should disagree with one of the discussion posts and then provide a personal experience “I” point-of-view example to support his/her position.
- The test-taker should make sure the post is at least 150 words long.
- The writer should use a combination of long and short sentences, with the average sentence length being 20+ words or more.
- The writer should use words with an average character length of 5 or more.
2. The writer will be making a discussion post related to what this professor’s says:
The use of technology in education has become increasingly prevalent. While some educators believe technology should be implemented in the classroom as quickly as possible, others disagree. Discuss the impact of technology on traditional classroom settings and learning methodologies. In your opinion, does technology have a positive or negative effect on learning? Why or why not?
3. The writer will also need to address the requirements of the following discussion post writing prompt:
Your professor is teaching a class on education. Write a post responding to the professor’s question. In your response, you should do the following
-
Express and support your opinion.
-
Make a contribution to the discussion in your own words.
- An effective response will contain at least 100 words.
Here is the writing prompt:
The use of technology in education has become increasingly prevalent. While some educators believe technology should be implemented in the classroom as quickly as possible, others disagree. Discuss the impact of technology on traditional classroom settings and learning methodologies. In your opinion, does technology have a positive or negative effect on learning? Why or why not?
4. The writer will also need to acknowledge and then agree or disagree with student A’s post reply. Moreover, the writer will need to present a personal experience example as supporting evidence:
Technology in education offers numerous benefits, such as enhanced access to information, interactive learning experiences, and personalized instruction. I have used apps in school in the past and they really helped to identify my weaknesses and provide a curriculum that catered to my needs. This would not have been possible in a traditional classroom.
5. In addition, the writer will also need to acknowledge and then agree or disagree with student B’s post reply. Moreover, the writer will need to present a personal experience example as supporting evidence:
While technology can enhance certain aspects of education, it should not replace traditional classroom settings entirely. Face-to-face interactions between students and teachers foster social and emotional development, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. In other words, I don’t think technology has had a negative impact on education, but I believe people exaggerate its benefits and overlook more important educational experiences.
6. Please evaluate this TOEFL writing practice test performance by assigning scores on a 0 to 30 point scale according to this rubric, which corresponds to a perfect score of 5.0/5.0 or 30/30 points. Additionally, please provide individual scores for each category when analyzing the total score.
The response is a relevant and very clearly expressed contribution to the online discussion, and it demonstrates consistent
facility in the use of language.
A typical response displays the following:
- Relevant and well-elaborated explanations, exemplifications, and/or details
- Effective use of a variety of syntactic structures and precise, idiomatic word choice
- Almost no lexical or grammatical errors other than those expected from a competent writer writing under timed conditions
(e.g., common typos or common misspellings or substitutions like there/their)
7. Please grade this online academic discussion post.
I believe that technology outweighs the disagreements made by Mohammed going to the extreme of technology being replaced entirely, regarding losing social skills interactions because the technology streamlined the learning process and guided the professor on her teachings in the classroom. I remembered when technology was an essential resource while I was learning DNA replication on my pharmacy major degree. The subject itself is complicated and the professor brought her laptop and projected a big screen on the wall for us on a wall and showed us a video about the replication mechanism method for DNA synthesis and how the amino acids bond together to form a helice on the DNA process. Therefore, through technology I felt at ease in the classroom because I could follow her teaching while at the same time watching the video. In sum, I agree with Kris’s contributions about the topic, in which she said that we gained an enhancement to access information.
8. Include a line-by-line explanation of what grammar, sentence structure, mechanics, and punctuation corrections were made and why. In addition, please let me know what grammar topics I should be reviewing based on the errors I am making.
9. Offer me a revised version of the paragraph that you think would score 30/30 pts. according to the TOEFL rubrics I have included here.
Can you explain how ChatGPT assessed the essay and share the comments it gave after I entered these nine pieces of information into the ChatGPT tool?
Below is the feedback that ChatGPT provided me with:
I can certainly evaluate your academic discussion post based on the provided instructions and rubric. Let’s begin with the assessment:
- Assertion (Topic Sentence): Your paragraph starts with an assertion, where you express a clear argument supporting technology in education.
- Agree and Add Something New: You haven’t explicitly agreed with or added something new to another discussion post, which is a requirement per the instructions.
- Disagree with a Discussion Post: You haven’t explicitly disagreed with another discussion post either, which is another requirement from the instructions.
- Length: Your paragraph is 197 words long, which meets the specified word count requirement (between 150-250 words).
- Sentence Structure and Length: You use a variety of sentence lengths, including long sentences, which is good for engagement.
- Word Length: You seem to use words with an average character length of 5 or more, as per the instructions.
Now, let’s grade your response based on the TOEFL rubric:
- Relevance: Your response is somewhat relevant to the topic, but it doesn’t fully adhere to the instructions as you didn’t address or engage with other discussion posts.
- Explanations and Details: Your response includes some relevant details, especially when describing your experience with technology in education.
- Variety of Syntactic Structures: You use a variety of sentence structures, including long and short sentences, which is positive.
- Precise and Idiomatic Word Choice: Your word choice is generally appropriate and clear.
- Grammatical Errors: There are some grammatical errors in your response, such as “bond together to form a helice” (should be “helix”) and “her teachings in the classroom” (should be “in the classroom”).
- Common Typos and Spelling Errors: There are no major spelling errors, but some sentences could be rephrased for clarity.
- Overall Coherence and Clarity: The paragraph is somewhat coherent, but some sentences are lengthy and could be simplified for improved clarity.
Overall, your response needs improvement in terms of addressing and engaging with other discussion posts and reducing grammatical errors. To score higher, it should adhere more closely to the provided instructions and exhibit better coherence.
Now, let’s provide a revised version of your paragraph that aligns more closely with the instructions:
“I believe that technology in education has a profound impact, which outweighs some of the concerns raised by Mohammed, who suggests it might replace traditional methods entirely and hinder social skills development. In my personal experience, technology has greatly facilitated learning. For instance, during my pharmacy major, I encountered the complex subject of DNA replication. Our professor effectively integrated technology by projecting visual aids on a screen. This allowed us to visualize the intricate process of DNA synthesis and understand how amino acids formed a helix structure. The use of technology didn’t hinder social interaction; instead, it enhanced our understanding of the topic. I also appreciate Greg’s viewpoint about the importance of face-to-face interactions in education. While technology can’t fully replace the value of personal interactions, it can complement and enhance the learning experience. In conclusion, technology offers invaluable benefits in education, provided it is used judiciously to augment, rather than replace, traditional methods.”
I would score this essay as follows based on the provided TOEFL rubric:
- Relevance (0-5 points): 3 points
- The essay addresses the topic but does not fully adhere to the instructions by failing to engage with other discussion posts.
- Explanations and Details (0-5 points): 4 points
- The essay includes relevant details, especially in the description of the personal experience with technology in education.
- Variety of Syntactic Structures (0-5 points): 4 points
- The essay uses a variety of sentence structures, including long and short sentences.
- Precise and Idiomatic Word Choice (0-5 points): 4 points
- Word choice is generally appropriate and clear.
- Grammatical Errors (0-5 points): 2 points
- There are some grammatical errors in the essay, which affect clarity.
- Common Typos and Spelling Errors (0-5 points): 4 points
- There are no major spelling errors, but some sentences could be rephrased for clarity.
- Overall Coherence and Clarity (0-5 points): 3 points
- The essay is somewhat coherent, but some sentences are lengthy and could be simplified for improved clarity.
Total Score: 20 out of 30 points
This essay demonstrates a reasonable understanding of the topic and includes relevant details. However, it falls short in terms of fully adhering to the provided instructions, contains some grammatical errors, and could benefit from improved clarity.
Michael Buckhoff, mbuckhoff@aol.com
Hi.
Your instruction was accurate and great and super helpful.
Because the last update of ChatGPT is before 2023, it has no idea what ” writing for academic discussion” is? and task2 of TOEFL Writing has changed. And it was impossible to grade my writing for task 2 without your instruction and well-written text. So thanks a million.