2016 KOTESOL International Conference

Davis Ellis and I presented on our experience using NoRedInk with our academic English writing courses in the English Education department at a university in Seoul, South Korea. Our experiences, as well as the students’ experiences, were overall very good. The presentation provides suggestions for future implementations and one sincere desire to have access to the paid version of the site (still waiting on that one).

Abstract
This study investigated the use of NoRedInk, an online adaptive learning system with a focus on English grammar, by students in a first year writing course in an English Education program at a mid-sized university in Seoul, South Korea. It was noted that students in this course made a broad variety of grammar errors in their writing, which made addressing grammar topics during class time difficult. Previous instructional interventions had been both scattershot and time consuming. The extracurricular use of NoRedInk was seen as a way to address multiple challenges: class time, diagnostics, instruction, and practice. The questions this study addressed were: (1) how did students perceive the implementation of NoRedInk, and (2) did the use of NoRedInk correspond with a reduction of specific grammar errors in student writing. To answer these questions, data—end of course survey/interviews, NoRedInk reports, and student writing pre-/post-intervention assessments—were collected and analyzed. Survey data were analyzed to identify patterns to student perceptions and feedback, with follow-up interviews to further confirm and explore. Data from NoRedInk and the pre-/post-intervention writing assessments were analyzed for change in error rate as correlated with NoRedInk usage and performance. This presentation will detail the implementation of NoRedInk and the subsequent findings regarding student perceptions and performance.