Using Coh-Metrix to Analyze Writing Cohesion in Introductory Courses With and Without Learning Assistants

• In Event: 56.081 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 56.081-2 - Critical Thinking, Writing, and Reading

Abstract

Learning Assistants provide one-on-one support for students enrolled in specific university classes. This study employed Coh-Metrix, a computational linguistic data-mining tool, to investigate the effects of having Learning Assistants (LAs) as a facet of instruction on students’ writing ability. Preliminary results suggest that students exposed to LAs display a higher level of textual cohesion in their writings. They also tended to write more paragraphs with shorter sentences in each paragraph, when compared to students enrolled in non-LA courses. However, preliminary results indicate that both groups are associated with similarly low levels of word concreteness, suggesting that exposure to LAs is not related to improvements in students’ concrete vocabulary.

Authors

• Pauline Ho, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Amanda Nili, University of California - Irvine

• Lynn C Reimer, University of California - Irvine