Data‐driven learning: English as a foreign language writing and complexity, accuracy and fluency measures

Abstract Background Data‐driven learning (DDL) has been regarded as one of the promising approaches that could effectively enhance writing performance of English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Although extensive research has been conducted on the use of DDL in developing various aspects of writing skill, there exist only few studies to date that focus on DDL for revising writing despite its great potential for revision. Furthermore, among the existing studies, very few investigated DDL at revision stage by referring to complexity, accuracy and fluency (CAF) measures which are objective and reliable indices of writing quality, and none has examined these three CAF measures jointly as an index of writing development. Objectives With the purpose of addressing these gaps, the present article describes an instructional design which integrates DDL into the writing process of EFL learners who were taught how to exploit corpus data in revising their writings and then reports on the effects of such a design on their actual learning outcomes as measured in CAF. Methodology In a quasi‐experimental between‐group pre‐test/post‐test design, 31 tertiary level EFL students were divided into experimental (DDL) and control (non‐DDL) groups. Experimental group was instructed on corpus consultation to revise their writings while the control group followed the conventional practices of using dictionaries, textbooks and teacher explanations in revising their writings. Writing performance of each group was analysed based on CAF measures and compared through one‐way between‐group multivariate analysis of covariance. Results and Conclusions The findings showed that DDL used for writing revision had a significant, positive effect on fluency and lexical complexity as DDL group outperformed the non‐DDL group in producing lexically diverse and fluent writings. However, no statistically significant evidence was found favouring the effect on DDL on accuracy and grammatical complexity.