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Author ORCID Identifier

Veronika Barkela: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9704-1153

Miriam Leuchter: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7962-6561

Abstract

We conducted a study with the aim to investigate the effectiveness of automated formative feedback in improving students’ ability to summarize. One-hundred and thirty-eight undergraduate students in an elementary education program were asked to summarize six scientific texts, with the experimental group (N=87) receiving automated formative feedback in a computer-based learning environment (FALB). FALB provides automated feedback about content coverage, copying words avoidance, redundancy avoidance, relevance, and length. Comparing the experimental group to a control group (N=51), results implied that summarizing skills could be fostered when interacting with FALB. In particular, the automated formative feedback promoted the adherence to the predefined length and the avoidance of copying words while maintaining a high content coverage, fostering cognitive processes essential for constructing a mental model of a text. In addition, students in the experimental group were able to maintain high quality summaries in their final session when not scaffolded. In conclusion, FALB supports the alignment of internal standards with external standards and provides an incentive to revise and engage with texts.

First Page

67

Last Page

95

Ethics Approval

Yes

Declaration Statement

Research data availability: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Funding: This project is part of the “Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung”, a joint initiative of the Federal Government and the Länder that aims to improve the quality of teacher training [grant number 01JA2016]. The program is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany. The authors are responsible for the content of this publication.

Conflict of interest disclosure: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Participation consent statement: Both authors declare their consent of participation. VB and ML contributed to the conception and the design of the study. VB organized the database and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. VB performed the statistical analysis. VB and ML wrote sections of the manuscript and revised.

Permission to reproduce materials from other sources: N/A

Clinical trial registration: N/A

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