Implications of AES System of Pigai for Self-regulated Learning

Recent preoccupation with Chinese English-as-the-foreign-language (EFL) learners’ unsatisfying writing performance leads to a growing interest in the use of automatic essay scoring system (AES) in EFL writing in China. Pigai (www.pigai.org), being an online AES system specialised for Chinese EFL learners, has been popularised. Yet, research into Pigai is underdeveloped and constrained by simply evaluating its linguistic effectiveness; while this research innovates in investigating the efficacy of Pigai as a self-regulated learning (SRL) instrument to judge whether it should be promoted to benefit Chinese EFL learners’ writing. This study analysed and compared the changes in the quality of texts after revising via Pigai and contrasted learners’ tendency to English writing before and after the use of Pigai, ultimately examining its qualification as a SRL instrument along the sociological, pedagogical and psychological dimensions. Data for this study was collected via an experiment and follow-up interviews with undergraduate Chinese EFL learners. Results suggest that Pigai users achieved improvements in the quality of the texts and showed greater passion and persistence, as well as confidence, oriented to EFL writing. It is thus inferred that Pigai is qualified enough as a SRL instrument and could be applied into Chinese learners’ English writing.