The Use of Grammarly with Native English Speaking Students in a First-Year Writing Class

Presenter: Norah K. Russell

Faculty Sponsor: Patricia Lynne

School: Framingham State University

Research Area: Education & Educational Research

Session: Poster Session 3, 1:15 PM - 2:00 PM, Auditorium, A87

ABSTRACT

Last spring, in my Composition Theory and Pedagogy class, I discovered that very little research exists on native English speakers' use of Grammarly. While much research exists on English Language Learners (ELL) or Second Language Learners (L2), I want to look at the gap in research on native English-speaking students and Grammarly. ELL research finds that students use Grammarly to learn about the language, not just correct errors (Sanosi, 2022; Fitria 2021; O’Regan et. al. 2010). However what little research there is on native English speakers finds more grammar corrections and proofreading ( O’Neill, 2019). My study is happening this semester, and I am examining students' work in a Composition 1 writing class. I will be coding for errors (e.g., comma splices, spelling, diction) in two pieces of writing, one from the first week of class before the intervention of Grammarly. The other will be from the middle of the semester, after the intervention of Grammarly. After the two writing pieces have been collected, students will fill out a survey on how much they used Grammarly over the course of the semester. I expect that students will learn from the corrections that Grammarly offers and be able to use it to correct basic sentence errors. This research will be able to help inform teachers at different grade levels about how Grammarly is useful in students' learning.

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