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Did Aristotle Use a Laptop? A Question Answering Benchmark with Implicit Reasoning Strategies
A key limitation in current datasets for
is that the required steps for answering the question are mentioned in it
. In this work, we introduce S
QA, a question answering (QA) benchmark where the required reasoning steps are
in the question, and should be inferred using a
. A fundamental challenge in this setup is how to elicit such creative questions from crowdsourcing workers, while covering a broad range of potential strategies. We propose a data collection procedure that combines term-based priming to inspire annotators, careful control over the annotator population, and adversarial filtering for eliminating reasoning shortcuts. Moreover, we annotate each question with (1) a decomposition into reasoning steps for answering it, and (2) Wikipedia paragraphs that contain the answers to each step. Overall, S
QA includes 2,780 examples, each consisting of a strategy question, its decomposition, and evidence paragraphs. Analysis shows that questions in S
QA are short, topic-diverse, and cover a wide range of strategies. Empirically, we show that humans perform well (87%) on this task, while our best baseline reaches an accuracy of ∼ 66
.
Journal Article
Writing to inform
Step-by-step instructions on informative writing: includes researching and getting organized, writing the first draft, making revisions, editing the writing, and sharing your work.
Book
A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Exploration of EFL Learners’ Perceptions of What Contributes to the Readability of Model Paragraphs
This study investigated what features undergraduate EFL learners perceive as affecting the difficulty of model paragraphs. Four hundred and seventy-five Vietnamese undergraduates participated in a partial least squares structural equation model design. They ranked five paragraphs from easiest to most difficult and responded to a 10-point Likert questionnaire regarding 11 features (titles, paragraph length, vocabulary, vocabulary in context, rhetorical organization, paragraph structure, sentence length, punctuation, signal words, interest, background knowledge). The results showed that eight variables (titles, vocabulary, vocabulary in context, sentence length, rhetorical organization, paragraph structure, interest, background knowledge) had a significant direct effect and four variables (vocabulary, sentence length, rhetorical organization, background knowledge) had mediating effects. The model accounted for 0.508 R2 of students’ perceptions, with a moderate to high predictive relevance (Q2 = 0.35). The paper also discusses the results’ implications for those in writing studies and the publishing industry. Suggestions for future study are also presented.
Journal Article
An Analysis of Common Errors Made by Grade 7 Students in Writing English Paragraphs at a Secondary School in Hanoi, Vietnam
Error analysis is a technique that identifies and classifies the inappropriate forms that foreign language learners produce (Crystal, 1987), and it is considered a useful tool for helping them improve their writing skills. The study investigated the secondary students' common errors in writing English paragraphs. During the first term of the school year 2023-2024, 43 grade 7 students from a secondary school in Hanoi participated in a descriptive quantitative research project. The participants were asked to complete three writing tests at three different times to generate their written errors based on Ferris’ (2014) model of error analysis. The findings indicate that the types of errors that grade 7 students made are lexical errors, syntactic errors, morphological errors, orthographical errors, and paragraph errors. Lexical, syntactic, and orthographical errors are greatly committed by the students. Accordingly, it comes to the conclusion that secondary students in general and 7th graders in particular struggle with writing English paragraphs. The results of the research would also give the secondary teachers of English some implications, such as focusing on grammatical patterns, emphasizing irregular instances, offering adequate practice opportunities, implementing explicit instructions, and engaging students in interactive exercises, visual aids, collaborative activities, authentic materials, etc. to mitigate the students' written errors.
Journal Article
Implementing the Process Writing Approach to Teach Paragraph Writing at Birzeit University
The Process Writing Approach focuses on the process of writing rather than the product. The purpose of the research was to explore the effectiveness of the Process Writing Approach in developing EFL students’ paragraph writing skill at Birzeit University/ Palestine. After reviewing previous literature on the topic, the researcher decided to utilize this approach in intermediate English (1201) in the first semester 2021/2022. Participants were randomly placed in an experimental group and a control group. A pre/posttest quasi-experimental approach was employed. Experimental procedures of teaching paragraphs lasted 8 weeks, and paragraphs were evaluated at the beginning and the end of the study. The data obtained from the pre/post writing tests were analyzed descriptively by running a t-test to calculate the differences between the mean scores of the two groups. The post-test findings revealed statistically significant differences in favor of the experimental group. Accordingly, employing the Process Writing Approach proved to be extremely helpful in developing paragraph writing of EFL students. The study recommended adopting the same approach to develop intermediate-level students' writing and utilizing it in teaching essays and various genres as well.
Journal Article
Google Gemini-assisted writing and lexical appropriateness in EFL Paragraph Writing: Evidence of stability across tasks
This study examined the influence of Google Gemini, a generative artificial-intelligence (AI) tool, on the lexical appropriateness of Indonesian EFL students’ paragraph writing. Drawing on theories of lexical richness and appropriateness, the study employed an exploratory quasi-experimental design involving three writing conditions: a baseline task, an AI-assisted revision task, and a delayed post-test without AI support. Fourteen second-year English Language Teaching students (A2–B1 CEFR) participated in the study. Lexical appropriateness was measured using Type-Token Ratio (TTR) and Measure of Textual Lexical Diversity (MTLD), and the data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA to examine differences across tasks. The results revealed no statistically significant differences in lexical diversity across the three conditions, suggesting that short-term interaction with Google Gemini did not lead to measurable improvement in lexical appropriateness. Qualitative observations further indicated that limited vocabulary depth and low metalinguistic awareness constrained students’ ability to evaluate and apply AI-generated lexical suggestions. These findings suggest that lexical appropriateness is reflective, and instruction-dependent process, and that AI tools such as Google Gemini function more as a potential scaffolding partner rather than autonomous enhancers of lexical development.
Journal Article