NAPLearn Process
NAPLearn is an online Automated Essay Practice and Grading System powered by the Rembiont Essay Analysis Engine.
The aim of NAPLearn is to enable Australian students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to practice essay writing at home in preparation
for their NAPLAN* writing test. The feedback provided on an essay is designed to enable the student together with parents to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of an essay, and
look at areas for improvement.
The grading simulation methodology used in NAPLearn was developed by a research team at an Australian University.
The NAPLearn system makes use of proprietary algorithms using Natural Language Processing techniques and machine learning models to analyse your essays. NAPLearn can detect events in an essay and
determine information density across the essay. We then use this information to assign scores for various NAPLAN* grading criteria.
NAPLearn provides, in addition to a numerical essay score, a comprehensive visual and textual feedback on essay content to enable the student and parents to discuss the strengths and
weaknesses of the essay, and areas for improvement with the student within seconds of the essay being submitted for assessment.
The feedback includes scores for the NAPLAN* grading criteria of:
- Audience
- Ideas
- Character and setting
- Cohesion
- Paragraph
- Sentence Structure
- Spelling
The scores provided by NAPLearn may not be the same as the scores that the essay will be awarded from an actual NAPLAN* test, though in most cases they will be similar. On various tests involving hundreds
of essays the Rembiont Grading Engine had a correlation of 80% to 90% with human markers, which is similar to the correlation between different human markers grading the same essays. The highest variances in
scores are found at the lowest decile and the highest decile of the score ranges. For instance, our technology is limited in recognising clever use of rhetorical devices which would be clearly apparent to
a human grader. Instead, we make use of "proxies" to help determine scores, proxies are metrics which tend to correlate with the quality of the essay.
Using NAPLearn
NAPLearn is easy to use. To practice, a student simply chooses their year group and the essay genre they wish to practice. Once an essay is
complete and written in the area provided the essay can be submitted via the Grade Essay button:
The essay is graded and returned within a few seconds with feedback via the NAPLearn results page. The feedback includes scores for each grading category and grading analysis charts:
Detailed feedback is returned also, this has specific information for the student on how to improve their result, and also a link to a tutorial that has further help on each grading category:
NAPLearn has separate portals for students and parents. Both students and parents can view a list showing all grading results. The NAPLearn Results page can be viewed for any essay by clicking the
View button:
Parents can also view various charts showing their child's grading progress and results over time:
For more information about the Rembiont Essay Analysis Engine that powers NAPLearn, please visit our corporate website www.rembiont.com
* The NAPLAN test program is managed by ACARA. NAPLearn is not an official publication or partner of the NAPLAN program.