Automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems have been increasingly incorporated in L2 writing instruction. However, how the instructional use of AWE influences learners’ writing has remained inconclusive partly due to variations in heterogeneous learners. Underpinned by a sociocultural theory, this classroom-based study was to understand how English learners of different proficiency levels differed in their written products measured by complexity, accuracy and fluency, multiple revisions, and the perceived usefulness after 15-week instructional use of AWE. The results showed that disparity in writing accuracy of learners with different proficiency levels greatly reduced after the mandatory use of AWE feedback, but syntactic complexity and fluency remained unchanged. Meanwhile, perceived usefulness of AWE feedback was contingent on language proficiency. Limitations and pedagogical implications were also discussed.

自动写作评估（AWE）系统已越来越多地并入L2写作教学中。但是，AWE的教学用途如何影响学习者的写作仍未定论，部分原因是异构学习者的差异。在一项基于社会文化理论的基础上，这项基于课堂的研究旨在了解不同水平的英语学习者的书面产品在复杂性，准确性和流利程度，多次修订以及在15周的AWE教学使用后所感知到的有用性方面所产生的差异。结果表明，强制使用AWE反馈后，不同水平学习者的写作准确性差异大大降低，但语法复杂度和流利度保持不变。同时，AWE反馈的有用性取决于语言能力。还讨论了局限性和教学意义。