Meet the Experts: An Interview with Dr. Atta Gebril
Atta Gabril, The American University in Cairo (AUC), Cairo, Egypt
Interview conducted by Bakheet Almatrafi, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Bakheet: Could you tell us when and how you got into the field of SLW?
Atta: I initially developed interest in L2 writing during my college years as I was fascinated by the complexities of composing in a second language. However, I was exposed to a number of opportunities that have shaped who I am today when I started my doctoral program at the University of Iowa. During this time, I had the privilege of working with outstanding professors and colleagues who contributed immensely to deepening my understanding of L2 writing issues. I was also lucky to work as a research assistant at ACT, INC. (previously known as American College Testing-a leading US institution that develops large-scale assessments), since their headquarters are located in Iowa City where I used to study and live. I had the chance to work on a number of writing assessment projects as I was involved in test development and validation projects. For example, I was involved in a research project investigating validity evidence for a business writing test during my time at AUC. This project attempted to provide construct-related validity evidence and also to look into scoring validity. These experiences led me to writing my dissertation on integrated writing assessment and also to developing a research agenda within the same area.
Bakheet: Could you tell us what kind of research you do?
Atta: I have developed a research agenda that looks into integrated writing assessment issues. Integrated writing tasks refer to those activities in which students / test takers depend on external sources while composing. This is an area that has received growing attention recently in a wide range of instructional and assessment programs, particularly in academic settings. This interest is due to the authenticity of integrated tasks that replicate what we do in academic settings, where writers synthesize information from different sources during composing. In addition, source-based writing provides background knowledge in assessment contexts, which can mitigate topic effects ( e.g., test takers’ performance might be affected negatively by unfamiliar topics) , usually common in traditional writing tests. Given these advantages, a number of language testing programs have included integrated writing tasks in their assessment tools.
However, a host of interrelated challenges have emerged since the introduction of this new task type. Some of these challenges are related to score accuracy in integrated tasks. Others are related to the way test takers (or writers) use sources when working on integrated tasks (discourse synthesis). A third area that has not received adequate attention in the literature is concerned with the criteria raters use to assess integrated tasks. My research projects have attempted to address these challenges, using a wide range of quantitative and qualitative techniques.
Bakheet: Could you share some of the most interesting findings from your recent work?
Atta: I would like to highlight the results of one of my research projects that won the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) Best Article Award: Plakans, L. & Gebril, A. (2017). Exploring the relationship of organization and connection with scores in integrated writing assessment. Assessing Writing, 31, 98-112. This project looked into performance of L2 writers on integrated tasks and investigated the relationship between writing scores, organization, and sub-processes in discourse synthesis. Four hundred eighty responses to an integrated writing task were coded for organizational patterns, coherence, and cohesion in connection to test scores. Organization and coherence features were coded by two raters, while automated analysis was employed to look into cohesion features. In our study, we used Coh-Metrix, a program that offers automated analysis of text features. The analysis included six measures of cohesion based on Coh-Metrix data: Connectives, logical operators, semantic similarity, anaphor reference, argument overlap, and stem overlap. The results indicate that organization and coherence were related to writing score, with their quality improving as score increased. However, the cohesion markers yielded no statistical differences across the score levels.
Building on this study and data from the same project, my 2019 publication in collaboration with Lia Plakans and Zeynep Bilki “Shaping a sScore: The Impact of Fluency, Accuracy, and Complexity on Integrated Skills Performances,” which was published in the Journal of Language Testing, investigated the linguistic features of complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) in integrated tasks. Another study that followed a similar methodology, but using data from a different population (While the first study used data from TOEFL iBT test takers, this study recruited university students from the Middle East), looked into issues related to the influence of textual borrowing on lexical diversity and the difference in lexical diversity across test scores on integrated tasks: “Source-Based Tasks in L2 Writing Assessment: Lexical Diversity, Textual Borrowing and Proficiency.” The results showed that borrowing source vocabulary significantly affects the lexical diversity values in integrated writing. Further, the results demonstrated that lexical diversity plays a critical role in integrated writing performance.
Bakheet: What person or experience has had the greatest impact on your research/career?
Atta: Throughout my research journey, I have received enormous support from so many people, including my research partners, mentors, and colleagues. It is through interaction with those wonderful people, I have been able to grow as a professional and as a human being. When I joined my doctoral program at the University of Iowa I found nothing but support and encouragement from my former professors: Micheline chalhoub-Deville, Michael Everson, and Leslie Schrier. Professor Chalhoub-Deville introduced me to the language assessment field and served as my initial dissertation advisor before leaving for another job. I was fascinated by her depth of knowledge, academic contributions and professional endeavors. Professor Everson introduced me to literacy research and served as my dissertation advisor. I was touched by his generosity, support, and care as he spent most of his summer 2006 reading and giving feedback on my dissertation - something he did not have to do, but he knew that I was leaving for a job and I had to finish before the beginning of the 2006 Fall semester. Professor Schrier taught me the first course on teacher education issues and got me interested in this area as well. She showed genuine interest in her students, even beyond the classroom through supporting personal and professional growth. My first major presentation at the National Council on Less Commonly Taught Languages conference was jointly with both Professor Everson and Professor Schrier. On a related note, It was through my doctoral program that I got to know my research partner, Lia Plakans, who happened to be a graduate student during my time there.Working on research projects with Lia has had a tremendous impact on my scholarly work since we have extensively published together within the area of integrated writing assessment. Her unwavering commitment to rigorous inquiry and research quality has alway been a source of inspiration. I cannot also forget the great role of professional organizations in shaping my research agenda and in offering excellent opportunities for personal and professional development. I have served a number of professional organizations in different roles, including International Language Testing Association (ILTA) and Nile TESOL ( a TESOL affiliate in Egypt).
Bakheet: What is the biggest issue or challenge in the field, as you see it?
Atta: I think the biggest challenge in the L2 writing field these days is how to adapt to the disruptive changes that have resulted from recent developments in AI. Such changes have substantially changed how writing is practiced, perceived, and taught in different instructional settings. One would argue that writing skills targeted in language classes should be revisited. More specifically, language users in the AI era are expected to spend more time on refining AI-generated texts instead of starting from scratch. Given this reality, future research needs to investigate how students compose AI-mediated texts and also to look into the existing challenges in this setting. On a related note, advances in technology in general have also changed the nature of composing in a number of ways. For example, multimodal composing has become more popular, in comparison to traditional print-based composing. This shift in format comes with a host of challenges and also opportunities, and future research should address the evolving nature of composing within this setting.
On a more personal note, I have embarked on a number of research projects looking into issues related to AI-generated feedback in writing classes. This research taps into the nature of AI-generated feedback in comparison to teacher feedback. I am currently working on two manuscripts around these themes that are expected to be submitted to academic journals soon. On a related note, one of my students has just defended her MA thesis that investigated the quality of AI-generated scores and feedback vs those provided by teachers.
Bakheet: As an expert in the field of SLW who has done extensive research and service for the field and community, what would you recommend for someone who wants to develop expertise in SLW?
Atta: This is a great question, as it is always exciting to see more colleagues developing interest in SLW. I think it is critical for anyone who is interested in this field to deepen their understanding of the diverse SLW theoretical perspectives. Such an understanding would serve as a roadmap for any research-related decision making processes. With the fast pace of advances in technology, we also need to make sure that we have up-to-date knowledge and skills. Our professional organizations, including TESOL and its affiliates, provide excellent training opportunities for researchers and practitioners that tap into these issues. On a different note, it is always useful for junior researchers to seek mentorship from more experienced researchers and to also look for research collaborators. One final tip has to do with maintaining a healthy balance between both social and professional life. This is extremely helpful for one’s long-term career success and more importantly personal well-being.
Atta Gebril, PhD, is a professor of Applied Linguistics and associate dean for graduate studies and research at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American University in Cairo (AUC). He obtained his PhD in foreign language and English Language (ESL) Education with a minor in language testing from the University of Iowa. His dissertation work focused on the score generalizability of academic writing tasks. He serves on the editorial boards of Assessing Writing, and Language Assessment Quarterly. His work has appeared in top-tier journals, including Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Testing, Assessing Writing, Second Language Writing, Assessment in Education, Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and Teacher Development. His book entitled Assessment Myths, coauthored with Lia Plakans, was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2015. He received several awards in recognition of his work, including the Scopus award representing the highest-impact scholarship in the field of education in Egypt from Elsevier and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank in 2019, the Best Article Award in the field of language Testing from the International Language Testing Association in 2018 and the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers for his work in the area of applied linguistics in 2023.
Bakheet Almatrafi, PhD, is an assistant professor of Applied Linguistics at the English language institute of Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia. He currently serves as the co-editor of the SLW news. Bakheet’s research and publications focus on L2 writing, academic writing, multilingualism, corrective feedback and language ideology.