Towards a Computerized Linguistic Assessment of Formal Writing

The purpose of this research is to present the application of grammatical metaphor (nominalization) and some other formal English features in such written texts as formal reports or research papers that can lead to the formation of computer-assisted assessment. The study begins by presenting the definition of a formal report as a written text and categorizing them as more complex than the oral discourse of word-of-mouth conversations. It next reviews the concepts of systemic functional theory by which the oral communication form is transformed from speech to literature. It then provides the nominalization in details, considering some aspects of systemic functional theory such as discourse makers, meta-functions and information packing. The study also includes an survey of 1000 written academic texts to find out the ratio of nouns to verbs, and mentions how students’ the awareness of using informal and formal English is raised in their writing reports. The research focuses on the survey of a group of the students in an English-medium university whose English level is between intermediate and early advanced, resulting in the tentative writing of a software program that benefits both teachers and students. It concludes with suggestions for further research using the application to investigate gaps in knowledge of computer-based natural language processing.