Correcting tool or learning tool? Student perceptions of an online essay writing support tool at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

This paper reports on the initial data from an extension project that intends to further develop Marking Mate, a self-directed assignment writing support programme developed at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) by Eoin Jordan and Andy Snyder. The study explores how students currently use the programme and how they would like to see it being improved. In this paper, we explore the apparent tension between students wanting to use Marking Mate as a correction tool and its potential as a learning tool, with reference to the specific Chinese context of the university. An additional tension between a highly contextualised and locally developed programme (such as Marking Mate), and widely available online tools that allow for potentially similar outcomes (such as Grammarly), is also discussed. It is argued that the programme may be more effective if it is explicitly presented as a learning tool, rather than a correction tool.