Magazine de las Ciencias: Revista de Investigación e Innovación

Eficacia de los Sistemas de Retroalimentación Automatizada en la mejora de las habilidades de Escritura Académica en inglés

Erika Paola Garcia León — 2026-01-04

The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of automated feedback tools on improving academic writing in English among university students, considering direct effects and explanatory mechanisms associated with mediating and moderating variables. A quantitative approach was applied with a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design and control group with a population of 140 fifth-level students from the Language Center of the Technical University of Babahoyo, distributed in two parallel groups (control and experimental). The intervention integrated automated feedback platforms (Write & Improve, Grammarly, Ginger, and Quilbot), and grammatical accuracy, coherence-cohesion, syntactic complexity, and lexical range were evaluated as dependent variables; intensity and type of feedback were evaluated as independent variables; and self-regulation and motivation toward writing were evaluated as mediators. The analyses included descriptive statistics, t-tests for related and independent samples, ANCOVA controlling for the pretest, and mediation models. The results described showed increases between the pretest and posttest, highlighting the intensity of feedback (M = 49.96 to 65.30) and grammatical accuracy (M = 69.76 to 79.39). In the experimental group, pre-post comparisons showed significant improvements in all dimensions (p<0.001), and the posttest comparison between groups confirmed significant advantages for the experimental group (p<0.001), with relevant mean differences in grammatical accuracy (MD = 18.07) and coherence-cohesion (MD = 17.38). The ANCOVA showed very significant adjusted differences by group when controlling for pretest, defending the effectiveness of the intervention. Additionally, mediation indicated that self-regulation partially explained the relationship between feedback and writing indicators (indirect = 0.049; 95% CI [0.013, 0.085]; p=.007). Taken together, these findings support the notion that automated feedback significantly improves the quality of English writing and that its impact is enhanced by self-regulation processes.

Estrategias pedagógicas y su influencia en el mejoramiento de la participación e interés por el aprendizaje de los estudiantes en el aula

Byron Jesús Arévalo Velásquez — 2025-01-04

La investigación se centra en la desmotivación estudiantil como problema central en contextos educativos vulnerables, este fenómeno multifactorial se manifiesta en subproblemas interconectados como bajo rendimiento académico, escasa participación, falta de apoyo familiar, problemas de disciplina y distracciones constantes, la totalidad de casos, con uso excesivo de celulares y bostezos, agravados por metodologías tradicionales transmisionistas post-pandemia que priorizan memorización mecánica sobre comprensión inferencial y crítica.

Fundamentado en la Teoría de la Autodeterminación (TAD) de Deci y Ryan (2000), el estudio postula que la desmotivación surge de necesidades psicológicas básicas insatisfechas —autonomía, competencia y relatedness (relaciones)—, alineándose con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS 4: Educación de calidad) y directrices del Ministerio de Educación ecuatoriano para equidad e inclusión. Los objetivos generales analizan la influencia de estrategias motivadoras en participación e interés, mientras que los específicos diagnostican causas pedagógicas/familiares, identifican factores desmotivantes y proponen intervenciones prácticas, guiados por la pregunta rectora: "¿Cómo influyen las estrategias pedagógicas motivadoras en la participación e interés por el aprendizaje?", bajo un ciclo de investigación-acción (Kemmis y McTaggart, 1988). La metodología mixta emplea triangulación: cualitativa vía observación participante a través de una ficha de comportamientos en aula; y cuantitativa mediante encuesta estructurada utilizando la escala de Likert; aplicada a una muestra total de 38 estudiantes de educación básica/secundaria de un universo: 356 alumnos. Los resultados son alarmantes: promedios motivacionales críticos (1.8-2.7/5), con 40-68% de respuestas negativas en ítems clave: "Me siento motivado durante las clases: 1.9, 65% negativo"; "Clases interesantes: 1.8, 68% negativo"; "Participo activamente: 2.1, 58% negativo") y observaciones confirmando 89.5% de baja atención, 94.7% de pasividad en actividades, fracaso de dinámicas como Kahoot y entornos monótonos con un mobiliario estático, flujo unidireccional. La discusión triangula datos para validar una crisis de engagement (80% indicadores negativos), atribuida a innovación pedagógica escasa y factores socioemocionales, recomendando transitar a pedagogías activas: gamificación (Kahoot adaptada), aprendizaje basado en problemas (PBL), trabajo cooperativo, retroalimentación positiva y auditoría pedagógica (ISO 21001). Se concluye que estas intervenciones restaurarán motivación intrínseca, elevarán participación 20-30% en semanas, reducirán deserción y generarán modelos replicables para políticas institucionales, fortaleciendo formación docente y ciudadanía crítica en redes educativas locales.

Reflection, Metacognition, and Self-Assessment as Strategies to Improve the Academic Performance and Transform Beliefs in English Language Learners

Marta Cecilia Álvarez Peña — 2026-01-04

In contexts of the technological era, Education 4.0 has been shaped into active, reflective, and authentic models. Learners are now required to master skills and competences that not only help them adapt and thrive in more demanding academic contexts, but also prepare them for professional and personal ones. In the same vein, Reflective learning, integrated with metacognitive strategies and self-assessment constructs have been studied even more since its effectiveness and success in the educational setting. This article has addressed two research questions: a) To what extent do Metacognition and Self-assessment influence the improvement of students’ English performance? and b) To what extent does Reflective learning transforms students’ prior beliefs and conceptions about English learning, as well as the role that the students themselves play in this process? For this purpose, a mixed-method design was applied, with qualitative and quantitative instruments such as pre and posttests based on rubrics, and pre-post surveys. Findings have evidenced a statistically significant improvement in students’ language performance (MD=-2.14), and how the incorporation of those strategies has presented a potential effect on these improvements (Cohen’s D=1.67; p<0.001, highly significant). In addition, learners’ beliefs and conceptions toward learning have been transformed positively into a more active and student-centered model orientation. Therefore, studies with control groups on the same topic are recommended to be considered to contribute to this field of study with more in-depth investigations. Finally, this study has implications for a higher-level education context, with a focus on its effects on teaching English.