Assessing Large Language Models for Automated Feedback Generation in Learning Programming Problem Solving

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Silva, Priscylla, Costa, Evandro
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Silva, Priscylla
Costa, Evandro
author_facet Silva, Priscylla
Costa, Evandro
contents Providing effective feedback is important for student learning in programming problem-solving. In this sense, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as potential tools to automate feedback generation. However, their reliability and ability to identify reasoning errors in student code remain not well understood. This study evaluates the performance of four LLMs (GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, GPT-4-Turbo, and Gemini-1.5-pro) on a benchmark dataset of 45 student solutions. We assessed the models' capacity to provide accurate and insightful feedback, particularly in identifying reasoning mistakes. Our analysis reveals that 63\% of feedback hints were accurate and complete, while 37\% contained mistakes, including incorrect line identification, flawed explanations, or hallucinated issues. These findings highlight the potential and limitations of LLMs in programming education and underscore the need for improvements to enhance reliability and minimize risks in educational applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_14630
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Assessing Large Language Models for Automated Feedback Generation in Learning Programming Problem Solving
Silva, Priscylla
Costa, Evandro
Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Providing effective feedback is important for student learning in programming problem-solving. In this sense, Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as potential tools to automate feedback generation. However, their reliability and ability to identify reasoning errors in student code remain not well understood. This study evaluates the performance of four LLMs (GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, GPT-4-Turbo, and Gemini-1.5-pro) on a benchmark dataset of 45 student solutions. We assessed the models' capacity to provide accurate and insightful feedback, particularly in identifying reasoning mistakes. Our analysis reveals that 63\% of feedback hints were accurate and complete, while 37\% contained mistakes, including incorrect line identification, flawed explanations, or hallucinated issues. These findings highlight the potential and limitations of LLMs in programming education and underscore the need for improvements to enhance reliability and minimize risks in educational applications.
title Assessing Large Language Models for Automated Feedback Generation in Learning Programming Problem Solving
topic Software Engineering
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.14630