Assessing Writing 1

1.
Academic Writing
papers and general subjects reports
essays, compositions
academically focused journals
2. Job-related Writing
messages (e.g. phone messages)
letters/emails
memos (e.g. interoffice)
reports (e.g. job evaluations, project reports)
3. Personal Writing
letters, emails, greeting cards, invitations
messages, notes
calendar entries, shopping lists, reminders
financial documents (e.g. checks, tax forms, loan applications)
MICROSKILLS
Graphemes and orthographic patterns

(Efficient ) rate of speed
Core of words – word order patterns
Grammar system, patterns and rules
Particular meaning – different grammar forms
Cohesive devices
MACROSKILLS
- Use of rhetorical forms and conventions of

written discourse
- Literal and implied meanings
- Culturally specific references in context of
written text
- Writing strategies (prewriting devices,
writing fluency in draft, paraphrasing,
synonyms, instructor feedback)
Copy the following words in the spaces given
Bit bit bin bin
Bet bet din din
Bat bat gin gin
But but pin pin
Oh? Oh? Hello John. Hello John.
Oh! Oh!
Write the missing word in each blank. Below the story is a list of words
to choose from.
Have _______ ever visited San Francisco?
It ____ a very nice ____. It is _____ in ______
summer and ________ in the winter. I ______
the cable ______ bridges.
is you cool city
like and warm the
Fill in the blanks with words.
9:00 ________________ 5:45 _____________
Tues. _______________ 5/3 ______________
726 S. Main St. ___________________________

Choose the word with the correct spelling to fit the sentence, then
write the word in the space provided
1.He washed his hands with _________.
a. soap b. sope c. sop d. soup
2. I tried to stop the car, but the _________ didn’t work.
a. braiks b. brecks c. brakes d. bracks
3.The doorbell rang, but when I went to the door, no one was
_________.
a. their b. there c. they’re d. thair
•Change the tenses in a paragraph.
•Change full forms of verbs to reduced forms
(contractions).
•Change statements to yes/no or wh- questions.
•Change questions into statements.
•Combine two sentences into one using a
relative pronoun.
•Change direct speech to indirect speech.
•Change from active to passive voice.
1. What is the woman doing? 1. 2.
2. What is the man doing?
3. What is the boy doing?
3.
1. She is eating.
She is eating her dinner.
She is holding a spoon. etc
1. Write two sentences, A and B. In each sentence, use the two words
given.
A. interpret, experiment ______________________________
B. interpret, language ______________________________
2. Write three words that can fit in the blank.
To interpret a(n) ____ i.______________________________
ii.______________________________
iii.______________________________
3. Write the correct ending for the word in each of the following
sentences.
Someone who interprets is an interpret_____.
Something that can be interpret is interpret___.
Put the words below into the correct order to make a
sentence.
1. cold/ winter/ is/ weather/ the/ in/ the
2. studying/ what/ you/ are
3. next/ clock/ the/ the/ is/ picture/ to
1. The weather is cold in the winter.

2. What are you studying?
3. The clock is next to the picture.
• Responsive Writing: test-takers are “responding”
to a prompt or assignment.
• Learners can choose among vocabulary, grammar
and discourse, but with some constraints and
conditions.
• Criteria include discourse and rethorical
conventions of paragraph structure and conecting
two or three of them in texts of limited length.
• Genres of texts: short reports, responses of the
reading of an article or story, summaries of articles
or stories, brief narratives and descriptions, and
interpretations of graphs, tables, and charts.
• Extensive, or “free” writing: learners have more freedom to
choose: topics, length, style. Conventions of formatting are
less constrained.
• Genres of texts: full-length essays, term papers, project
reports, theses and dissertations.
• All the rules come into play and the learner is expected to meet
all the standards applied to native language writers.
• From lower-end tasks open-ended tasks.
Paraphrasing
 Eliciting a paraphrase of a sentence or paragraph.
 Conveying the same or similar meaning is primary.
 Analytic or holistics scales may be considered for an
evaluation.
 Informal and formative assessment.
Example
1.-: Original text
“One of the most important elements that the perspective
drawer needs to establish is the horizon line or the eye level. In a
landscape or seascape, the horizon line is where the land or sea appears
to meet the sky. It is important to establish this line even though it may
be obscured by hills or buildings” (Smagula, 2002, p.172).
2.- Paraphrased text

According to Smagula (2002) the horizon line or eye line is an
essential component in the work of prospective drawers. This line,
where the land meets the sea, should be established even though it
may be hidden in some cases.
Guiding the learner without dictating the form of the output.
Outline of the emergent written text.
They may be as long as two or three paragraphs.
They may be scored in analytic or holistic scale.
They are more likely to serve as a way to prompt initial drafts of writing.
An outline is needed.
Example:
Where did the story take place? (setting)

Who were the people in the story (characters)
What happened first? and then? and then? (sequence of events)
Why did________do___________? (reasons, causes)
What did____________think about__________? (opinion)
What happened at the end? (climax)
What is the moral of this story? (evaluation)
• Systematic set of descriptors.
• Overall impression of the student’s work.
• It provides very little information for classroom instructional purposes.
 Advantages:
- Fast evaluation.
- High reliability.
- Scores represent “standards” that are easily interpretated by lay
persons.
- Scores tend to emphasize the writer’s strengths (Cohen, 1994, p.135).
- Applicability to writing across many different disciplines.
 Disadvantages:
- One score masks differences across the subskills within
each score.
- No diagnostic information is available (no washback
potential).
- The scale may not apply equally well to all genres of
writing.
- Raters need to be extensively trained to use the scale
accurately.
• It focuses on “how well students can write within a narrowly
defined range of discourse”
• Emphasizes the achievement of the purpose.
• Lloyd-Jones (1997) suggested a four-point scale for rating the
primary trait (0-4)
• It assesses:
- The accuracy of the account of the original (summary).
- The clarity of the steps of the procedure and the final
result (lab report).
- The description of the main features of the graph (graph
description).
- The expression of the writer’s opinion (response to an
article).
• More accurate used in classroom evaluation.
• Analytical score scale (Brown and Bailey, 1984).
• Categories: organization, logical development of ideas,
grammar, punctuation/spelling/mechanics, style and quality of
expression.
• Importance of organization and logical development.
• The scoring emphasis varies depending on the level.
• It provides more washback.
• It helps to call the writer’s attention to areas of needed
improvement.
• Numerical scores alone are still not suficient for enabling
students to become proficient writers.
Paragraph Construction Tasks
• 1. Topic sentence writing
• specifying the writing of a topic sentence

• scoring points for its presence or absence
• 2. Topic development within a paragraph
• clarity of expression of ideas

• Logic of the sequence and connections
• Cohesiveness or unity of the paragraph
• Effectiveness or impact of the paragraph as a whole
3.
• 3.Development
Developmentof main idea and
of main ideasupporting
and
ideas across paragraphs
supporting ideas across paragraphs
-- addressing
addressingthe topicthe topic
or main idea or main idea
- organizing and developing supporting ideas
- showing facility and fluency in the use of language
- demonstrating syntactic variety
Strategic Options
1. Attending to task
compare / contrast
problem / solution
pros / cons
cause / effect
Strategic Options
2. Attending to genre
- Reports (summaries, article/books reports)

- Summaries of readings / lectures / videos
- Responses to readings / lectures /
videos
- Narration, description, arguments
- Interpreting statitistics, graphics and data
- Library research paper
Test of Written English (TWE)
• Educational Testing Service (ETS), NJ
• Established in 1986
• Internationally available
• Standardized
• 30-minute time limit
• Impromptu
• To test written expression by means of an
essay
• Scored by two trained readers working
independently. The final score asigned is the
average of both
Test of Written English (TWE)
• Evaluation points of the essay:
- topic
- organization and development
- supporting ideas
- facility (fluency, naturalness,
appropriateness)
- grammatical correctness
- lexical choice
Assessment of initial stages in
composing
1. Focus primarily on meaning, main idea
and organization
2. Comment on the introductory paragraph
3. Make comments about the clarity of the
main idea
4. Ignore minor grammatical and lexical
errors
5. Comment on irrelevant features to the
topic
Assessment of initial stages in
Assessment of later stages in composing
composing
1. Comment on the strength of all main ideas
and supporting ideas
2. Call attention to minor grammatical and
spelling/punctuation errors
3. Comment on not clear word choices or
expressions
4. Point out problems with cohesive devices
across paragraphs
5. Comment on the strength of the
conclusion

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1.

Graphemes and orthographic patterns

- Use of rhetorical forms and conventions of

Tues. _ 5/3

726 S. Main St. ___________________________

1. The weather is cold in the winter.

2.- Paraphrased text

Where did the story take place? (setting)

• specifying the writing of a topic sentence

• 2. Topic development within a paragraph

• clarity of expression of ideas

- Reports (summaries, article/books reports)

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