Discusses several data collection procedures involved in four manageable writing classroom evaluation measures. (MG)

Suggests that error analysis can be manageable for teachers and instructive for basic writers. Explains five critical principles of error analysis in basic writing: understand students' intentions; set consistent priorities; analyze for clarification of intentions; encourage students to set their own goals; and help students objectify their…

Discusses findings of a survey of college students' preferences in teacher-written evaluations of final drafts. Using results of the survey and other research, makes the following suggestions for improved teacher student communication: (1) omit grades, (2) balance praise with criticism, and (3) resist the impulse to dominate student texts. (JG)

Suggests ways for the instructor to turn evaluation into an open-ended transaction with the student writer rather than a final pronouncement. Suggests that teachers should ask questions of the writer to clarify the rhetorical situation and goal, give the student one piece of advice per paper, and help the student set a reasonable goal for each…

Presents an experimental primary trait rubric designed to assess a writer's support for an argument, and structured as an eleven-cell grid on which a rater can plot a student's score. Describes the grid, and its use in a study of 1,892 eleventh-grade essays. Also describes ways to use the grid to teach invention and arrangement. (JG)