Drawing upon research on the ways texts work as communication across different disciplines, this study investigated teacher and student feedback practices on three different patterns of writing: comparison-contrast essays, opinion essays, and cause-and-effect essays. The data were collected through three qualitative techniques: interviews, class…

This research investigates the effectiveness of utilizing analytic rubrics in peer-assessment (PA) and self-assessment (SA) methodologies to enhance the proficiency of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students' essay writing skills in the Vietnamese context. It further contributes to the existing body of literature regarding formative…

Although some second language (L2) pedagogical approaches recognize critical thinking (CT) as an important skill, its assessment is challenging because it is not a well-defined construct with varying definitions. This study aimed to identify the relevant and salient features of argumentative essays that allow for the assessment of L2 students' CT…

The release of ChatGPT marked the beginning of a new era of AI-assisted plagiarism that disrupts traditional assessment practices in ESL composition. In the face of this challenge, educators are left with little guidance in controlling AI-assisted plagiarism, especially when conventional methods fail to detect AI-generated texts. One approach to…

It is widely believed that raters' cognition is an important aspect of writing assessment, as it has both logical and temporal priority over scores. Based on a critical review of previous research in this area, it is found that raters' cognition can be boiled to two fundamental issues: building text images and strategies for articulating scores.…

Writing comprehensibly, dynamically, and persuasively in a foreign language is a significant challenge for learners. Written communication assesses language and writing progress for various summative and developmental goals. Scenario-based assessment (SBA), as one of the methodologies of classroom-based assessment (CBA), aims to elicit both…

The literature on using scoring rubrics in writing assessment denotes the significance of rubrics as practical and useful means to assess the quality of writing tasks. This study tries to investigate the agreement among rubrics endorsed and used for assessing the essay writing tasks by the internationally recognized tests of English language…

It is widely believed that human rating performance is influenced by an array of different factors. Among these, rater-related variables such as experience, language background, perceptions, and attitudes have been mentioned. One of the important rater-related factors is the way the raters interact with the rating scales. In particular, how raters…

Achieving a sufficient IELTS band score for academic purposes has been a major goal of many L2 learners around the world, especially those in Asia. However, IELTS writing scores were consistently reported to be the lowest when compared to the scores in speaking, reading, and listening. Despite a growing body of research in IELTS writing, little…

The present study reports the process of development and validation of a rating scale in the Iranian EFL academic writing assessment context. To achieve this goal, the study was conducted in three distinct phases. Early in the study, the researcher interviewed a number of raters in different universities. Next, a questionnaire was developed based…

In writing assessment, finding a valid, reliable, and efficient scale is critical. Appropriate scales, increase rater reliability, and can also save time and money. This exploratory study compared the effects of a binary scale and an analytic scale across teacher raters and expert raters. The purpose of the study is to find out how different scale…

Background: Integrated reading-into-writing tasks are increasingly used in large-scale language proficiency tests. Such tasks are said to possess higher authenticity as they reflect real-life writing conditions better than independent, writing-only tasks. However, to effectively define the reading-into-writing construct, more empirical evidence…

Background: Marking of essays is mainly carried out by human raters who bring in their own subjective and idiosyncratic evaluation criteria, which sometimes lead to discrepancy. This discrepancy may in turn raise issues like reliability and fairness. The current research attempts to explore the evaluation criteria of markers on a national level…

Background: While numerous articles on Criterion® have been published and its validity evidence has accumulated, test users need to obtain relevant validity evidence for their local context and develop their own validity argument. This paper aims to provide validity evidence for the interpretation and use of Criterion® for assessing second…

Background: For language teachers, using rubrics has become the norm in assessing performance-based work. When using rubrics, one question stakeholders have is to what extent teachers are true to the rubrics. For classroom teachers, the correct use of rubrics is crucial. Rater training and rater calibration are not commonly offered to…