Reflective practice holds critical importance, for example, in higher education and teacher education, yet promoting students' reflective skills has been a persistent challenge. The emergence of revolutionary artificial intelligence technologies, notably in machine learning and large language models, heralds potential breakthroughs in this domain.…

Teachers' feedback on students' written work is an important aspect of pedagogy. However, theoretical views differ on what constitutes "good" feedback, both among applied linguists and academics in other disciplines. In-depth research needs to be carried out into the contextual difficulties of evaluating and assessing academic…

Uses a student essay and dialog journal entries to discuss problems raised by context in grading student writing. Encourages teachers to rethink the whole system of grading and to discuss their conclusions openly. (SR)

Distinguishes between monitoring and evaluating student writing, discusses the rationale for monitoring, demonstrates monitoring procedures, and summarizes major considerations to remember when monitoring writing. (JAD)

Defines portfolios in terms of their uses in university writing courses. Summarizes teachers' experiences in implementing portfolios in departments that have not adopted portfolios. Reviews common complaints and questions writing teachers have about portfolios. Describes and gives examples of student portfolios. (RS)

Suggests that awkwardness in writing (like good writing) is an interactive nexus of writer, text, and reader and is a matter of subjective judgment. Argues that awkwardness in student writing is a positive sign of a writer's grappling with language complexity. Concludes that awkwardness is rhetorically motivated and therefore complex but…

Proposes that students' problems controlling the rhetorical features of school discourse (inventing a purpose within one's writing that will also serve the external purpose of impressing a grader) are as fundamental to the difficulties of basic writers in college writing as their syntactical and mechanical errors. (SR)

Presents a model that the student can use in analyzing the communication context of the business letter, and in composing and revising the letter. Also provides the evaluator with necessary contextual data. (PD)

Eckerd College in Florida has instituted portfolio assessment in writing classes, a method which invites students to engage in learning on a variety of levels. Portfolios encourage students to consider the responses of various readers in their revision processes, claim ownership of their writing, review the papers they have written in college,…

This paper advances a taxonomy of college writing styles based on a broad spectrum of writing research. The taxonomy focuses on the constructs of deep and surface writing and the role of selfhood in affecting writing strategies and outcomes. It compares constructs such as reflective versus reproductive, hierarchical versus linear, active versus…

Discusses the results of research that suggest there are two distinct "schools of thought" or predilections that influence teachers' judgments in evaluating compositions. (AEA)

While research papers may hold unique challenges for all writers, they are especially daunting for "less experienced" writers because these students often come to college without ever having written a research paper. A study examined several research papers written by students who took part in the Summer Bridge program at California…

Organized in two parts, this book provides specific guidelines and techniques for planning, conducting, evaluating and using the results of a composition testing program. Part One, intended principally for test administrators, describes specific procedures for carrying out the steps in developing a composition testing program. The steps, organized…

Intended to help teachers understand the complexities of the writing process, this pamphlet offers a model for writing conceptualized in three phases: stimulus, process, and product. The process phase is then examined from the perspectives of: consciousness, speed and elaboration, and mental/physical interaction. The following implications for…

Describes a writing assignment designed to help students in large introductory political science classes argue and write effectively. Provides assignment format and criteria for evaluating class papers. Expounds on paper and paragraph structure. Discusses the use of writing tutors and explains grading procedure. (RW)