This study examined the relationship between direct (essay) and indirect (objective) assessment of writing skills using 320 college students in remedial courses as subjects. Correlations and results of factor analysis are discussed. (MT)

The purposes of this study were to see if an objective composition test could be constructed that would correlate positively with grades on written compositions and to investigate the effects of native language background and total language proficiency on written composition skills. The objective composition test that was constructed consisted of…

This series of 10 brief information sheets on study skills discusses topics of interest to secondary and college students. The topics are: (1) Better Study Skills for Better Grades; (2) Listening in the Classroom; (3) Taking Notes during Classroom Lectures; (4) Getting the Most from Your Textbooks; (5) The Cornell Note-Taking System; (6) How To Do…

An area of current concern is that of the advantages and disadvantages of measuring writing proficiency directly via writing samples, and indirectly via objective tests. Much research has been completed documenting the correlation between direct and indirect measures. However, there had not yet been a systematic and detailed conceptual analysis…

An investigation of: (1) the relationship between the American College Test (ACT) English Usage Test scores and demonstrated writing proficiency, and (2) the relationships between and among other objective tests and writing proficiency was undertaken, using three samples of college freshmen. Although results indicated a moderately high…

Points out that the most evident way of measuring students' understandings of writing is to have them analyze or synthesize a piece of writing. (MB)

Data were collected for a brief objective English test, the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE), and for subsequent essay writing performance in four institutions. Data were then pooled across the four institutions and subclassified into four groups: males, females, majorities, and minorities. The groups were then compared with respect to TSWE…

Standardized tests of writing ability have individual and shared limitations and deficiencies that should be acknowledged by test designers and users. Most institutions use the portions of standardized tests that test ability to proofread and edit, but they do not use the optional essay sections that actually require students to write. To assure…

Although by traditional measures of test validity, the verbal section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is not culture biased, it, along with the English Composition Test and the Test of Standard Written English, reinforces a narrow view of academic excellence that excludes culturally different youths. Designed to prevent admission errors, the…