A study designed a model for evaluating college writing programs by means of an analysis of the most important component, students. The study was conducted at the University of South Carolina Coastal Carolina College and involved first-year students. Subjects, six students who scored one (on a scale from one to four) on the holistically scored…

While the roots of students' fear of writing go deep, students fear most the surface of writing. They fear that a person's language indicates the state not only of the mind but of the soul--thus their writing can make them look stupid and morally depraved. This fear of error and lack of confidence prevent students from developing a command of the…

Urging teachers of poetry writing to better understand themselves as writers and readers, this book "interrogates" a strategy teachers might employ in reading and evaluating student poems. A thoughtful study of a teacher is presented while in the process of evaluating student poetry through the lenses of four different contemporary…

The transformation of private to public writing not only challenges student writers, but teachers of writing. The most important assessment of writing takes place in the transaction between writer and reader--among peer readers who are actively writing themselves. Faculty should not relinquish responsibility for assessing written products, but a…

A study examined the effects of gender-linked features of writing upon raters' judgments about writing quality. Sixty-four subjects were interviewed: 32 teachers and 32 freshman composition students. Subjects were asked to evaluate two essays, one written by a woman and one by a man. In interviews, the subjects were asked to: (1) offer suggestions…

A study compared results of a 1990 survey of educators to determine growth in knowledge and use of portfolio assessment. The study aimed to report the reactions and feelings of educators who use or may plan portfolios. A total of 173 educators from Illinois enrolled in a literacy workshop sponsored by a midwestern reading association answered a…

A study investigated what can be learned about the strengths and weaknesses of students' writing from direct assessment of writing performance and knowledge of overall student performance. In the first part of the study, all 13 school districts in Alaska participated in an interdistrict writing assessment procedure intended to measure the overall…

To determine the extent of influence that a reader's perspective as a member of a specific audience has on the assessment of student writing, a study examined the holistic judgment and the positive and negative comments made by four different types of writing evaluators on 40 different letters, each of which was written to one of four audience…

It is possible to use writing assignments in college psychology courses as a means of teaching subject matter and writing without substantially increasing instructor workload. There are two sets of strategies for dealing with the problem of limited time and energy, one pertaining to the writing assignment itself, the other to evaluating such…

Designed as a criterion-referenced scale to describe levels of writing skill development for basic essay elements, this instrument provides separate six-point rating scales for general competence of a narrative essay and the levels of development of focus and organization, support, and grammar/mechanics. The mechanics scale includes a brief guide…

Designed as a criterion-referenced scale to describe levels of writing skill development for basic essay elements, this instrument provides separate six-point rating scales for general impression of the quality of an essay, general competence, coherence, paragraph organization, support for main ideas, and mechanics. Validity, reliability and…

There are three types of contexts subject to evaluation of student writing; the textual context that influences grammatical acceptability and the rhetorical effectiveness of a sentence; the coded context or cultural constraints such as generic and stylistic conventions; and pragmatic contexts that unite form, function, and setting in a…

A study was designed to determine what student factors contributed to the 36% failure rate on a required competency test in writing at Southwest Texas State University and to assess the perceived impact of this test requirement on both faculty and students. Data were collected to establish a student profile of the student most likely to fail the…

A study examined the relationship of positive and negative evaluation statements to specific evaluation criteria, student characteristics, and type of writing. Subjects, 27 fifth-grade students, were asked to read samples of their own writing and writing attributed to a fictional peer. During tape-recorded interviews, the subjects were asked to…

A study explored the written compositions of elementary school students (ages 6-14) and the vocabulary they use. Compositions were written by a large national sample of over 4,000 children, who were given free rein to write whatever they wanted; thus the study provides status information on the vocabulary that children currently use. The study…