With the advent of English as a global language, the ability to write well in English across diverse settings and for different audiences has become an imperative in second language education programmes throughout the world. Yet the teaching of second language writing is often hindered by the great amount of time and skill needed to evaluate…

A survey of recent texts affirms there is no single, correct way to respond to student writing. The latest discussion reveals variations in what students want, systems instructors use to respond, and types of comments instructors may write.

A long-time detractor of immersion education has been the concern that a substantial proportion of teaching in and about a language other than English might potentially lead to irreparable damage to immersion students' development in English and, hence, their ability to function in an English-dominant society. The assessment in this article,…

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing literature on the foreign language learning of students with LLDs by conducting a comprehensive investigation of the performance of three students in middle school foreign language classes in a suburban school district in southwestern Pennsylvania. More specifically, this study documents…

There are three distinct ways that the metaphor of "clarity" is employed in rhetorical history and in daily interchanges, correlating to three ways of looking at language, in turn correlating to three approaches to teaching writing. What is being proposed is more of a taxonomy than a pedagogy, but this taxonomy is important because of…

The purpose of this document is to provide administrators, teachers, and students with samples of students' writing that exemplify the criteria used to score students' written responses on the June 1993 Grade 3 Language Learning Achievement Test and the written component of the performance assessment administered to a provincial sample of grade 3…

Developed from actual classroom need and field-tested with primary teachers across the country, this how-to book presents the "nuts and bolts" of how to implement a writing program that turns kids on to writing. Throughout the book, three teachers share vignettes about writing sessions in their classrooms. After an introduction and…

A study examined the concerns of five third-grade teachers over the first year of implementation of a district mandate to evaluate narrative writing using holistic scoring. Each teacher collected writing samples from six representative students. Teachers reported their responses throughout the year on two self-report instruments, and they were…

This report contains the results of a survey designed to gather information on issues and concerns in portfolio assessment and on the use of such types of assessment to determine student performance and program or teaching effectiveness. The survey, which contained nine questions, was conducted in three phases. First, the testing directors of each…

In the 1991-92 school year, the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Education conducted a province-wide writing review of Grade 12 students. The purpose was to provide public accountability at the school board and provincial levels, by gathering information on school program implementation and student achievement in English. Results of this survey,…

This handbook is one of a series developed by the Texas Education Agency in response to requests to provide schools with additional information concerning the written composition portion of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). The handbook focuses on exit level grades 9 through 12. Following an introduction, the handbook is in two…

A high school English teacher found that one easy way to keep the idea of positive reinforcement foremost in her mind when she works with students was to use writing portfolios. A Portfolio Assessment project was designed in which portfolios were used in two sophomore and two junior regular English classes. A flexible plan was developed for using…

Educators are expressing the pros and cons of portfolio programs and their assessment. Teachers should be among the policy makers, and teacher-training institutions should bear their share of preparing teachers in all aspects of portfolio programs, including testing. Decade after decade, in both elementary and secondary education, students'…

Anecdotal testimony indicates that grade deflation is encouraged in many colleges and universities, especially in freshman writing courses. As a result, grading down has become a point of pride for some writing instructors. Instead of earning reputations as good, caring, committed teachers whose students do well because the teachers have worked…

This pilot project had four goals: (1) to develop a writing rubric with kindergartners; (2) to have students write to a prompt and record observed behaviors for analysis; (3) to better understand the appropriateness of using a writing rubric with kindergartners; and (4) to form more effective ways for students to be more autonomous in their…