Argues that effective responses to students' papers must have a clear sense of audience, must be sensitive to the writer's subject and rhetorical aims, and must consider the effect of the context on the writer. (MS)

Responding to Dennis Johnston's criticism of his review of Horning's dissertation, the author discusses the inappropriate tone and focus of Johnston's remarks. States that, in reviewing dissertations, both technical presentation and scholarship are important. Argues that good scholarship, as the ultimate goal, should not be down-graded because of…

Offers an argument against increased emphasis on testing, claiming that reading and writing can never be tested because the conception of reading and writing inherent in tests is faulty. Suggests alternatives that are congruent with a more adequate conception of reading and writing. (SR)

Notes that marking student papers is a rhetorical act requiring audience awareness. Describes how thinking of paper-marking as a conversation can make the task both more enjoyable and more effective. (HTH)

Examines reasons for using essay tests in the direct assessment of writing ability. Reviews the steps in developing a large-scale testing program; e.g., creating a pool of topics or prompts; developing scoring procedures; training raters; field-testing the system; scoring writing samples; assessing reliability; and assessing validity. (DMM)

Examines the relationship between two measures of individual differences in social cognition and the quality of eleventh grade students' persuasive writing. Indicates a significant relationship between interpersonal cognitive complexity, abstractness, and quality of writing, persuasiveness, appropriateness of tone, and level of persuasive strategy…

Indicated that students have definite ideas about which commenting strategies on their written compositions help and which do not. Found that students wanted reasons and written comments from teachers as opposed to circles and abbreviations they cannot understand. Showed that high school and college subjects differed significantly on some survey…

Sets forth a "deconstructionalist" approach to writing evaluation that emphasizes the attitude of error analysis. (FL)

Presents observations about grading resulting from discussions between a writing instructor and teaching assistants working in a writing lab. Offers suggestions for grading writing and for getting students to edit their work. (HTH)

Writing has a place in mathematics classes. It can be used to enhance learning by helping students organize their thoughts. How a journal can be used and analyzed are discussed. (MNS)

This paper assessed the relationships among holistic writing ability, the Test of Standard Written English, and four tests of organizational ability. Findings showed a significant correlation between writing ability and the tests. It was concluded that tests assessing organizational strategies ought to be included in assessments of writing…

Contains citations for journal articles, books, dissertations, and materials in the ERIC system on the subjects of writing, language, literature, and teacher education. (SRT)

Reviews the range of data gathered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 1984 concerning the reading and writing levels of 11th-graders. Discusses observable trends, differences between white and minority student scores, student perceptions about their reading and writing skills, and implications of the data for educational…

Describes a study comparing the grading predelictions of English instructors from two- and four-year colleges. Study findings, based on grades given to a set of five themes by instructors from both settings, showed community college instructors to be a letter grade more lenient than university instructors. (DMM)

Reports findings of a study conducted to determine whether the amount of training and experience readers have had in using a particular grading scale correlates with their judgments about the quality of an essay, and whether the amount of training and experience affects the consistencies of their judgments. (EL)