Suitable for grades K-6, the paper presents guidelines for evaluating various levels of writing ability. Also presented are a description of a four-phase writing process model and a list of components necessary for a good writing program. Characteristics of superior, typical, and weak writing are presented on a continuum according to the student's…

The role of sample papers (i.e., anchor papers, prototypes, range-finders) in holistic evaluation of writing is discussed. When, where, and how many sample papers are to be selected, and who should perform the selection are covered. The process of sample selection should proceed as follows: (1) a general reading of papers by committee members to…

A study investigated two questions regarding the validity of holistic writing evaluation: (1) How well do holistic scores predict sentence length, passage length, and spelling errors in grades 3, 6, and 9 narrative and explanatory writing? and (2) Which model best predicts these variables (across grades within type, or within grade within type)?…

The function of basic writing in the university is to teach students whose language practices are most distant from prestige forms to use language in ways which will enable their advancement in college and in the world outside. In composition studies, the awareness that the intelligent activity of students can produce apparently…

A study examined the semantic modifications students made to their texts in a structured revision task. Nineteen grade 6 students revised a book report they had previously written in class. Students: (1) added or deleted information from their texts in specific places identified by the experimenters through semantic frame analyses; (2) judged…

Writers of all ages and abilities come to the act of writing with three critical needs: (1) they need a commitment of time; (2) they need ownership over their topics; and, most important, (3) they need a response to their personal revelations. Sharing and responding to student writing can take place in writers' circles and writers' conferences. In…

The idea-centered freshman composition program at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, functions not only to meet the immediate needs of freshmen writers, but also to promote the aims of liberal education. The program has three interrelated goals: (1) to engage freshmen writers in "college thinking," defined as giving…

A discussion of the nature and function of interlanguage in second language acquisition draws on research on interlanguage and experiences in teaching German to Finnish secondary students. The theories giving rise to the concept of interlanguage are outlined and compared, and the characteristics of interlanguage are discussed. Special attention is…

Reflecting the large role that writing assignments play in teaching and testing, a great quantity of research and published discussion exists which examines issues in designing writing topics for assessments. Because the immediate purpose of an assessment instrument is to measure students' writing proficiency, writing tasks that push students to…

The "Write a Sentence Test" was developed for use in the evaluation of student writing abilities in association with a project in Memphis, Tennessee. This paper discusses ways of administering and scoring the test, decisions concerning modification of the test, and experiences when the test was administered to sample subjects. All forms…

A study was conducted to establish a process for evaluating the difficulty of different handwritten letter forms. A criterion for calculating difficulty scores was delineated and four sets of letter forms were evaluated: manuscript, cursive, italic, and D'Nealian. Using the criterion, small letters were given a score of difficulty, the sum of…

A study was conducted to determine whether counting correct word sequences is a valid measure of written expression for use in a formative evaluation system for elementary students. A correct word sequence was defined as two adjacent, correctly spelled words that were acceptable within the context of the phrase to a native speaker of the English…

A pilot study was undertaken to develop appropriate writing samples for assessment of composing tasks, to examine the utility and time requirements of scoring keys, particularly regarding their consistency and objectivity, and to study the efficacy of scoring guides. Five classes from second to sixth grade in a school in the Los Angeles Unified…

A consideration of real world language use yields five questions that could prove helpful in assessing student writing achievements: (1) What is the writer's purpose or intention? (2) What audience does the writer have in mind? (3) What are the organizing principles of the piece? (4) What range of experience and knowledge might one reasonably…

Focusing on the teacher's role in helping students to be creative in writing while expressing themselves more clearly, concisely, and accurately, the first four chapters of this guide offer a simple three-step process with strategies for teachers to follow when teaching writing. First, the guide discusses how the teacher can more thoroughly…