Investigates experienced university English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) composition instructors' text comprehension when engaged in holistic evaluation of non-native-speakers' (NNS) texts. Concludes that time constraints or use of preestablished rating parameters, do not affect comprehension, and that holistic raters attend to meaning when…

An Iowa school district's inservice program introduced nearly 150 teachers to the writing process to help the teachers be more effective as writers and as teachers of writing. Direct measures evaluate both the writing curriculum and students' improvement in writing: writing samples, each student's cumulative writing folder, and a formal…

Describes a set of strategies for integrating journal writing into the English classroom, and suggests ways to evaluate students' journals. Asserts that these strategies have helped lead many students to lifelong writing. Provides a sample journal evaluation form for students. (MM)

Analysis of how students of English for Science and Engineering use certain categories of nouns in their technical writing projects revealed a significant use of "sub-technical" and "text-structuring" words serving both referential and discourse-oriented functions. The use of matching or cloze-type and open-ended writing exercises to improve…

Although the combination of communicative language teaching and the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations make foreign language learning interesting and practical, the teaching and examining of writing skills in the GCSE do not entirely correspond to the stated aims of the syllabi, a consequence of the potentially harmful…

This article identifies language issues confounding the assessment of deaf students' English writing competence. Possible alternate methods of test administration are explored, and direction for future test development is offered. (Author/DB)

Explores ways people learn from text. Content overlap between a text and the reader's prior knowledge is identified as one factor. Methods are proposed to identify whether a text is suitable for readers with a specific background. The usefulness of coherence gaps that stimulate constructive activities is discussed. (SLD)

Advocates using writing portfolios for reasons ranging beyond traditional assessment. Shows how using writing portfolio evaluation changes the way teachers think about their roles and the ways they view students and student writing. Analyzes data in terms of teachers' changes gathered from teaching assistants initiating a portfolio system. (HB)

Advocates making large-scale writing assessment consistent with the view that writing is fundamentally about making and sharing meaning. Argues that this is possible through a writing portfolio system of assessment. Describes how such a portfolio program was begun at the University of Michigan to assess beginning students. (HB)

Discusses how a high school English teacher expanded the audiences for her students' writing by developing an advanced senior writing seminar and using portfolios, peer evaluation, and parent participation. Notes that a community formed and was held together by mutual respect. (RS)

Describes the development and teaching uses of the Gender-Specific Language Scale (GSLS), an instrument designed to assess recognition of sexist language. Results from three experiments assessing GSLS reliability and validity are presented that suggest that the GSLS measures a different construct than an essay questionnaire used in previous…

Explores the benefits of using a voice-graded writing approach, which offers instructors an opportunity to engage in virtual office critiquing of student assignments. (SR)

Education policy shapers in Vermont are engaged in a statewide innovative assessment of fourth and eighth graders' mathematics and writing progress. The portfolio assessment of mathematics uses student work to assess problem solving and communication skills using seven criteria. This article describes institutes and other training provided for…

Using results for 1,487 West German eleventh graders from the International Study of Achievement in Written Composition, problems related to interrater and intrarater reliability and generalizability of composition ratings were assessed. Results indicate that numerous writing assignments are required to assure reliability. (TJH)

This article compares the results of a linguistic analysis of 30 students' compositions with the holistic ratings of 9 independent judges. The compositions were the examination scripts of 17-year-old high school students drawn from the 2 levels of the Caribbean Examinations Council English Language examinations: General Proficiency and Basic…