Discusses how examination of the assessment criteria in a basic writing program prompted fruitful, continuing program evaluation and change. Reports that the assessment study validated efforts to deemphasize grammar and spelling instruction in basic writing courses. (MM)

Researchers' interests in direct-writing assessment are traced, and conclusions are drawn about how far such research has come in the last 15 years. Focus is on the concerns evident in the bulk of the work done on writing assessment and on the direction in which writing assessment is moving. (SLD)

Provides strategies designed to help both mainstream and underrepresented students meet the rhetorical demands of placement exams and gain control in these situations. Describes the University of California Santa Barbara's Preparatory Program which serves a large, culturally diverse student population, acknowledges the variables embedded in the…

Presents an exercise designed to nullify student claims of subjectivity in the grading of essay examinations. Asks students to grade sample essay questions according to specific criteria. Discusses benefits of the exercise. Provides sample essays and answers, and illustrates the difference between analytical and narrative answers. (RW)

Discusses the use of computers in two college European history seminars. Students were required to perform online database searches to prepare their bibliographies, and to check their writing mechanics using a mainframe computer software package. Concludes that student-generated data searches should be included in required historical methods…

Examines the readability levels of two current children's periodicals and two nineteenth-century periodicals. Finds the language skills used by children writing poetry and letters to the editor have not declined over the last century. Finds nonfiction and recreational fiction articles to be more difficult in the nineteenth century. (RS)

Compares the teaching of writing to shipbuilding, where no craftsman would be expected to teach and evaluate shipbuilding had he never built a ship. Maintains that writing teachers must be writers. Describes seven essential writing skills which are also the basis for both instructional strategies and evaluation practices. (SR)

Offers a rationale for assessing entering students writing skills. Argues that locally developed writing skills tests are more valid than commercial tests. Suggests that teachers draw on their own experiences when constructing tests, develop holistic scoring guides, and involve a broad range of educators, parents, and students in scoring the…

Suggests that error analysis can be manageable for teachers and instructive for basic writers. Explains five critical principles of error analysis in basic writing: understand students' intentions; set consistent priorities; analyze for clarification of intentions; encourage students to set their own goals; and help students objectify their…

Describes a collaborative-writing assessment system that rewards each student both for the group's performance and for individual participation. Presents a survey of student attitudes toward an assignment incorporating the assessment system, and reveals that students perceived the assessment as fair and effective. (MM)

Examines science textbook language and determines some characteristics of them: distant authorial voice, concern for precision, limited context, limited syntax, and rhetorical model. Suggests three further researcher needs. (YP)

Agreement between two independent reviews of each of 278 manuscripts was compared on an overall recommendation and on specific rating items. Agreement between reviewers on separate dimensions, the unweighted sum of the dimensions, and various weighted sums was no better than that for the overall recommendation itself. (SLD)

Describes a writing assignment incorporated into the requirements for a production/operations management course. Provides an evaluative procedure for this assignment based on the analytic approach to writing. (MM)

Describes an experiment designed to determine the reaction of employment interviewers to local lexical and syntactic errors in business and technical writing of non-native speakers of English. Reports that these judges find local syntactic errors more serious than local lexical errors. (MM)

Illustrates the strength of the Socratic method by showing its applicability to a troubled student. Discusses feedback in the process-oriented approach to writing instruction, examining the purpose, nature, and focus of response. (MS)