The paper describes the system of rater comments used in an American College Testing (ACT) Program English language test designed for use with Japanese secondary school students learning English as a foreign language. The writing portion of the test consists of two short essays, each scored by two native speakers of North American English, using a…

Arguing that writing assessment and instruction should inform and influence one another, should evolve together, and should be developed locally, this book presents essays that analyze the development of the writing assessment and instruction program at Washington State University. The essays in the book directly challenge the use of national…

A study examined the developmental epistemologies of first-year university students at a comprehensive university, based on the idea that students often come to the university in intellectual transition which may affect their epistemological stances toward writing. The students' comments as reported from a survey fall into seven categories: topic,…

Designed to provide an experience as close as possible to the actual assessment, this paper presents the revised model of assessment in writing for the Michigan High School Test (HST). The revisions incorporated into the paper reflect the testing transition from the High School Proficiency Test to the HST. Session 1 looks at how well students can…

The paper examines an assessment method for measuring students' writing performance. Does Primary Trait Scoring reliably and validly accomplish the administrative, instructional, and evaluative purposes of the writing assessment? The Primary Trait Scoring guide has a few underlying principles: identification of qualities of effective writing;…

Argues that writing in the content areas should be used as a discovery tool, stimulating students' conceptual involvement and prompting them to further investigations. (MM)

Compares the efficacy of objective and holistic writing evaluation, in the context of the freshman writing program evaluation procedure at a west coast university. Indicates that holistic evaluation of writing samples is a far more accurate measure of writing quality and potential. (HTH)

The test scores of college freshmen given both a multiple choice test and an essay test of writing skills were compared to assess the validity of a multiple choice test compared with an essay test. (HOD)

Offers three techniques for helping students learn to revise entire pieces, discover how words work in context, and eliminate errors. (RL)

Examines the relationship between syntactic complexity and quality ratings of narrative and argumentative writing of students in grades 6, 10, and 12. (HOD)

Reviews the importance of assessment in placing students in two-year college composition courses and describes the development of the objective English Qualifying Examination used at Northern Virginia Community College. Includes sample test items. (MKM)

Surveys college students regarding their use of instructor comments written on their papers. Finds all students tend to use comments; no significant correlations exist between students' ability levels and their propensity to review, understand, and use comments; students were likely to review comments if they had to rewrite assignments; and…

Examines issues of writing instruction and assessment as they relate to an approach to English language education, developed in Australia, which emphasizes the importance of the teacher's use of metalanguage to enhance a shared understanding of language among teachers and students. Reviews genre theory and considers its relevance to teaching,…

Formative evaluation of language learning is recommended, using as an example a coding method for correcting errors and indicating progress made on written assignments. The technique focuses on student self-correction and has the additional advantage of helping the teacher monitor instructional needs. (MSE)

A tongue-in-cheek essays argues that if college instructors believe "writing across the curriculum" improves student learning and writing skills, and convince their students, it might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Reading or grading the essays will be unnecessary; students can pretend they have written something, and teachers can pretend that…