Identifies and examines the range of approaches to writing assessment that are influential in Australian classrooms. Highlights the emergence of critical literacy as an assessment project in the state of Queensland, discussing what is involved when writing assessment moves away from personal voice and individual growth concerns to a socially…

Uses essays from the Analytical Writing Assessment of the Graduate Management Admission Test to develop a set of analytical tools to diagnose students' potential problems in MBA (Masters of Business Administration) writing assignments. Finds students learned about problems in their writing and about ways to address these needs, as well as improved…

Practices and underlying assumptions in assessing college students' written performance are examined. Examiners are found to give meaning to, and to construct and reconstruct, student answers using common-sense concepts often involving labelling. Political processes such as power, negotiation, and compromise are also identified. In a climate of…

Compares the discourse knowledge and self-regulation of good and poor writers, as well as the quality and length of their final texts; 48 junior-college students wrote a comparative text. Results showed that poor writers were no more linear than good writers, and no less actively self-regulated their writing. Good writers produced larger texts of…

Suggests that writing centers should conduct more sophisticated evaluations, and should turn to educational program evaluation and select general types of evaluations most appropriate for writing centers. Presents an evaluation which exemplifies and clarifies what is called for in the first half of the article. (SC)

Argues that writing research has not explored the ethical implications of using self-evaluations in classroom and large-scale writing assessment. Explores portfolio cover letters, reflective essays, self-grading, and self-placement as depicted in college composition literature using this postmodern ethical framework. Demonstrates a process of…

Explores how writing instructors at "City University" grappled with crises of standardization in evaluation of students' portfolios. Details the two most severe experiences in multiple breakdowns in the project of standardization: crises of textual representation and crises of evaluative subjectivity. Examines conflicting interpretations…

Presents survey results from 37 different colleges and universities represented in the 13 years of survey results, as compiled by the Missouri Colloquium on Writing Assessment (CWA). Notes the collected data are unique in that the same cohort of schools responded to the same detailed inquiries related to the assessing, curricular design, delivery,…

In a survey of 33 university lecturers and 33 students in a writing course, over one-third of lecturers rated students' writing as poor. Although most indicated that they graded entirely for content not quality, their feedback was heavily weighted toward writing mechanics. (SK)

Claims compositionists misrecognize stylistic and institutionalized conventions of academic discourse in their own rhetoric and in the evaluation of their students. Argues that students should be included in the practices by which compositionists "normalize" these conventions. Suggests how students might be included in the evaluative…

Analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of a project that used a peer group leader to help build bridges between basic writers and academic writers. Discusses the implications for the further use of peer group leaders in basic writing. (NH)

Offers a brief Foucauldian archeological history of the "Journal of Basic Writing." Attempts to (1) describe broad historical features of the construction of Basic Writers' identities; (2) examine instances in which critical disruptions and overlaps of such constructions occur; and (3) explore what such moments reveal about trends and…

Analyzes approximately 4,800 independent evaluations of 796 essays written by 241 students in 13 first-year writing classes at two colleges. Finds very low consistency of holistically scored student performance from essay to essay, suggesting that drawing conclusions from one or even a few writing samples of a particular student is problematic.…

Once students are asked to assess their own writing progress, they will begin to do their best for writing great prose instead of just great grades. Teachers will have to create a grade-free zone, allow students to set their own writing goals, provide a common language such as the Six Traits Model, and provide evaluation and instructional models…

Powers, Burstein, Chodorow, Fowles, and Kukich (2002) suggested that automated essay scoring (AES) may benefit from the use of "general" scoring models designed to score essays irrespective of the prompt for which an essay was written. They reasoned that such models may enhance score credibility by signifying that an AES system measures the same…