Examines the degree to which students are allowed to control the interaction, actively participate, and clarify their teacher's responses during student-teacher English-as-a-Second-Language writing conferences. The discussion focuses on how students dealt with the revisions discussed in the conferences and the role negotiation of meaning played in…

Describes holistic scoring as one of the biggest breakthroughs in writing assessment. Suggests that the technique's high interrater reliability coefficients partly explain holistic scoring's popularity. Argues that validity has been largely neglected. Concludes that more must be learned about the uses and effects of holistic scoring. (SG)

Describes the uses and advantages of three feedback techniques for writers of English-as-a-Second-Language. These include peer feedback, involving classmates in evaluating writing; conferencing between the student-writer and the teacher-reader; and written comments from the perspective of a reader, not a grammarian or grade giver. (23 references)…

Investigates whether prompts and topic types affect writing performance of college freshmen taking the Manoa Writing Placement Examination (MWPE). Finds that the MWPE is reliable but that responses to prompts and prompt sets differ. Shows that differences arising in performance on prompts or topics can be minimized by examining mean scores and…

Investigates the work of mentoring as situated within electronic exchanges. Explores strategies used by mentors to communicate their readings and suggested revisions of student texts. Analyzes the mentor responses according to patterns formed and other factors. (HB)

Provides a framework for analyzing the multiple aspects of reader perspective in a teacher's approach to writing instruction. Analyzes one teacher's written comments on her students' papers. Shows how this teacher's responses demonstrated marked differences according to level of student or type of writing assignment. (HB)

Recounts the story of how the writing faculty at Washington State University successfully reclaimed their university's writing assessment program. Argues that writing teachers should be leery of assessment programs made by others, and should create their own assessment tools. (HB)

Reports on an investigation into the types of writing placement that institutions are currently using, in addition to the kinds of writing courses offered. Outlines current writing placement procedures in hope of spurring further professional conversations concerning these practices. (HB)

In this objective scoring procedure for assessing learning-disabled students' writing, a standardized process is used to collect writing samples, which are then scored for number of legible words, total number of words written, percentage of legible words, correctly spelled words, number of correct word sequences, and mean length of correct word…

Discusses "grade inflation," and the pressure on instructors to "play grade roll politics to save their own professional hides." Argues that the grade deflation movement works at cross purposes with its goal of elevating academic standards, and that it is at odds with composition theory and its process pedagogy. Suggests…

Investigated the relative importance of various grammatical and discourse features in the evaluation of second-language writing samples produced by college students enrolled in beginning and intermediate French courses. Three native-speaking instructors of French rated 172 essays using a scale that was constructed by a researcher and based on…

Developed an analytic rating scale for Japanese university students' first-language (L1) expository writing. Devised a questionnaire to investigate Japanese L1 teachers' criteria for evaluating expository writing, and, based on questionnaire results, eliminated or reorganized the descriptions under six analytic criteria. (Author/VWL)

Compares essays composed by secondary school students with pen and paper to those composed on a word processor. Finds that word-processed essays were neater, longer, more formal, and had a weaker voice than pen-and-paper essays. Finds word-processed essay quality was unaffected for students with high to medium computer experience but was adversely…

Describes a creative writing class in which students used hypertext to develop their writing portfolios. Suggests that, much like "Kansas Dorothy" who ventured into Oz, a "tornado" carried these students and their teacher from the safe Paperland to the yellow chip road of electronic portfolios. Notes that students' portfolios…

Transcribes a colloquium among doctoral candidates in rhetoric and composition at the CUNY (City University of New York) Graduate School--participants are also teachers advocating for their students. Discusses current and proposed assessment practices at CUNY. (PA)