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…

Details the history of California's experience with large-scale writing assessment. Describes the introduction, development, and scoring of the California Assessment Program, later renamed the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Discusses controversies over removal of certain writing prompts and objections to CLAS. Notes that funding for…

Describes a study of differences between developmental writing students in associate and baccalaureate degree programs at Ohio's University of Cincinnati. Reports that, although the groups had similar writing skills, significant differences were found in family background, high school English experience, and expectations toward writing. The…

This introduction to Section 1, Part 2 of the theme issue discusses a study that investigated the story-grammar propositions of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Results found that over 50% of the students could not produce the minimal components of a good story. The processes of story production are explained, including schemata…

Describes how simple curriculum-based assessments can be used to evaluate the writing process, the product factors (fluency, content, conventions, syntax and vocabulary), and the writing purpose of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. A process checklist is included that can be used to assess strategies students do or do not use when writing.…

Describes a quantitative study that compared the performance of two groups of advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students in a second semester composition course at the City University of New York (CUNY). Results suggest that students were twice as likely to pass into the second semester course when they were evaluated by portfolio rather than…

Discusses the validity of automated, or computer-based, scoring for improving the cost effectiveness of performance assessments and describes a study that examined the relationship of scores from a graduate level writing assessment to several independent, non-test indicators of examinee's writing skills, both for automated scores and for scores…

Examines composition research in the annotated bibliographies appearing from December 1984 to May 1989 in the journal "Research in the Teaching of English." Considers the question of what has been learned from this large corpus of research. Focuses on topics on which little research has been done and areas in which enough work has…

Compares the written production of 12 sixth grade English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students on 3 teacher-assigned tasks with their writing to the teacher in dialogue journals. Finds that the quantity and maturity of the dialogue journal writing was at least equivalent to the assigned writing on all measures. (RS)

This article discusses preinstructional assessment (PIA) for determining appropriate curricula, particularly oral and written language curricula, for exceptional students. Collection and analysis of oral and written language samples for PIA are described. Ongoing monitoring of progress in the domain is discussed as a means to make instruction…