This study aimed to comprehensively investigate the impact of a word-processor on an ESL writing assessment, covering comparison of inter-rater reliability, the quality of written products, the writing process across different testing occasions using different writing media, and students' perception of a computer-delivered test. Writing samples of…

Accuracy in the scoring of writing is critical if standardized tasks are to be used in a national assessment scheme. Three approaches to establishing accuracy (i.e., consensus, consistency, and measurement) exist and commonly large-scale assessment programs of primary school writing demonstrate adjacent agreement consensus rates of between 80% and…

The IELTS test is widely accepted by university admissions offices as evidence of English language ability. The test is also used to guide decisions about the amount of language study required for students to satisfy admissions requirements. Guidelines currently published by the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes…

Based on the premise that teachers gain useful insights by considering what students notice when evaluating a written text, this pilot project reports on the implementation of an evaluative activity with one group of students and considers the implications of the results for classroom practice. Thirteen students in a university-level Spanish…

This study investigated the effect of the portfolio assessment strategy to teach and assess writing performance of EFL third year students enrolled at the 3rd Secondary School, Skaka (Al-Jouf region). The purpose of the study was to determine whether a specific portfolio assessment model was effective in helping the students to improve their…

This study of 20 preservice teachers in a secondary English methods course explored whether materials on diversity, information about language of wider communication, and literature from parallel cultures would have a positive effect on their ability to fairly assess work by high school students from diverse populations. At the beginning of the…

In the Dutch Educational Assessment Program, the students' language proficiency is measured in grade 9, at age 15. Writing performance is measured through several performance-based writing tasks, rated on numerous aspects such as content, style, organization, punctuation, spelling and grammar. As a consequence, national performance levels are…

This teacher's guide was developed to help teachers improve learning by incorporating writing into mathematics instruction. The document is divided into three sections. The issue of why writing should be utilized in the mathematics classroom is addressed in the first section. The topics discussed include why students should utilize writing in…

This guide provides descriptions of standards for assessing students' skills in French as a second language, accompanied by samples of student work in the four language skills (listening comprehension, reading comprehension, writing, and speaking) at each of nine competency levels. An introductory section discusses basic principles in reporting…

This study investigated the collaborative interactions of junior high school boys (N=36) with learning disabilities while engaged in writing stories using a word processor. Half the subjects were of Anglo-American background and half of Mexican-American background. Each subject worked in two dyads, ethnically homogeneous and ethnically…

The rubrics are designed for productive use (speaking and writing) of English and Spanish in two-way bilingual immersion programs. The rubrics were developed by classroom teachers working in elementary school Spanish partial immersion programs, in consultation with a special education teacher, reading specialist, middle school partial immersion…

A study examined the feedback associated with "author's chair" to determine the opportunities provided for students to learn about literacy. Subjects, six boys and three girls between the ages of 8 and 10 in a self-contained classroom for students identified as learning disabled, were exposed to a process-oriented approach to writing instruction…

This packet contains selected papers from a conference on writing centers: "Inner-City Writing Centers in St. Louis Public Schools" (Carmen Charleston); "Non-traditional Students in the Writing Lab" (Marilyn Cozad); "Cooperation between the Writing Center and Student Support Services" (Coralyn Dahl and Rita Worrall);…

Articles in this journal issue focus primarily on evaluation in the language arts and oral communication. Following an introduction to the two themes, the articles discuss the following: (1) pop quizzes in literature, (2) holistic scoring, (3) self-evaluation strategies in prewriting and rewriting, (4) what not to do in student/teacher…

This research examined the results from direct and indirect writing assessments to determine the most effective method of discrimination. The New Jersey State Department of Education developed a test for ninth-grade students which was designed to measure the ability to apply writing mechanics to written text and to communicate effectively in…