Assesing Writing

Assesing Writing

1. consider

   • test purpose
     • make inferences about language ability
     • make decisions based on those inferences
   • language use and language test performance
     • test as a construct
     • language knowledge and strategic competence
   • writing as performance assessment
     • strong sense
       • focus on the completion of task that requires language use
     • weak sense
       • focus on the language used
   • test usefulness
     • reliability
     • construct validity
     • authenticity
     • washback
     • practicality

2. characteristics

   • permanence
     • read and reread as often as one likes
   • production time
     • plan, review and revise
   • distance
     • the writer and the reader
   • orthography
     • a limited amount of information
   • complexity
     • longer clauses and more subordinators
   • formality
     • more formal
   • vocabulary
     • variety of words and more lower-frequency words

3. process of test development

   • design stage
     • considerations
       • subject matter
       • stimulus material
       • genre
       • time allotment
       • instructions
       • choice of tasks
       • transcription mode
       • use of dictionaries and other references materials
   • operationalization stage
   • administration stage

4. scoring procedures

   • rating scales
     • primary trait scales
     • holistic scales
     • analytic scales
   • designing the scoring rubric
     • factors to consider
       • Who is going to use it ?
       • What aspect(s) of writing are most important, and how will they be divided up?
       • How many points, or scoring levels, will be used?
       • How will scores be reported?
     • writing scale descriptors
     • calculating total scores
   • design a process for the operational scoring of scripts
   • evaluation