Assessment in writing

1. Assessment in Writing

2. What is it?
• The term assessment refers to the use of methods and instruments to
collect information to inform decision making about learning.
• In contrast, a test is just one of many forms of assessment.

3. What do we know of tests?
• Placement tests provide information that is useful for determining
students’ appropriate levels of instruction within a program or
institution
• Diagnostic tests are used to assess students’ strengths and
weaknesses, providing teachers and students with information that
can guide decisions about appropriate instruction to meet students’
needs.
• Proficiency tests are intended to assess students’ ability in a language
independent of a curriculum or specific course content.
• Achievement tests measure whether a student is reaching
instructional objectives.

4. Examples of Teaching and Learning of Writing

5. How does language testing in writing work?
Grammatical
Knowledge
Vocabulary
Morphosyntax
Phonology
Textual
Knowledge
Cohesion
Rhetorical or
conversational
organization
Functional
Knowledge
Ideational
functions
Manipulative
functions
Imaginative
functions
Sociolinguistic
Knowledge

6. Assessment and learning: Summative vs
Formative
Rubric: an assessment tool that includes criteria and levels of
performance
Summative Purposes: Assessment of Learning Formative Purposes: Assessment for Learning
Document learning Scaffold learning
Diagnose learning needs Provide ongoing feedbacks during instruction and/or
student performances
Provide information for communication linkages
among students, families, and teachers
Engage students in self-assessment
Plan and improve instruction

7. Assessment and learning: Types of
Assessment
Based on McTighe and Ferrara (1998)

8. Assessment and learning: feedback
• Feedback is information a teacher or another speaker, including
another learner, gives to learners on how well they are doing,
either to help the learner improve specific points, or to help
plan their learning.
• Feedback can be immediate, during an activity, or delayed, at
the end of an activity or part of a learning program and can take
various forms.

9. Assessment and learning: feedback (cont.)

10. Assessment: How does it work?
• "No single test method can fulfill all the varied purposes for which we
might test“ (Alderson, 2000, p. 203)
• A general guideline is to write directions and questions at a slightly
lower level than that of the targeted language competence.

11. Assessment: Productive Skills
• Speaking and writing are often called productive skills because they
require students to produce language and, in doing so, to create
meaning.
• Unlike the receptive skills, language output is an observable behavior,
at least in terms of student products such as spoken responses or
pieces of writing, and so lends itself to being assessed through direct
measures, particularly at more advanced levels of language
proficiency.
• Performance assessments such as these consist of two components:
(1) a prompt that sets the task for the assignment; and (2) a way of
scoring the language that students produce (remember Rubric?).

12. Assessment: Productive Skills
Sample Speaking
Performances
Sample Assessment Tasks
Learners produce
comprehensible words or
phrases.
• Repetition of words
and phrases provided
by a teacher
• Recitation of rhymes
and poems
Learners produce
utterances in response to
short stretches of
language
• Dialogue completion
• Picture cued narratives
or descriptions
• Pair/group structured
tasks
Learners produce longer
interactive stretches of
discourse.
• Role play
• Information gap
• Interview
Sample Writing
Performances
Sample Assessment Tasks
Learners produce
letters, words,
punctuation, and
brief texts.
• Copying letters or words
• Spelling tests
• Multiple choice
Learners produce
guided writing.
• Reordering mixed-up words into a
sentence or out-of sequence
sentences into a paragraph
• Short answer or sentence
completion
Learners produce
texts.
• Paragraphs
• Texts in various genres (e.g.,
summaries, book reports, essays)

13. Dimensions of tasks for direct writing
assessment
Dimensions Examples
Subject matter/topic Self, family, school, technology, etc
Stimulus Text, multiple text, graph, table
Genre Essay, letter, informal note, narrative, descriptive, etc
Cognitive demands Reproduce facts/ideas, organize/reorganize information,
apply/analyze/synthesize/evaluate
Specification of audience -self, teacher, classmates, general public
Specification of role -self/detached observer, other/assumed persona
Specification of tone, style Formal, informal
Length Less than ½ page, ½ to 1 page, 250 words
Time allowed Less than 30 mins, 30-59 mins, 1-2 hours
Prompt wording Question vs Statement, implicit vs explicit, amount of context
provided
Choice of prompts Choice vs No choice
Transcription mode Handwritten vs word-processed
Scoring criteria Primarily content and organization; primarily linguistic accuracy;
unspecified

14. Scoring
Rubric

15. Portfolio Assessment
• It is a collection of written works, rather than a single writing sample
• Focuses on delayed evaluation—no one-shot writing evaluation
• Generally involves selection of the best pieces to submit
• Must involve reflection and self-assessment
• Measures growth along specific parameters
• Measures development over time

16. Assessment by Students?
• Each member of the classroom community contributes to
transforming classrooms into rich learning environments
• When they participate in the assessment process, students can:
• 1) develop a deeper understanding of what they are expected to learn and do
with language,
• 2) look more closely at their own strengths and weaknesses as they progress
in learning English, and
• 3) gauge their current proficiency against targeted levels of language growth
(in other words, compare where they are with where they want to be)

17. Summary
• Well-planned classroom assessments that are aligned with
instructional aims can provide teachers-and students-with
information about learning taking place in the classroom.
• A myriad of assessment types provide teachers with a range of
creative options for documenting student learning.
• Through formative-assessment processes, both teachers and students
are active participants in the process of achieving learning targets.
• Communication between teachers and students about learning
expectations and performance criteria is a cornerstone to effective
assessment policies and practices.

18. Group Discussion
Note: Create a 3-man group and I need two products:
• Recording of your discussion (have it recorded in Zoom or Whatsapp Group Video Call)
• Written responses (typed in Word)
1. How do you differentiate between assessment and test?
2. Out of four kinds of tests mentioned earlier (placement, diagnostic, proficiency,
and achievement test), describe when do you use each of these tests?
3. What are the differences between summative and formative assessment?
4. What kinds of feedback have you gotten so far in learning language at the
university? How do you think it helps you?
5. In terms of assessment of writing, why do you think the teacher needs to
prepare prompt and rubric?
6. Do you think students need to do their own self-assessment in writing?
7. How do you prepare portfolio assessment?