Assessing Writing

Grading a piece of writing isn’t an easy task for examiners. Graders usually follow a holistic approach when grading a composition. In other words, they read through the writing test with a careful eye on content, language, and form and then decide on the overall grade/mark. This approach is easy and economical in terms of time and effort, but it isn’t without its drawbacks. It’s not accurate and the grade might sometimes be affected by the teacher’s attitude towards their students and their performance over the course. 

To avoid being biased, teachers should exchange their students’ exam papers and use writing criteria, which include scales from exemplary to limited performance. Several writing books include a writing rubric to be used by teachers in the assessment stage. An efficient rubric shows examples of good and limited writing outcomes with marks for each part. The teacher/grader could follow the rubric as a guide when grading. 

My advice is to attach a copy of the rubric with each test with marks on both and give them to the examinees. When teachers return their students’ graded writing tests, they can explain the given mark according to the rubric. So students check what went well and wrong with their writing. Even better, students should use the rubric themselves when writing a composition during the course to familiarize themselves with the features of a successful piece of writing.

Here is the writing rubric used to assess the IELTS writing exam, task two. 

Giving Effective Feedback on Students' Writing Work

Giving effective feedback on students’ writing work is as important as the writing activity itself. Apart from guiding and motivating the students in the writing process, teachers usually have to respond and correct their learners’ compositions and writing assignments and return them later. The dilemma is that most of the students throw returned writing tasks away and rarely focus on the teachers’ comments or corrections. Many students don’t bother to read through their writing again. However, we can turn this feedback stage into a student-centered learning experience by involving students in correcting and reformulating their own compositions. 

What to focus on? 

When responding to students’ writing work, teachers could focus on one or all three categories: language, content, and form. Grammar and lexis relate to language; task completion and organization relate to content; whereas, layout and punctuation relate to form. Students need to know which area the teacher is focusing on to give it a special emphasis when writing. A successful composition comprises good language, smooth transition from one idea to another, and features of the target layout and correct use of punctuation.

What to correct or highlight? 

It is a good idea for teachers to be selective when correcting their students’ mistakes. That depends on the students’ level and previously taught language area and semantic lexis. For example, if the students have written about their last holiday, teachers could logically focus on past tense verbs and vocabulary used in the topic of holiday. It is best if teachers discuss what to focus on with the students beforehand. Other times, the teacher might ask the students to focus on the organization of the ideas and punctuation, for instance. In order not to demotivate students, teachers should also praise the good language and ideas students have produced in writing, and there is no need to correct mistakes beyond their level. For instance, a teacher could write or say “I like the bit about your being able to read at an early age, but I don't understand what you mean by with my family”. Or “I love your story and the superb use of comparative adjectives. However, you still need to watch out for verb tenses a bit more”. 

Feedback on Language: 

I mentioned in a previous post about teaching writing that students can respond to and give feedback on their classmates’ compositions as a way of peer-editing and support. But if the teacher gives feedback, she can do it in different ways. The teacher could simply cross out the mistakes and write the correct versions above them. But this technique proves to be teacher-centered and not involving students in any cognitive work. A better way to provide feedback and involve students is to use correction symbols. To make their lives easier when they get the feedback, students should get a copy of the correction symbols with some training on how to use them. The teacher writes the correction codes above the mistakes and asks students to identify mistakes and correct them themselves. This technique urges students to think about the mistakes they have made and try to correct them by referring to a grammar or vocabulary section in their coursebook, for instance. Once students are familiar with this technique, the teacher can make the feedback more challenging by only underlining the mistakes without referring to the type of mistakes or write the number of mistakes at the end of each line. It is the students’ responsibility to identify or find the mistakes and correct them before they hand in the final draft. 

Feedback on content:

 As I mentioned above, task completion and organization are features of content. I’m inclined to believe that task completion is the most important part/component of a successful piece of writing. Imagine that a student has written a composition using complex structures with sophisticated language but she failed to understand the task. In this case, she would lose most of the points awarded for the task. Teachers should stress the importance of reading and understanding the task first and foremost. Next comes the organization of ideas. Some students tend to write lists of sentences with no connection or apparent coherence. Students need to focus on examples and details that support each sub-idea and connect them logically with one another. Elaborating on ideas and writing adequate details improves the content of the writing. With regard to feedback on content, an effective approach is to write overall comments at the bottom of the paper or at the margins and discuss the feedback with each student face to face if possible.

Feedback on Form:

Form accounts for layout and punctuation. Layout is dealt with by referring students to the models and examples of the genre they are writing within. If they are writing an informal email to a friend and deviate from the layout, you get them to look at an email they have in their coursebook, or show them one to correct any shortcomings with the layout. Write some general comments, eg: be careful with the opening and ending of an informal email. Check the one we studied the lesson before. Or remember to start the email with Dear X,.

 Dealing with punctuation mistakes can be added to the language category above. A correction symbol (p) that indicates punctuation error is enough for students to consider and check the correct use of punctuation.   

Guidelines for Teaching Writing

Writing isn’t the most interesting language skill that teachers usually like to teach in class, nor do student enjoy learning it. There are several reasons for this assumption: students might not be accustomed to writing in their first language (L1), not familiar with the conventions of writing with a particular genre (e.g., formal letter, business report, etc.), and/or usually left alone to conduct the task. Above all, most teachers focus on the writing product, not on the writing process. In other words, most teachers are concerned with what students write, not how they write.  The following basic lesson framework helps you motivate students to write.

•  Expose your students to different texts in the same genre. If students are learning how to write a thank you letter, they need to read more than one example. Analyze the texts and ask students questions about the style, register, grammar, and vocabulary. Draw their attention to the conventions and features of writing a thank you letter; for example, how to start the letter, where to add the address, and how to close it.
• Give a purpose to the writing task; tell students that they might need to write something similar in a form of a letter or email in the future. Therefore, they need to practice writing a thank you letter similar to the ones they have read and worked on. Give a time limit and allow them to consult their dictionaries but only for a few words. Encourage them to spread their linguistic wings and try to use recently-learned items to integrate grammar and vocabulary learning with writing. Circulate and monitor as students are writing. Give them guidance and suggestions on how to improve their texts regarding organization, content and topic-related words.
• Once students have finished writing, advocate peer-editing. Have students work in pairs to check and comment on their colleagues’ work. Let them feel that their work is worth reading and, in this case, another learning experience is set in motion. Next, have students write their final drafts to pin them up on the board or the walls. Ask students to mingle and read all the drafts if time allows and vote for the best composition. Finally, lead an open-class discussion on the best composition eliciting why it is the best.

Building the writing habit

Even when you follow the aforementioned procedure, some students might still be reluctant to work on their own or seem at loss when they write. For this reason, you need to build the writing habit by enthusing and engaging students in the writing process. Make your writing class interactive, collaborative, and communicative. ‘Sugar-coat’ your writing lesson with the following four activities:

• Put students in groups of five or six, preferably sitting in circles. Ask each student to write the first sentence of a story/paragraph and then passes the paper on to the person on the left to write the second sentence. The students continue this way until they finally come up with five/six different stories. Next, they choose the best story to edit and modify before reading it to the whole class.
• Students can write virtual emails or text messages to each other in class. Ask students to text each other or write emails to decide on what to do on the weekend. You most probably need to review the acronyms and style used in text messaging or features in neutral/informal emails before students start writing.
• Another way to add a variety to the wiring activities and make them more engaging is to add pictures in the writing process. Put students into small groups and provide them with several pictures. Ask them to choose four or five pictures and construct a story around them. In the end, students read their stories and explain the connection among the pictures in an open-class feedback.
• Another activity that includes a visual prompt is that students watch a video and write a scene expecting or imagining what will happen next. Students work in pairs or groups to discuss and generate ideas about the next scene before writing about it. Then they read their scenes to the whole class and vote for the best one.

The last two activities appeal to most students with different learning styles as they include looking at pictures or watching a video (visual), listening to others (auditory) and discussing their ideas (interpersonal).

Varying the interaction patterns and the writing activities turns the writing class into a more productive, enjoyable learning experience. However, preparing students for writing exams needs individual work. So, the closer the exam is the more individual work should be done.