Evaluating Student Writing

Question: What are some basic categories for assessment of student writing?

Answer/Quote: The authors and their English department were unsatisfied with their original rubric for student assessment. They reduced six categories to four: purpose, critical thinking/analysis, intertextuality and audience awareness. “ ‘Intertextuality’ is a term we use to describe the integration of a student’s ideas with outside texts, and we define outside texts loosely: articles, books, movies, poems, advertisements, and the ever-widening range of new media.” P. 54.

Whereas the six-category rubric seemed unnecessarily complex and confusing, including the category “voice,” the four-category assessment gave the teachers and students the opportunity to explore  definitions of and understanding of the categories.

The scheme of assessment included the following:

Paper Assessment Sheet

Core elements (Scores ‘3’ and above are ;passing)
 

Purpose                                                 6              5              4              3              2              1

Critical Thinking/Analysis              6              5              4              3              2              1

Intertextuality                                     6              5              4              3              2              1

Audience Awareness                          6              5              4              3              2              1

 Comment: Much to like in these categories for writing assessment. RayS.

Title: “From Rigidity to Freedom: An English Department’s Journey in Rethinking How We teach and Assess Writing.” C Strouthopoulos and JL Peterson. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (September 2011), 43-62.