WRITING ASSESSMENT This chapter focuses on authentic assessment of writing. We begin with an overview of the nature of writing in schools, including the role of the writer, the purposes of writing, and recent innovations in writing instruction. We then describe the nature of ify various types of authentic assessments in writing, and suggest a number of scoring rubrics for writing. Two important parts of this discussion are self-and peer assessinent. We conclude by describing instructional ment results and the interaction betwee the writing ses of assess- tion and writing assessment. As in other chapters, wwe have included sample assessments that can be used to evaluate student proficiency. We encourage you to use or adapt any of these samples according to the English proficiency of your students or to adapt the samples for native language assessment. Writing assessment with ELL students meets at least three purposes. First, writing assessment in English and/or in the native language is used for identification and program placement in ESL or bilingual programs. Moreover, ELL students are WRITING ASSESSMENT 1typically reclassified as English proficient based on writing assessment in English when they are pre- pared for grade-level instruction. Second, writing assessment can be used to monitor student progress and determine if changes in instructio are required to meet student needs. The ongoing assessment of student writing enables review of stu- dent growth over time and a determination of the success of instructional approaches. A third pur- pose of writing assessment with ELL students is accountability. Writing assessment is often con- ducted as part of district or statewide accountabili- ty assessment programs for all stuctents. In some cases, students must attain a minimum score for grade-level advancement or for high school gradu- ation. These varying uses of assessment results point to the importance of accurate writing assess- ment with ELL students. Nature of Writing in School Teacher judgment has always played an important role in the assessment of writing. Teachers ask stu dents to write on any number of topics and then assess the substantive information contained in the message, the clarity of the message conveyed, and the mechanics of writing (spelling, capitalization, and punctuation). Teachers typically define the topics for writing, establish the criteria for evahuat- ing the writing, and grade the writing themselves. This teachercentered approach is not surprising given that many teachers have origins in a trans jon model of learning and which teachers provide the ba imparted to students. The transmission model lates content areas in teaching and emphasizes mastery of component skills in sequential order. One by-product of this model has been that ste dents have learned to w ing and other activities related to literacy. Another by-product has been that teachers have tended to ‘overemphasize mechanics (spelling, capitaliza- tion, and puncttation) and grammar in their eval- uations at the expense of content and mean writing (Glazer and Brown 1993). in isolation from read 136 We can get a broad picture of the emergence of new views on writing by looking more closely at the writer, the purposes for writing, and the nature of, writing instruction, THE WRITER Writing is a personal act in which writers take ideas or prompts and transform them into “self-initiat- ed” topics (Hamp-Lyons 1990). The writer draws on background knowledge and complex mental processes in developing new insights. To write well, students need to incorporate the purpose or prompt into their own unique approach to writing, How do they do this? By calling on several differ- ent kinds of knowledge. Let's assume that you have asked a student to write an essay on an experience the class shared together, perhaps watching a demonstration on home fire safety conducted in the classroom by local firefighters. The purpose of the essay is to convey to other students precautions they cant follow in fire safety. In writing the essay, your students will rely on at least four types of knowledge: knowledge of the content, procedural knowledge to organize the content, knowledge of conventions of writing, and procedural knowledge required to apply the three other types of knowledge in composing a written, product (Hillocks 1987). In expressing knowledge of the content, students conduct a memory search and call on prior knowledge and experience. What did students see and hear (je., what images and con- cepts did they retain from the safety demonstra tion)? Generating ideas is one of the important sub-processes that conuibutes to planning in write ing (Flower and Hayes 1981). Brainstorming, mak- ing lists or semantic maps, collaborating with peers, and elaborating on key ideas with personal information are useful retrieval strategies. Second, students need the procedural knowledge to “organize the content, to group ideas, and to sequence the ideas in ways that match the purposes of the writing. That is, once students have retrieved the formation, they can begin to manipulate and organize it. They must also formulate goals and plans for creating an organized structure for their compositions. Thus, more is required in writing AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS,than just prior knowledge about a topic. Students must be able to manipulate this content responding to a writing prompt or in generating a written composition suitable to the topic. The third type of knowledge students use in writ- ing is knowledge of discourse structures, syntactic forms, and conventions of writing. Discourse structures are evident in the ways that various types of writing are organized. For example, persuasive essays often introduce a problem or question, state a position, present arguments in support of the position or against other alternatives, and draw some implica- tions of the position taken. Fables and autobio- graphical compositions have different structures altogether. Writers must be familiar with the vari- cous ways of organizing different types of writing and in expressing meaning through syntactic con- structions and writing conventions (e.g., format- ting and mechanics). ‘The fourth type of knowledge students rely on is procedural knowledge for integrating all the other types of hnowledge. This is the basis for composition. Quality writing does not automatically result from simple knowledge of formal grammar (Gebhard 1983) or even the ability to recognize “good” paragraphs (Hillocks 1987). Rather, students must use proce- dures that combine the three types of knowledge just indicated in composing a written piece that responds to the original purpose. Students writing on fire safety in the home who can remember the procedures or who can recall the rules for gram- mar have only the beginnings of writing. Students need extensive opportunities for writing in which all of the types of knowledge are combined as they ‘compose a message for a purpose with a particular audience. ‘These four types of knowledge used in writing have at least two implications for writing assess- ‘ment with ELL students. First, writing assessment should evaluate more aspects of writing than just. ‘mechanics and grammar. The types of knowledge required in writing go far beyond these familiar elements. Second, writing assessment should cap- ture some of the processes and complexity involved in writing so that teachers can know in which aspects of the writing process students are having difficulty. In addition, writ ng assessment should look at the context in which the writing occurs. PURPOSES AND TYPES OF WRITING Students write to accomplish a variety of purposes and use a number of different genres to do so. Purpose in writing determines the nature of the writing. Students need clear specification of the purpose in order to plan and compose a piece that responds to the task. The genre defines the style the writer will use and suggests choices about the language and structure of the composition (NAEP 1987). Writers who gain control over various gen- res have a broader repertoire of writing abilities and an increased understanding of the value of writing for interpersonal communication, for doc- umenting important ideas, and for achieving their own ends than those who do not. Purpose For what purposes can students be asked to write? There are at least three purposes in writing: informative writing, expressive/narrative writing, and persuasive writing. The three purpos- es described are similar to the purposes used in national assessments (NAEP 1987) and encompass the major types of writing in programs for ELL stu- dents as well as in many state writing assessments (eg.. California Assessment Program 1990; Maryland State Department of Education 1987; ‘Vermont Department of Education 1990). Writers use expository or informative writing to share knowledge and give information, directions, or ideas. Examples of informative writing include describing events or experiences, analyzing con- cepts, speculating on causes and effects, and devel- oping new ideas or relationships. This type of writing could include a biography about a well- known person or someone from the writer's life. The writer can rely on existing knowledge or new sources of information and can cover a range of thinking skills from simple recall to analysis and synthesis. Informative writing helps writers inte- grate new ideas and examine existing knowledge. Expressive/narrative writings a personal or imagi native expression in which the writer produces sto- ries or essays. This type of writing is often based on observations of people, objects, and places and WRITING ASSESSMENT 137