Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

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This qualitative case study explored the writing assessment practices of upper elementary ELA teachers and factors that influenced their decision making when assessing student writing. Effective assessment practices are important because these practices can aid teachers in identifying student needs, designing tailored writing instruction, and monitoring student progress. This study included 5 teacher participants from 3rd to 5th grade. Participants were viewed as 1 case bound by their grade band and employment in a district focused on teaching and assessing writing. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, a think aloud task, a review of assessment artifacts and the researcher’s reflective journal. Analysis was completed following a five-phase model. Findings included: (1) teachers’ efficacy of assessing student writing is influenced by support received, (2) strengthening teachers’ assessment practices requires personalized, ongoing PD, (3) context influences teachers’ decision making when assessing student writing, and (4) teachers have varying levels of knowledge of formatively assessing student writing. These findings suggest implications for state administrators, district and school administrators, classroom teachers, curriculum leaders, and university programs.

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This study aimed at finding out ENG 101 instructors&rsquo / perceptions of the common ENG 101 writing exam grading criteria used in the Faculty of Academic English at Bilkent University. The main purpose of the study was to see what the instructors perceive as the positive and negative attributes of the criteria. Fifty five instructors were involved in the study. The data were collected through quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments. In order to collect data, the instructors were asked to fill in a questionnaire which consisted of both closed-ended response items using a likert-type scale and open-ended response items. Close-response items provided quantitative data and the qualitative data were derived from open-response items and the second instrument was interviews held with six volunteered instructors. The results showed that the instructors were mostly satisfied with the criteria in terms of its overall effectiveness, bands, and match between the course writing objectives and the criteria. However, the main problem found was about the equal weighting of the categories and the participants&rsquo / lack of belief that the criteria were applied in a standard way across the Faculty of Academic English program. Based on the findings, suggestions were made taking into consideration the instructors&rsquo / comments and evaluations.

This doctoral dissertation reports on results from three explorative case studies of teacher assessment practice within upper secondary school writing instruction. In Sweden, almost all responsibility for constructing, administering, and scoring assessments lies with the individual teacher. Unfortunately, little is known about classroom-based writing assessment and even less is known about the validity of such assessment. The aim of this dissertation is to build validity arguments based on classroom assessment practice concerning achievement tests in upper secondary school. Three research questions were formulated in relation to this aim: (1): To what extent can interpretation of scores be argued for? (2): To what extent can students be said to have had equal opportunities to learn what is later assessed? (3) To what extent can suggested and observed usage of scores be argued for, given the relationship between instruction and assessment?   The data for the studies consists of audio recorded observations, student texts, teacher comments, and scoring rubrics, and was gathered within writing units in three upper secondary schools. Altogether the observations comprise 17 lessons (or 19.6 hours). Data was also collected in interviews with three teachers and their students. The data on instructed and assessed writing was analyzed by conceptual tools related to a theoretical model of writing, the so-called Writing Wheel. The validity argument was built using Bachman’s (2005) Assessment Use Argument (AUA) model. On an aggregated level, the results indicate threats to the validity of interpretation of scores, to the validity of usage of scores, and threats associated with inequitable assessment. The first types of threats stem, for example, from scoring rubrics that are not aligned to the assessment tasks at hand, and a low degree of standardization in the administration of the assessment tasks. The second type of threat is related to this; for example, low standardization led to incomparable student marks. While some students could benefit from contacts with able peers (and/or parents) others could not. The third type relates to possibilities to learn what is later assessed, which was not fully evident in some cases. Finally, the results also implicate that the building of an AUA can serve as a syllabus-design tool for practitioners as well as a design tool in intervention studies. The closing chapter of the dissertation presents a number of hypotheses based on the case study findings. Concluding remarks suggest how these could be tested.

Writing instruction has been ignored in junior high school in Taiwan. Since teachers and schools have started to focus on communicative ability, should writing gain more attention in junior high schools? The pedagogical practices are assumed to be determined by teachers¡¦ perceptions, beliefs and attitudes. Therefore, this study aims to examine teachers¡¦ perceptions of English writing instruction, what factors they believe are crucial, and what measures are recommended to improve it. Besides, the study investigates teachers¡¦ attitudes toward assessing students¡¦ writing ability in the entrance exam. Finally, this study also intends to explore whether public and private school teachers view certain issues differently. Questionnaires are administered to 57 English teachers in Taichung City and are analyzed by frequencies and the independent t-test. The findings show that either teachers or schools downplay the importance of writing instruction. Teachers find factors affecting their teaching include: students¡¦ language proficiency, students¡¦ motivation, and time and efforts spent to review students¡¦ writings. Also most teachers disapprove to include a writing test in the entrance exam. Possible measures to improve writing instruction are suggested: ability grouping, reducing the number of classes to teach, adopting more appropriate teaching materials, and avoiding a test-oriented curriculum.

In 1985, 66 school districts filed a suit against the Kentucky Department of Education accusing the system of inequitable spending practices. In 1990, the Supreme Court declared the entire educational program unconstitutional, resulting in the Kentucky Education Reform Act or KERA. This new reform movement brought a plethora of changes to school districts across the state including its mode of assessment. KERA introduced new avenues of measuring student progress using writing as the main vehicle to assess content and communication skills. Unfortunately, the majority of Kentucky's high schools showed little improvement in this tested area with only 34% of high schools reaching proficiency in the past twenty years of KERA's existence. In 2009, Kentucky passed into law Senate Bill 1, voiding the previous assessment but increasing the focus on on-demand writing for five grades rather than the three required by KERA. Preempting this new reform was the adoption of the Common Core Standards, which also includes a focus on writing. This consistent attention to writing assessment, and data identifying writing as a major weakness across the Commonwealth, prompted the impetus to examine four schools that achieve high scores in on-demand writing assessment. This qualitative investigation employed a case study design to research these four sites, which represented four different geographic locations in the state. Data sources included observations, interviews, document analysis, and fieldnotes to explore these schools through an interpretivist lens. The collected data were entered into qualitative research software to enable collective coding resulting in distinct categories and resulting themes. Three themes evolved in this cross-case analysis: curriculum, learning culture, and motivation. Teachers from these schools use similar classroom strategies and the learning environments reflect corresponding characteristics. Each school addressed student motivation differently, but the analogous perception of inducing intrinsic and extrinsic student engagement in writing occurred in all four schools. The implications of these results could be overwhelmingly positive as schools seek suggestions to improve writing scores. The findings from this investigation are relevant to the time and may serve as an impetus to improve writing instruction.

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