EVALUATION IN WRITING SKILL

A. The Definitions
1. Gaith (2002) stated that writing is a complex process that allows writers to explore
thought and ideas, and make them visible and concrete on the piece of paper.
2. According to Nunan (2003: 88), writing is the mental work of inventing ideas,
thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and
paragraphs that will be clear to a reader.
3. According to Wilga (1980) cited in Ningsih (2004:35), writing is the expression of
ideas in a consecutive way, according to graphic convention of the language, the
ultimate aims of a written at this stage to be able to express himself in a polished
literary from which requires the utilization of a special vocabulary and a certain
refinement of a structure.
4. Raimes (1983: 76) stated that writing is a skill in which we express the ideas, feelings,
and thoughts arranged in words, sentences and paragraphs using eyes, brain, and
hand.
5. According to Meyers (2005: 2), writing is an action or a process of discovering and
organizing ideas, putting them on a paper, and reshaping and revising them.

Construct:
Writing is a comprehensible process of expressing ideas, feelings, and thoughts which are
arranged in words, sentences and paragraphs which requires the utilization of special
vocabulary and a certain refinement of a structure.
B. The Indicators
No Harris (1969) Peha (2002: 3) Nunan (1999: 373) Heaton (1990: 135) McKay (2006: 249)

1. Content: the Interesting and Judgement skills: the The ability to write to suit
substance of the important ideas. ability to write in an purpose and audience.
writing; the ideas appropriate manner for a
expressed particular purpose with a
particular audience in
mind together with the
ability to select, organize,
and order relevant
information.
2. Form: the Logical and effective Organizing content at the Treatment of the content:  The ability to organize
organization of the organization. level of the paragraph and the ability to develop paragraphs logically.
content the complete text to thought and think  The ability to employ
reflect given new creatively, excluding all connectives
information and topic. irrelevant information. appropriately.
 The ability to follow
through a drafting
procedure
3. Grammar: the Communicative and Using the grammatical Language use: the ability Knowledge of a growing
employment of correct conventions. system to convey one’s to write correct and range of grammatical
grammatical forms Conventions are the way intended meaning. appropriate sentences. structures.
and syntactic to use punctuation,
patterns spelling, grammar, and
4. Mechanics: the use other things that make  Mastering the Mechanical skills: the The ability to punctuate.
of the graphic writing consistent and mechanics of letter ability to use correctly
conventions of the easy to read. formation those convention peculiar
language  Obeying conventions of to the written language
spelling and e.g. punctuation and
punctuation. spelling.

5. Style: the choice of Specific and memorable Selecting the appropriate Stylistic skills: the ability Knowledge of a growing
structures and lexical word choice. style for one’s audience. to manipulate sentences range of vocabulary.
 items to give a and paragraphs and use
particular tone or language effectively.
flavor to the writing
6. Appropriate and Polishing and revising
individual voice. one’s initial efforts.

Conclusion:
Based on the theories above, it can be concluded that the indicators of writing skill are: content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics.

C. Example of The Writing Test Instruction

“Write a recount text about your past experience into three paragraphs consisting at least 250 words in 45 minutes individually. Your writing
will be evaluated based on 5 elements of writing: content, organization of idea, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics

D. Scoring Rubrics of Writing Test

Scoring Rubric of Writing Test adapted from Weir (1998: 69-70)

No Indicator Score Description
1. Organization 5 No apparent organization of the content
10 Very litte organization of content. Underlying structure not sufficiently
apparent
15 Some organizational skills in evidence, but not adequately controlled
20  Overall shape and internal pattern clear
 Organizational skills adequately controlled
2. Content 5 Bear almost no relation to the task
10 Limited relevance to the task
15 Mostly answer the task
20 Relevant and adequate answer to the task
3. Grammar 5 Almost all grammatical pattern inaccurate
10 Frequent grammatical inaccurate
 15 Some grammatical innacurate
20 Almost no grammatical inaccurate
4. Vocabulary 5 Vocabulary inadequate even for the most basic part of intended
communication
10 Frequent inadequacies in vocabulary for the task. Perhaps frequent
lexical in-appropriacies and/or repetition
15 Some inadequacies in vocabulary for the task. Only rare lexical in-
appropriacies and/or circumlocution
20 Almost no adequacies in vocabulary for the task. Only rare lexical in-
appropriacies and/or circumlocution
5. Mechanics 5 Ignorance of conventions of punctuation. Almost all spelling inaccurate
10 Low standard accuracy in punctuation and spelling
15 Some inaccuracies in punctuation and spelling
20 Almost no accuracy in punctuation

E. The Readability of The Instruction

1. Do you know the instruction?
2. Do you know the genre?
3. Do you know the topic?
4. Do you know the time allocation given?
5. Do you know the indicators which will be scored?
6. Do you know how many words and paragraphs you should make?