Professional Documents
Culture Documents
writing
assessment
What every teacher
should know
Kevin YF Cheung
Gad S Lim
Who are you?
A. I’m a teacher.
B. I’m the Co-ordinator/Director of
Studies.
C. I’m a learner.
D. I’m a parent.
Why are you here?
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/events/open‐badges
Understanding writing
assessment
What every teacher
should know
Kevin YF Cheung
Gad S Lim
© Malyugin
A writing test that includes
the question ‘What is 1+1?’
A B
© Malyugin
A writing test that includes
the question ‘What is 1+1?’
© Malyugin
A writing task where we know
who the intended reader is
A writing task where we know
who the intended reader is
© Malyugin
To help students improve their
writing, a teacher administers a test
and only provides a letter grade
A B
© Malyugin
To help students improve their
writing, a teacher administers a test
and only provides a letter grade
© Malyugin
Does each example below represent
good or bad assessment practice?
A writing test that includes the question
‘what is 1+1?’
A writing task that specifies who the reader is.
To help students improve their writing, a
teacher administers a test and only provides
a letter grade.
Outline
• What to assess
• How to assess:
• Eliciting writing
• Evaluating writing
What to assess
© Shutterstock
Which one of the following is NOT
an aspect of writing ability?
A. Writing the letter A
B. Typing speed
C. Writing a magazine article
D. Spelling
Which one of the following is NOT
an aspect of writing ability?
A. Writing the letter A
B. Typing speed
C. Writing a magazine article
D. Spelling
What is writing ability?
C U later?
© Professor25
© Shutterstock
Handwriting Structure Argument
Spelling Creativity Punctuation
Grammar Style Register
Accuracy Editing Organisation
Vocabulary Planning Use of humour
Originality Clarity Authorial voice
Coherence Genre Reviewing
Cohesion Synthesis Monitoring
1. Who is being assessed?
Age Education
First language Gender
Culture Level of competency
Profession Computer literacy
2. Level of competency
2. Level of competency
Should register be an assessment
focus among beginning writers?
YES NO
message
cognitive
message
cognitive
message
linguistic
cognitive
message
socio-
linguistic
linguistic
cognitive
message
socio-
linguistic
linguistic
3. Why are the test takers
being assessed?
© Shutterstock
© Jacek Dudzinski
How to assess:
eliciting writing
© Deyan Georgiev
What type of learners is each of these
writing tasks suitable for?
TASK A TASK B
You are expecting a
delivery but won’t be at
the office today. Write
Writing task from a YLE exam
an email to your
colleague asking her to
receive the package for
you.
Who is being assessed
© Professor25
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio.
Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at
nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce
nec tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia
arcu eget nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia
nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed
dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam.
In scelerisque sem at dolor. Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem.
Proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel,
suscipit quis, luctus non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet.
Mauris ipsum. Nulla metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed,
euismod in, nibh. Quisque volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti
sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos.
Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia, urna non tincidunt mattis, tortor neque
adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum ante quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla.
Suspendisse potenti. Nunc feugiat mi a tellus consequat imperdiet.
Vestibulum sapien. Proin quam. Etiam ultrices. Suspendisse in justo eu
magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus. Integer euismod lacus luctus magna.
cognitive
message
socio-
linguistic
linguistic
Write
Write linguistic
Write linguistic
Write about x
Write linguistic
Write about x message
Write linguistic
Write about x message
Write a letter to your friend
about x
Write linguistic
Write about x message
Write a letter to your friend sociolinguistic
about x
Write linguistic
Write about x message
Write a letter to your friend sociolinguistic
about x
Write a letter to your friend
about x and y asking z
Write linguistic
Write about x message
Write a letter to your friend sociolinguistic
about x
Write a letter to your friend cognitive
about x and y asking z
Old FCE part 1
Type of text (genre)
Which of the following genres is the LEAST
appropriate one for assessing business English?
A. Memo C. Report
B. Story D. Newsletter
Type of text (genre)
Which of the following genres is the LEAST
appropriate one for assessing academic English?
1. Essay 3. Email
2. Report 4. Newspaper article
Purpose
Write a … complaining about
letter customer service
… enquiring about a
room for rent
… applying for a job
Audience
Write a report … for your boss
of a project
… for your project team
… for your customers
© bradcalkins
© Shutterstock
© Lamai Prasitsuwan
How to assess:
evaluating
writing
© ESB Professional
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio.
Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at
nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce nec
tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget
nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per
inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia
nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. In scelerisque sem
at dolor. Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem. Proin ut ligula vel
nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit quis, luctus
non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet. Mauris ipsum. Nulla
metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed, euismod in, nibh. Quisque
volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent
per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia,
urna non tincidunt mattis, tortor neque adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum
ante quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc feugiat
mi a tellus consequat imperdiet. Vestibulum sapien. Proin quam. Etiam
ultrices. Suspendisse in justo eu magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus. Integer
euismod lacus luctus magna.
In Large
Class scale
Peer feedback
Detailed evaluative comments
A checklist
A few scores
A score
In Large
Class scale
Peer feedback X
Detailed evaluative comments
A checklist
A few scores
A score
In Large
Class scale
Peer feedback X
Detailed evaluative comments
A checklist
A few scores
A score X
Single score Multiple subscores
© ESB Professional
cognitive
message
socio-
linguistic
linguistic
message cognitive
sociolinguistic linguistic
I use full stops to mark the end of sentences and longer pauses
I start sentences with capital letters
I keep my tall letters tall and my letters sitting on the line
I use a selection of words other than ‘and’ to join sentences
I use question marks to indicate when a question has been asked
I use paragraphs to split up sections of similar ideas
I can be daring and use words I haven’t used before
I describe the feelings of characters in detail
I check my work for mistakes like missed punctuation and silly spellings
I start my sentences in different ways instead of repeating myself
Summary
• What to assess
• How to assess:
• Eliciting writing
• Evaluating writing
Further
information
Free writing practice for your students
writeandimprove.com
Teaching English
Free resources for
teachers
Sample papers, handbooks,
lesson plans and teacher
guides
Teaching Qualifications
For new and experienced
teachers
Teaching Framework
Helps you assess which
stage you are at in your
professional development
and work out where you
want to get to next
Webinars
About our exams and
teaching
www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english
www.cambridgeenglish.org/silt
Further information
Understanding reading assessment:
what every teacher should know
23 and 25 January 2017
University of Cambridge
Cambridge English Language Assessment
1 Hills Road, Cambridge CB1 2EU, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 553997
Fax: +44 (0)1223 553621
Email: helpdesk@cambridgeenglish.org