The Reaction of “Holistic versus Analytic Evaluation of EFL Writing: A Case Study”

In 2015, Thikra K. Ghalib and Abdulghani A. Al-Hattami wrote an article named

“Holistic versus Analytic Evaluation of EFL Writing: A Case Study” basically to compare the

two distinct rubrics: holistic and analytic. I selected this article because I was curious about

how rubrics can affect the assessment of writing. Also, sometimes I cannot trust myself about

the reliability of my grading, so I thought it may be helpful to improve myself.

By emphasizing the importance of the consistency and reliability of grading students’

works, Ghalib and Al-Hattami have conducted a case study. The participants of the study

included 30 undergraduate students who were taking the Advanced Writing Skills course from

Taiz University. The remarkable point is that researchers have selected the top 30 students

according to their GPAs because the aim was to identify the differences between the most

qualified students. Furthermore, three instructors were included in the study after having a

grading training that lasted for two hours. Firstly, the 30 papers without names were given to

the instructors to be graded by the holistic rubric, too general rubric. After a month, the same

papers were given to the instructors, but this time, to be graded by the analytical rubric. Ghalib

and Al-Hattami have reported that there are significant differences between the previous and

final results regarding the usage of distinct rubrics (2015).

The most important information that can be concluded from the article is that the

grading process is much more complex than it seems, and if it is not done meticulously with

the necessitated details, the results can be inconsistent, which makes them unreliable as well.

It has been found that when an analytical rubric is used, instructors tend to give lower marks

compared to an holistic rubric. However, it should not be forgotten that whenever and however

the assessment is made, the results should be consistent so that the development of the learners

can be enhanced. Also, I want to share the fact that quality feedback can be provided with the
help of using analytical rubrics whereas holistic rubrics are able to make a superficial

assessment.

All in all, it is sure that the product is not the only thing to be considered for writing

development; however, if the work of the student is not properly assessed by the instructor,

both the development of the learner and the development of the instructor (in terms of

evaluation) cannot be achieved. Additionally, it should not be forgotten that effective writing

is available only when all aspects of writing (lexical resource, cohesion, content, etc.) are taken

into consideration; therefore, I can definitely say that I will implement analytical rubrics in my

writing classes to be able to evaluate the papers more accurately.

References

Ghalib, T. K., & Al-Hattami, A. A. (2015). Holistic versus Analytic Evaluation of EFL

Writing: A Case Study. English Language Teaching, 8(7), 225-236.