Abstract

MUNOZ, Ana Patricia  and  ALVAREZ, Martha E. Preliminary Evaluation of the Impact of a Writing Assessment System on Teaching and Learning*. profile [online]. 2008, n.9, pp.89-110. ISSN 1657-0790.

Motivated by the conviction that valid and reliable assessments can foster positive changes in instruction, we implemented a writing assessment system in the adult English program at the Language Center, EAFIT University, Medellín. To evaluate the impact of the system, we analyzed the improvement of 27 students' writings over time. We also examined the quality of their teachers' (n=35) teaching and assessment routines. Student progress was measured by looking at the syntactic complexity of the texts using an average number of words per T-unit. Teachers' instructional practices were examined through portfolio analyses. Results show some improvement in students' writings and that the teachers need to provide a better response to students by appropriately using the required assessment tools.

Keywords : Writing assessment; prompts; scoring rubrics; washback.

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