Writing Assessment Abstract | Kimberly Guppy

Jiang Lis article, The mediation of technology in ESL writing and its implications for writing assessment, discusses his research study on the effects of computer usage during ESL writing assessments. For this study, Li assessed the writing abilities of twenty-one L1 Mandarin adult speakers who were relatively proficient in English. Before beginning his research, he implemented a questionnaire to determine the technological ability of his participants, and the majority said they were relatively comfortable performing word-processing related tasks in English. He began with three research questions which were to compare computer-based and pen-and-paper writing tasks. He wanted to assess whether his participants use higher order thinking processes, make higher level revisions, and create essays of higher quality on either the computer or with pen and paper. Data collection involved having participants prepare argumentative essays using each writing medium, computer and pen-and-paper. The data collection process also included thinkaloud protocols, where the writers were asked to think aloud the decisions they were making whilst writing. He processed and analyzed the data in several different modes, including different decision-making episodes (pre-planning, in process planning, etc.), which was correlated using the think-aloud protocols, and rated the writing based on five different aspects: communicative quality, organization, argumentation, linguistic accuracy, and linguistic appropriacy. Lis findings showed that there was a correlation between computer usage and essay quality, with participants providing stronger arguments and more revision on these essays. The results are not conclusive in saying computer-based assessment is more valid or authentic than

Writing Assessment Abstract | Kimberly Guppy

pen-and-paper assessments. However, it does show that when used in appropriate situations, higher quality writing can be produced. Overall, Lis research was executed successfully, as he took into account the various factors that might lessen the accuracy of his results. These results were interesting in themselves because there were not too many significant differences between the pen-andpaper essays and computer-based essays. What was surprising, however, was that of the five traits the essays were scored upon, argumentation was the only one with a significantly higher rating on the computer-based assessment. Considering a word processing program allows for easier editing, it would be more likely to hypothesize that there would be a higher level of organization. Although his findings show that there is a high correlation between computer use and strong argumentation, more research needs to be completed on different areas of writing assessment to ensure computers are a viable option for assessing ESL students writing ability. For example, how might students of different age groups and language ability fare using this medium? All of the participants in his study were adults who were nearly proficient in English. Using an argumentative essay assessment for younger or lower level ELLs is not a viable option, and thus the results of this research are null for that group. Further research must address these issues of assessment appropriateness. The background knowledge students have of computers also must be taken into consideration in future research. All of the participants in this study were comfortable with computer use, which was beneficial in answering Lis primary research questions. In reality, however, many ESL students in the US are immigrants who come from low-income households

Writing Assessment Abstract | Kimberly Guppy

and may not have had access to computers before beginning an ESL program. It would be interesting to see how teaching computer skills alongside English might enhance or detract from language acquisition.