The job of teaching writing has occupied the

attention of papers, articles, dissertations,

books, and even separate professional
journals exclusively devoted to writing in a
second language.
Assessment of writing is not a simple task, as
you consider assessing students writing
ability.
You need to be clear about your objective or
criterion; such as: handwriting ability?
Correct spelling? Writing sentences that are
grammatically correct? Paragraph
construction? Logical development or a main
idea?

COPYING (P. 222)

LISTENING CLOZE SELECTION TASKS
PICTURE-CUED TASKS
FORM COMPLETION TASKS
CONVERTING NUMBERS AND ABBREVIATIONS
TO WORDS.

SPELLING TESTS
PICTURE-CUED TASKS
MULTIPLE-CHOICEE TECHNIQUES (P.224)
MATCHING PHONETIC SYMBOLS

DICTATION
One hears aurally then test the correct spelling,
inserting punctuation.
GRAMMATICAL TRANSFORMATION TASKS
Numerous versions of the task are possible:
Change the tenses in a paragraph
Change full forms of verbs to reduced forms
(contractions)
Change statements to yes/no or wh-questions
Change questions into statements
Combine two sentences into one using a relative
pronoun
Change direct speech to indirect speech
Change from active to passive voice.

PICTURE-CUED TASKS (P.226)

SHORT

SENTENCES
PICTURE DESCRIPTION
PICTURE SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION

VOCABULARY ASSESSMENT TASKS (P.229)

ORDERING TASKS (P.230)
SHORT-ANSWER AND SENTENCE COMPLETION
TASKS (P.231)

Responsive writing creates the opportunity

for test-takers to offer an array of possible
creative responses. Learners can exercise a
number of options in choosing vocabulary,
grammar, and discourse.
Extensive or free writing gives more
freedom to choose: topics, length,style, etc.

PARAPHRASING
GUIDED QUESTION AND ANSWER (P.234)
PARAGRAPH CONSTRUCTIION TASKS (P.235)
TOPIC

SENTENCE WRITING
TOPIC DEVELOPMENT WITHIN A PARAGRAPH
DEVELOPMENT OF MAIN AND SUPPORTING IDEAS
ACROSS PARAGRAPHS.

HOLISTIC SCORING(P.242)
ADVANTANTAGES

PRIMARY TRAIT SCORING

A

& DISADVANTAGES

PRIMARY TRAIT SCORE WOULD ASSESS: (P.243)

ANALYTIC SCORING
SEE

ANALYTIC SCALE ON P.244-245

CONTENT
ORGANIZATION
VOCAB
SYNTAX
MECHANICS
TOTAL

30
20
20
25
5
100

 Analytic

scoring offers writers a little more

washback than a single holistic or primary trait
score.