Letter Grade

Bands

Points

Description: Content (What

the Paper Says, How Well It
Is Organized, and How It
Affects the Reader)

Points

Language (Grammar,
Vocabulary, Idioms, and
General Accuracy in Terms
of Standard Written English
or the Task Assigned)

A (Excellent)

[89]

Highly Effective:

[8-9]

Fluent:

A paper at this
level is excellent
for an EFL
student. It does
not have to be at
the level of a
high-performing
native speaker,
but it should be
close, or it may
show such
excellence of
thought, insight,
voice, wit, etc.
that it deserves
recognition at
this level.

Relevance: Fulfils the task, with

consistently appropriate register
and excellent sense of purpose
and audience.

B (Pretty good) 6-7

Effective:

An essay at
this level is
relevant,
interesting,
and organized
reasonably
well, but
probably
shows
significant
problems with
language,
although these
do not impair
communicatio
n to an
attentive
reader.

Relevance and fitness to task:

Fulfils the task, with appropriate
register and good sense of
purpose and audience. Does not
digress.

Style: Almost first language

competence. Flows from sentence
to sentence and shows the ability
to express different attitudes,
voices, and perspectives with
various linguistic tools.

Development of ideas: Shows

independence of thought. Ideas
are well developed, at appropriate
length and persuasive. Quality is
sustained throughout.

Language tools: Expressive and

wide-ranging use of language,
idiom and tenses.

Interest level: Enjoyable

to read. The interest of the reader
is aroused and sustained.

Accuracy: No or very few errors.

Well-constructed paragraphs that
flow smoothly together.

This implies a logical argument,

compelling narrative, or helpful
explanation supported with
appropriate evidence,
interpretation, and illustration. The
particular balance of these is up
to the writer and may be quite
varied from paper to paper.
However, at this level, all of these
elements must be effectively
organized and developed, and
there probably should not be a
reliance on only one type of
evidence or argument. The
relevance of the points must be
made clear and not depend on
sympathetic interpretation, or
what is given must be so
effectively stated that it is quite
compelling in its sustained interest
or emotional impact even if the
elements of academic persuasion
or argument are not a focus.

Development of ideas: Ideas are

well developed and at appropriate
length. Engages readers interest.
This implies a logical argument
supported with appropriate
evidence, explanation, and
illustration. The particular balance
of these is up to the writer and
may be quite varied from paper to
paper. However, at this level there
is an emphasis on superior logic
and sufficient detail or on an
engaging narrative with relevant
details.

6-7

Clear:
Style: Sentences show variety of
structure and length. Some style
and turn of phrase. Uses some
idioms and is precise in use of
vocabulary. However, there may
be some awkwardness in style
making reading less enjoyable.
Accuracy: Generally accurate,
apart from occasional annoying
minor errors. There are
paragraphs showing some unity,
although links may be absent or
inappropriate.

C (Adequate)

4-5

An essay at
this level
responds to
the prompt
and contains
some relevant
and interesting
material, but
either confines
itself to simple
structures or
tends to have
somewhat
serious
problems
when it goes
beyond simple
structures. The
student may
have partially
misunderstood
the prompt but
still manages
to say
something
somewhat
relevant and
say it fairly
clearly, for the
most part.
D (Poorly done 2-3
with a few
merits)
An essay at
this level
shows serious
problems but
does
demonstrate
some ability to
communicate
in English.

Satisfactory:

4-5

Relevance: Fulfils the task, with

reasonable attempt at appropriate
register, and with some sense of
purpose and audience. A
satisfactory attempt has been
made to address the topic, but
there may be digressions, some
pointless repetition, or a thinness
of ideas filled out with prefabricated phrases.

Style: Mainly simple structures

and vocabulary, sometimes
attempting more sophisticated
language that partially fits the
task.
Accuracy: Meaning is clear, and
work is of a safe, literate standard.
Simple structures are generally
sound, apart from infrequent
spelling errors (which do not
interfere with communication).

Development of ideas: Material

is satisfactorily developed at
appropriate length. This implies a
logical argument supported with
appropriate evidence,
explanation, and illustration. The
particular balance of these is up
to the writer and may be quite
varied from paper to paper. At this
level, there is relatively little
explanation required, and the
illustration may be bland or overly
general and lack emotional
impact, but should still be
relevant. One should have the
sense that this student has the
basics but needs either
considerably more time or some
relevant instruction to bring the
paper up to a more effective piece
with genuine interest.

Partly relevant:
Relevance: Partly relevant
to the prompt. Does not quite
respond to the prompt, but
has some positive
qualities. The register
shows insufficient awareness
of audience.
Development of ideas:
Supplies some detail and
explanation, but the effect is
incomplete. Some
pointless repetition is typical
of a response at this level.
This level typically offers
examples or evidence with
little or no effort to explain the
relevance of ideas. Also,
these papers typically are
devoid of any effort to unify or
summarize points made, and
typically lack a conclusion
that does more than restate
something already stated
(i.e., pointless repetition).

Safe:

Grammar: Grammatical errors

tend to occur when more
sophistication is attempted.
Paragraphing: Paragraphs are
used but without good coherence
or unity.

2-3

Errors intrude:
Style: Typically has simple
structures and vocabulary
Accuracy: Meaning is
sometimes in doubt.
Frequent, distracting errors
hamper precision and slow
downreading. However,
these do not seriously impair
communication.
Paragraphs: Absent,
inconsistent, or just arbitrary
divisions of words.

F (Shows
general
inability to
complete the
task assigned)
An essay at
this level is
irrelevant to
the task or is
typically quite
unclear.

Notes

0-1

1: Some engagement with

0-1
task, butthis is mostly hidden
by errors.
0: No engagement with the
task, orany engagement with
task iscompletely hidden by
density oferror.
If the essay is completely
irrelevant, no mark can be
given for language. In other
words, if the essay does not
respond at all to the prompt,
no mark can be given for
language. This includes what
appear to be memorized
essays that are unresponsive
to the prompt, even if they are
highly engaging and very well
written.
In general, students are
marked for what they do well,
not for what they do poorly.
Students are encouraged to
take risks via this marking
scheme. A student who
writes more than is typical will
often make more errors.
These errors should not
result in a lower grade.
No description of marking
bands is perfect, and this is
only a general guide.
Exceptions can always be
made for good reason.

Hard to understand:
Multiple types of error in
grammar/spelling/word
usage/punctuation
throughout, whichmostly
make it difficult to understand.
Occasionally, sense can be
deciphered. Paragraphs
absent orinconsistent or
senselessly arbitrary.

Density of error completely

obscuresmeaning. Whole
sections impossible to
recognise as pieces of
English writing. Paragraphs
absent orinconsistent.

As with content, students are

marked for what they do well.
If students take risks with
complicated grammatical
structures in order to express
complicated thoughts, this is
not to be punished via lower
marks, especially if the
structures they attempt could
be salvaged through simple
changes in punctuation or
single editorial change.
However, to score at the very
highest level, such structures
should be effective and
basically correct by the
standards of academic
English.

If the task set for students was incoherent, confusing, or inappropriate in

some way, the marker may adjust the grade to a higher level in recognition
of the problem.