Assessing Assessment

Weigle, Sara Cushing. “Teaching Writing Teachers about Assessment.” Journal of Second Language Writing 16 (2007): 194-209. Print.

Although assessing writing is a key part of writing instruction, Weigle argues in this article that writing instructors often receive limited or no formal instruction in writing assessment practices. As a result, teachers may feel understanding assessment is not a vital part of their classroom practices and their construction of writing assignments. But as Weigle attempts to demonstrate, careful attention to assessment principles can result in more effective learning objectives and assignments and can offer students clearer paths to success in a given course.

Weigle’s piece is a bit of a primer in assessment principles. She provides general definitions of terms like reliability, validity, and practicality as they relate to constructing effective assessment tools. She also examines strategies for developing effective writing exams. Within her discussion of writing exams, she makes an especially valuable observation about objectives: Too often, the objectives writing instructors place in their syllabi do not offer clear criteria for meeting those objectives. Her example is a version of something many instructors likely place in their syllabi: “students will learn the basics of academic writing” (196). Without providing particular ways students might reach such vague objectives, instructors will have a difficult time assessing student progress. She asserts that clarifying these objectives result in improved assignment design, assessment choices, and rubric creation.

Another practice Weigle discusses in this piece, one that I have been reluctant to apply in my own practices, is the use of timed writing assignments. She claims these not only reflect real writing practices our students will likely have to endure (essay exams in other classes, exit exams, the GRE or TOFEL exams), but they also allow instructors to evaluate L2 students’ progress. Timed writing exercises call for a more automatized use of language, which may help students develop some more “natural” linguistic skills in the target language, and don’t allow students to rely on other support structures that may be hindering their development such as the overuse of tutors.

While this article’s focus on L2 students wasn’t as explicit as its placement in this journal might have suggested, it highlights the need to create clear and specific goals for our students as well as providing them with realistic and varied writing activities. Such practices certainly benefit L2 students in giving them multiple ways to practice their writing skills and making explicit the goals of the course and its assignments. But these are also reasonable considerations to make for all students. Furthermore, this article offered a number of possible exercises one could use in a workshop setting to help writing instructors engage with assessment-related issues (clarifying vague objectives, writing assignment specifications, etc.). For someone who has avoided assessment matters, like me, this provides some useful inroads into what seems like daunting territory.