Assessing and Testing Writing

Range of words, spelling, accuracy, structure...so much to assess, so little time!! In lower primary, you should assess, but not test writing. That means that you need to give learners feedback and they should write and write again, but you do not have to score their work (well, you don't have to score it in the upper primary either). At all levels, rubrics are useful for your own note-taking, for peer corrections and for learners to know what is important in what they write.

Keep in mind that:

• When you use a gap fill, you are assessing reading and writing if you correct spelling;
• When you use an "open answer" question on a listening or reading activity for example, that you need to declare if you are assessing writing, too;
• Writing can also include assessing portfolios whereby learners re-do work and thus you only use the most recent products for report card grades;
• Writing is something that many learners struggle with in English, so be sure to work on a word (spelling) level, but also on a sentence and product level (e.g. a letter, a poster, etc.); 
• For any writing task you may want to assign, surely someone has developed a rubric for it that you can adapt! Try googling +EFL +rubric +[product], e.g. +EFL +rubric +lapbook.

Example 6th grade

When you have learners write short texts, it is useful to use a rubric. You can have a general rubric or a task-specific one. You can use a holistic, analytic, single-point or other type of rubric. However, keep in mind that while rubrics are useful, they can also hinder creativity or encourage minimalism. That said, if you are using a writing sample for a grade, it's useful to use a rubric and let learners have it from the start, to evaluate their process as they go, and not just as a grading tool.

Listen to this 6th-grade child (courtesy of Alison and Laura Buechel). We do not have copies of the work they were discussing, but what they have to say provides some food for thought!