A recursive scientific writing project was undertaken in a second-year, graduate-level course to teach students who were non-native English speakers to write scientific communications clearly and concisely in English. The instructor returned students' brief texts with editorial revisions marked to show how increased clarity may be achieved through…

A pilot study was conducted to evaluate and improve the rating procedure proposed for use in a research effort designed to assess the essay writing ability of college sophomores. Generalizability theory and the Many-Facet Rasch Model were each used to (a) estimate potential sources of error in the rating, (b) to obtain reliability estimates, and…

This study examined the SAT® II: Writing Subject Test as a predictor of writing performance in college English courses. Writing performance was based on eight writing samples submitted as part of regular course work by students in eight colleges. The samples consisted of drafts and final papers submitted in response to four take-home writing…

International students travel in many ways. First of all geographically: they move from one country to another. Secondly, they travel through their own identities: they have to find a new place in a new context by familiarizing themselves with new values and customs, while making sure they meet the requirements their studies ask of them. Writing…

Washington State University (WSU), has developed two large-scale assessment programs to evaluate student learning outcomes. The largest, the Writing Assessment Program, diagnoses student writing abilities at entry and mid-career to determine the type of support needed to navigate the expectations of our writing-rich curriculum. The second, the…