This article examines the publicly available English Examination Notes from the New South Wales Higher School Certificate (HSC) Marking Centre, alongside past research on writing development, to understand the summative assessment of writing and the qualities of writing that examiners identified as discriminating between samples of different…

Corpus-based approaches to language and literacy education, commonly known as data-driven learning (DDL), are increasing in prominence. However, the vast majority of DDL interventions involve adult tertiary level learners, leaving a dire need for comprehensive DDL studies for secondary education. The present study reports on a half-year DDL…

Many English language proficiency (ELP) tests used for university admissions and placement now include integrated writing tasks that require examinees to use external sources when writing. Integrated writing tasks improve test authenticity and impact, but they raise several validity questions, such as what academic language skills they engage and…

Background and aims: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tele-health has gained popularity for both providing services and delivering assessments to children with disabilities. In this manuscript, we discuss the process of collecting standardized oral language, reading, and writing tele-assessment data with early elementary children with autism spectrum…

This study investigates how different form-focused instruction (FFI) timing impacts English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' grammar development. A total of 169 Chinese middle school learners were assigned to four conditions randomly: control, before-isolated FFI, integrated FFI, and after-isolated FFI. The three experimental groups received…

The study identified the pragmatic competence level of the second language (L2) learners through Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) administered to purposively selected 40 first-year education students. A modified questionnaire based on Survey for Academic English Language Exposure (SAELE) was used to determine the effectiveness of academic…

The rapid decline in Australian students' performance on the "National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy" (NAPLAN) writing test is an issue of national concern. This paper presents the first investigation into patterns of achievement and progress on the NAPLAN writing test across the tested year levels (3, 5, 7 and 9) between…

This article is twofold: (a) it explored the impacts of mediation strategies on promoting cognitive modifiability in a dynamic assessment (DA) writing exam among ESP learners, and (b) it compared test-takers' performance in DA vs. static assessment (SA). The analysis drew on qualitative and quantitative data of a dynamic writing exam of classroom…

Humanizing pedagogies present a promising framework for contesting dehumanizing practices all too common in U.S. urban schools. To co-construct such pedagogies, however, teachers and students must negotiate between the humanizing and dehumanizing discourses that circulate within their school context. Drawing from data collected from a qualitative…

The purpose of study is to examine the reliability of analytical rubrics and checklists developed for the assessment of story writing skills by means of generalizability theory. The study group consisted of 52 students attending the 5th grade at primary school and 20 raters in Mersin University. The G study was carried out with the fully crossed…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a curriculum based on self-regulated strategy instruction in college developmental writing courses. Prior research that had found large effects on the writing quality for essays without sources was extended to include strategies for critical reading and note-taking, writing summary response…

Researches in general education as well as in language teaching have clearly shown the pivotal role conceptions of learning played on students' learning outcome. However, there are paucity of researches on instructional and assessment schemes that promote deep conceptions of writing. The main objective of this study, therefore, was to examine the…

With the wide introduction of English-medium instruction (EMI) to higher education institutions throughout East Asian countries, many East Asian universities are using English proficiency tests that were not originally designed for this context to make admissions and placement decisions. To support the use of these tests in this new EMI context,…

Given the orthographic complexities of Chinese characters, handwriting skills may play an important role in how children learn to write Chinese. The present study includes a comprehensive battery of handwriting measures in relation to Chinese spelling in young children. Measures of handwriting, including stroke order, visual-motor integration…

This text represents two extracts from a submission to the House of Commons Select Committee's investigation into primary school tests. The first part is a critique of the 2016 tests, particularly the Reading and Grammar tests for 11-year-olds and also the highly regulated "teacher assessment" of Writing. The second part is a set of…