l uses such as note taking and class reports to common personal needs such as letter writing and filling out forms. Beside these, there specialized advanced applications: the attorneys legal brief or summary, translation, secretarial uses, advertising, research reports, journalism, and literature. Such different writing applications also often call for different test applications. Another reason for the variety of writing tests in use is the great number of factors that can be evaluated: mechanics (including spelling and punctuation), vocabulary, grammar, appropriate content, diction (or word selection), rhetorical matters of various kinds (organization , cohesion, unity; appropriateness to the audience, topic, and occasion); as well as sophisticated concerns such as logic and style.
A. LIMITED RESPONSE.
. Prepare ten sentence-combining items that are suitable for your students. Use sentence connectors (not subordinators). Beginning and lower intermediate students may need a list of connectors to choose from it.
.Prepare a ten-item expansion task. Use sentences from your students ESL text. Or you may use the following four sentences and then compose six of your own. Indicate where the additions should be placed. Write out suggested answers.) One reason is that he had not finished school.) The scenery is beautiful.) Marys friend injured her foot.) The strike inconvenienced everyone.
.Prepare a ten-item sentence- reduction task. Underline the part of the sentence to be replaced. Add necessary clue words. Then indicate what the revision should be.
.Select a 100-to - 150-word passage, and prepare an oral cloze. Write out a set of instructions.of Limited-Response Items:
· These are generally quite easy to construct.
· These are suitable for students with limited ability in English.
· Except for the open-ended variety, these are rather objective for a writing-related task.of Limited- Response Items:
· These do not measure actual writing skill.
· These can be rather slow to correct-especially the open-ended variety..GUIDED WRITING.
.Write a paragraph to check organization (or find one in your students text). Use clear transition words (such as a second reason ... .. or just before noon ......). Scramble the sentences, and prepare instructions for the student.
.Find a dialog in one of the texts that you are using in your English class. Copy it out, and write instructions for your students to write a narrative from it, not using any quotation marks. Give a short example. Then prepare model of what you think the students should write.
.Now provide a different kind of guided- writing test. After writing out a set of instructions, prepare six or eight questions on a specific topic (such as a sport, a vocation, a city). Then prepare a model of what you think the students should write.of Guided-Writing Tests:
Guided writing tests are rather quick and easy to construct.
Because they require an active rather than a passive response, guided testing techniques give the appearance of being an effective measure of writing.
Guided-writing tests provide appropriate control for those students who not ready to write on their own.
Limitations of Guided-Writing Tests:
Guided-writing tests do not measure ingredients such as organization found in extended writing.
Guided-writing of the paragraph -outline variety is often rather time consuming and difficult to grade.
Guided-writing of the paragraph -outline variety is difficult to score with real consistency .. FREE WRITING.
. Find or draw a picture sequence that tells a story. Write instructions for your students so they can write a narrative based on the pictures.
. Find a chart or table or diagram for your students to interpret in a free-writing task. Include this with your set of instructions to the students.
. Provide a very specific situation to serve as a guideline for your student writing.
. Using a holistic approach, team up with another teacher and grade a set of compositions, if possible at least 10 to 20 of them. Determine your criteria in advance. Report the results of your grading.of Free-Writing Approaches
Despite its limitations, this is an important, sound measure of overall writing ability.
This can have a good effect on instruction: Students will be more motivated to write in and out of class, knowing that their test will be an actual writing task.
There is virtually no chance of getting a passing grade on a free-writing test by cheating. (Like other examinations, it would be conducted in the classroom under...
