English Language Testing

EVALUATING THE STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY

1.      What is Writing Skill?

·         - Nunan (2003: 88): “Writing is the mental work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader”.

- Peha (2010: 58): “writing is the communication of content for a purpose to an audience”.

·        - Enre (1988: 13): writing is a process of thinking systematically, so that what is being written can be easily understood.

·         - Celce-Murcia (2001: 207): writing as an act of communication which takes place between the writer and the reader via the text in an interactive process.

·        -  Rivers (1981: 294): writing is conveying information or expression of original ideas in a consecutive way in the new language.

Construct Definition:

Based on some definitions aboove, it can be concluded that writing is an interactive process of thinking, inventing ideas, encoding or putting message into words, organizing them into statements and paragraphs and conveying information or expression of original ideas. It also an act of communication of content which takes place between the writer and the reader via the text.

2.      What must be tested?

·         - Heaton (1988: 146): Content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanics.

·         - Raimes (1983: 6): “There are many elements that should be considered in producing a piece of writing such as content, grammar, syntax, mechanic, organization, and word choice.

·      - Oshima and Hogue (2007:196): format, punctuation and mechanics, content, organization, grammar and sentence structure.

·       - Brown (2001: 357), the categories for evaluating writing are: content, organization, discourse, syntax, vocabulary, mechanics.

·        -  Hughes  (1989:97): content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, mechanics

Summary

Hughes (1989: 97)	Heaton (1988: 146)	Brown (2001: 357)	Oshima and Hogue (2007: 196)	Raimes (1983: 6)	Construct Indicators
Content	Content	Content	Content	Content	Content
Organization	Organization	Organization	Format, Organization	Organization	Organization
Vocabulary	Vocabulary	Vocabulary		Word Choice	Vocabulary
Grammar	Language use	Discourse, syntax	Grammar, Sentence Structure	Grammar, Syntax	Grammar
Mechanics	Mechanics	Mechanics	Punctuation and Mechanics	Mechanics	Mechanics

Based on the indicators are stated by some experts, the indicators that are used to test and score the students’ writing skill are:

ü        - Content

ü       - Organization

ü       - Vocabulary

ü       - Grammar

ü        -  Mechanics

3.      How to test?

Direct Test 

Example of the instruction

Please write a report text consisting of 200 words. Choose one of the topics/titles below:

a.       “Ujian Nasional”

b.      Tourism building in Yogyakarta

c.       The importace of handphone in this era

Your writing  will be evaluated based on five elements of writing : content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics.

Question for readability

a.       Do you understand the instruction of the test?

b.      Is the kind of the essay to be written in this test stated clearly?

c.       Is the organization of the essay demanded in this test understandable?

d.      Are the writing indicators to be evaluated in this test clear?

e.       Are the topics are interested?

4.      How to score?

In scoring the students’ writing skill, it is better to use inter-rater (two or more scores) to avoid subjectivity to avoid subjectivity and intra-rater reliability (different time). It is explained by using the following scoring rubrics:

Criteria	Scoring
Content	5 Excellent : Main ideas stated clearly and accurately, change of opinion very clear 4 Good        : Main ideas stated fairly clearly and accurately, change of opinion relatively clear 3 Average : Main ideas somewhat unclear and inaccurate, change opinion somewhat weak 2 Poor          : Main ideas not clear or accurate, change of opinion weak 1 Very Poor : Main ideas not at all clear or accurate, change of opinion very week
Organization	5 Excellent   : Well organized and perfectly coherent 4 Good          : Fairy well organized and generally coherent 3 Average      : Loosely organized but main ideas clear, logical but incomplete sequencing 2 Poor           : Ideas disconnected, lacks logical sequencing 1 Very Poor  : No organized, no coherent
Vocabulary	5 Excellent    : Very effective choice of words and use of idiom and worm form 4 Good            : Affective choice of words and use of idiom and word form 3 Average     : Adequate choice of words but some misuse of vocabulary, idiom and forms 2 Poor               : Limited range, confused use of words, idiom and word forms 1 Very Poor   : Very limited range, very poor knowledge of words, idiom, and word forms
Grammar	5 Excellent    : No error, full control of complex structure 4 Good          : Almost no error, good control of structure 3 Average      : Some error, fairy control of structure 2 Poor            : Many error, poor control of structure 1 Very Poor  : Dominated by errors, no control of structure
Mechanics	5 Excellent     : Mastery of spelling and punctuation 4 Good           : Few error in spelling and punctuation 3 Average      : Fair number of spelling and punctuation error 2 Poor            : Frequent error in spelling and punctuation 1 Very Poor   : No control over spelling and punctuation

 Calculating the percentage of each level used the formula as follows:

P = Percentages of Skill

L = The sum of each letter grade

N = Number of the students

The percentage of Skill Grade Level of achievement:

85% - 100%    A         = Excellent Outstanding

70% - 84%      B         = Good Above average

55 % - 69%     C         = Fair Satisfactory

50 % - 54 %    D         = Poor Bellow average

Bellow 49 %   E          = Very Poor Insufficient