Writing Instruction: Evaluation

Writing Instruction: Evaluation

Evaluation of writing is something that teachers do daily. This is also something that teachers try to teach their students to do. However, evaluation of writing is a challenging task. What makes it challenging is:

1) deciding what to look for, and

2) deciding whether it is “good” or not.

There are a number of approaches that could be used to evaluate students’ work and teachers often use rubrics that refer to organization, sentence fluency, ideas, etc. These rubrics are often used across different types of writing. The evaluation components that are present in these rubrics are important aspects of writing and can significantly affect writing quality; however, it is difficult for a young writer to evaluate a paper on organization unless there is some clear criteria about what is meant by organization. Also, organization does not mean the same across different types of writing. Further, the use of such general rubrics is not consistently effective (see MacArthur, in press for a review).

What we suggest is an approach to evaluation that is based on the elements of a specific type of writing. Then instead of developing general questions to examine the quality of the paper, specific questions could be developed:

  • E,g., is the organization clear? Are the ideas clear and well developed? vs Is there a convincing reason that connects with the writer’s position? Do the evidence clearly explain or support the first reason? (Philippakos, 2012).

This approach can be beneficial to students:

  • 1. Students are better able to critically evaluate and diagnose problems.
  • 2. Evaluation criteria could be applied elsewhere.
  • 3. Comments by students can be very specific.
  • 4. Self-regulation is supported.
  • 5. Teachers can use same elements to give feedback.

The How to of this approach is very simple, too.

  • 1. Identify the genre-Determine the elements
  • 2. Develop evaluation questions per element and a scoring system (e,g. MacArthur & Philippakos, 2012; Philippakos, MacArthur & Coker, in press)
  • 3. Select papers for practice
  • 4. Teach students (modeling, collaborative application, guided practice)
  • 5. Give opportunities for practice

References

Graham, S. (2006). Strategy instruction and the teaching of writing: A   meta-  analysis. In MacArthur, C. A., Graham, S., & Fitzgerald, J.   (Eds),   Handbook of Writing Research (pp. 187-207). New York:   Guilford Press.

Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). What we know, what we still need to know:   Teaching adolescents to write. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11, 313-335.

MacArthur, C. A., & Philippakos, Z. A. (2012). Strategy instruction with   college   basic writers: A design study. In Gelati, C., Arfé, B., &   Mason, L. (Eds.), Issues in writing research (pp. 87-106). Padova: CLEUP.

Philippakos, Z. A., & MacArthur, C. A. (2016). The Effects of Giving Feedback on the Persuasive Writing of Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Students. Reading Research Quarterly, 51, 4, 419-433.

Philippakos. Z. A., MacArthur, C. A. & Coker, D. L. (2015). Developing strategic writers through genre instruction: Resources for grades 3-5. New York: Guilford Press

Philippakos, Z. A. (in press). Giving Feedback: A Possible Approach to Training. In The Reading Teacher.

Links to Sources:

Click to access Philippakos%20%26%20MacArthur.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.149/suppinfo