Measuring Writing as a Representation of Disciplinary Knowledge (original) (raw)

Most students are exposed to different writing genres as well as to grammar and other writing-specific skills during their required composition course(s). Discipline-specific writing skills are often not taught, rather they are assumed to be prerequisite knowledge by disciplinary instructors. Rubrics are often used by instructors to measure these skills; however, few rubrics integrate measurement of both general and discipline-specific skills. One such rubric has been designed by the Academy of Process Educators. The present research examines the empirical reliability and validity of this rubric. It was hypothesized that consistency of ratings would be achieved for three different types of writing by four raters from different disciplines when read in a counterbalanced pattern. The Written Communication Value Rubric from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U, 2012) was also utilized to make possible the evaluation of concurrent validity of the two rubrics. Dif...