The Asian EFL Journal Professional Teaching Articles (original) (raw)
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HOW TO WRITE ENGLISH WELL (THE ANALYSIS OF WRITING TEST AND ITS ALTERNATIVE GUIDELINE
Writing seems to be the most difficult skill in acquiring English as a foreign language. In order tobe able to write correctly, the students should have sufficient knowledge for formulating an idea towrite and of how to organize the language and the content of their writing. On the other hand, writing assessment also became an important aspect to evaluate a writing result. It is relevance to use the good standard for doing assessment in students writing result. Through break down the construction of the paragraphs will help teachers or lecturers in investigating the content and variables in a text.This research tries to investigate the writing test concepttaken from STKIP Nusa Indonesia at the English Language Education Program. Thepurpose is to evaluate the writing test concept and give an alternative test guideline.The first step is taking test document for writing intermediate from STKIP Nusa Indonesia arranged by the lecture. The second step is reading some kinds of test while choosing the appropriate test for it. The third step is identifying the writing test and its scoring guideline, concept and assessment. The fourth step is analyzing the weaknesses and strengths from the test concept. The fifth step is reformulates the test guideline and make some recommendations for better writing assessment. The results of the paper show that test concept is not appropriate to implement, because of its weaknesses. The researcher reformulates the test concept as the recommendation.
A Study of Students’ Assessment in Writing Skills of the English Language
This paper addresses to evaluate and assess the students' competency in writing skills at Secondary school level in the English Language focusing five major content areas: word completion, sentence making/syntax, comprehension, tenses/ grammar and handwriting. The target population was the male and female students of grade 10 of urban and rural Secondary schools from public and private sector. Forty (40) Secondary schools of District Bahawalnagar, Pakistan were taken using stratified sampling. A sample consisting of 440 students (11students from each school) was randomly selected using a table of random numbers. An achievement test consisting of different items was developed to assess the students' competency and capability in sub-skills of writing such as word completion, sentence making/syntax, comprehension, tenses/grammar and handwriting. Mean score and standard deviation were used to analyze the students' proficiency in each sub-skill. The t-test was applied to make the comparison on the bases of gender, density and public and private sector. The overall performance of all the students was better in comprehension as compared to other sub-skills namely word completion, sentence making/syntax, tenses/grammar and handwriting. The analysis, based on t-value, revealed no significant difference between the performance of male and female students and the students of public and private schools, whereas there was a significant difference between the performance of urban and rural students.
Internet Journal of e-Language Learning & Teaching, 2006
One of the challenges faced by most lecturers who teach English as a Second Language (ESL) is in marking or grading of students’ essays. Apart from being an overwhelming task, there is a need for lecturers to maintain consistency in marking. Some studies have shown that although they are given the same scoring rubrics, lecturers may give different grades to the same essay. The reason for this is due tothe fact that, most of the scoring rubrics mark essays holistically. One alternative in order to avoid the confusion is by marking analytically. In this paper, we describe a technique that can be used totransform holistic marking scoring rubrics into equivalent rubrics for analytic marking. This technique firstly identifies the dimensions of writing in holistic scoring rubrics based on Cohen (1994:307). Then,it refines these dimensions into their corresponding attributes. These attributes can be measured quantitatively and the grade of a particular essay is calculated by using mathematical formulae, which is based on a predefined marking scheme. This information serves as some of the software requirements for a CBEM (Computer Based Essay Marking) system for Malaysian ESL learners at IHLs (Institutions of Higher Learning) in Malaysia.
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications
This study aims to investigate if learners of English can improve computer-assisted writing skills through the analysis of the data from the post test. In this study, the focus was given to intermediate-level students of English taking final writing tests (integrated and independent responses) in preparation for TOEFL iBT. We manually scored and categorized the students' writing responses into five-point levels for the data to make the software. The results of the study showed that the model could be suitable for computerized scoring for language instructors to grade in a fair and exact way and for students to improve their writing performance through practice on the computer.
A long-term research agenda for the Test of Written English
Language Testing, 1988
An overview of the research needed on the new Test of Written English (TWE), a section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), looks at research needs in the areas of test validity, test reliability, topic development, and equating. Suggested topics for study include: the uniqueness of the construct measured by the test, in comparison with other TOEFL scores; the comparability of scores obtained on different topics and topic types; ways in which to equate TWE scores; wording of essay test prompts; and the empirical comparability of the skills tapped by the test's two topic types. The last is considered the most important. It is noted that several aspects of the test's quality have already been well enough established that further research is not crucial. These include general validity and reliability, general construct validity, and interrater reliability. (MSE)
—As technology increasingly takes center stage of our lives, there are compelling reasons for incorporating technologies into the classroom. The prevailing of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) has greatly changed the traditional teaching mode and added new contents into the existing teaching materials. As a significant skill for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners, there are abundant researches in writing, yet little documentation exists on the application of CALL in writing classroom. This paper reviews relevant theories and research , and then investigates three research questions by an empirical study. The results gained have some pedagogical implications in the future.
Measuring and assessing the development of foreign language writing competence
Porta Linguarum, 2008
This paper discusses the development of writing skills of Dutch students of English and Spanish as foreign languages. Essays written in three consecutive years were analyzed for essay length, word length, and type/token ratio -reflecting linguistic competence. A selection of essays was analyzed for argument structure and the use of cohesive devices. These same essays were ranked holistically by experienced lecturers. Students develop linguistic and discourse competences, but differ according to language, proficiency level, and year of study. Assessors' arguments for ranking are related mainly to the students' linguistic competence. The implications of our findings for research and teaching are discussed.
Word Processing and Quality of EFL Writing: A CALL Experiment
ABSTRACT Word Processing and Quality of EFL Writing: A CALL Experiment By Badran A. Hassan, Ph.D. College of Education, Mansoura Univesity This experiment was conducted to investigate the possible effects of using word processing on EFL college students' quality of writing. On a pre-test post-test design, it was hypothesized that quality of student writing will improve and that student attitudes towards the word processing treatment will tend to be positive. T-test and chi-square results showed that both hypotheses were confirmed. This experiment, with its emphasis on the clarity and process of writing, asserted that improving the quality of writing should be at the heart of all writing instruction whether it is taught in a traditional manner or with the aid of microcomputers. This study also showed that students' positive attitudes towards word processing were clearly demonstrated from the beginning of the experiment to such a degree that one cannot help but be impressed by student interest and enthusiasm. Finally, it is recommended that EFL teachers must address themselves to the challenge of computers by learning how to use them effectively and then applying their newly-acquired theoretical knowledge and practical experience in this field to the teaching of foreign language composition writing through this new gadget, the computer.