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Improving Students’ Writing in

Assessment tasksCanning College ‘Lens on Literacy’ Professional Development Conference

Kaye Davies October 12 2009

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An analysis of 2008 results demonstrated:

Students with an ESL background performed 14% lower than English first language students in subjects

where written assessments were the predominant assessment type.

NB: Literacy strategies for ESL students, help all students.

The Problem

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The extent to which a student successfully expresses their ideas in written assessment tasks depends on:

1. their understanding of the concepts being taught and

2. the clarity of the link between these concepts and the task itself.

There is no magic solution to this problem.

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The active teaching of writing skills will only enhance student assessment performance if students:

• understand the purpose of the task and • have a sound understanding of the concepts underpinning the task.

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The goals of this presentation:To consider ways of improving students’ writing through:

• being explicit about the purpose of a task

•the incorporation of specific strategies such as:

Actively teaching generic features of academic writing Using templates Providing feedback Encouraging students to be self-critical

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What is the purpose of any assessment?

•Assessment is about getting to know our students and the quality of their learning

•It’s about reporting on student achievement

•It’s about ways of teaching more effectively through understanding what students know and do not know

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‘The assessment of students is a serious and often tragic enterprise’ Ramsden, 1992. p.181

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•Assessment is sometimes seen as an addition to teaching, rather than as an essential part of it

•Assessment techniques come to be regarded as more important than the subject matter that the methods are assessing

Bill Moore on assessment:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3USs16J3Y

Why can assessment be a tragedy?

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Three ways to take the tragedy out of assessment and focus on the educative

purpose:

1.Think of assessment as a means of helping students to learn

•design a task which allows students to show their understanding of concepts, not memorised information

•Provide detailed criteria which link to the course goals

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2. Use assessment to encourage interest, commitment and challenge

•Link assessment to learning

•Mimic realistic problems whenever possible

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3. Use different assessment methods for different parts of the subject matter

•Offer students responsible choice

•Discuss with students how assessment methods link to course goals

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Ways to help students express their knowledge and understanding in

writing.

1.Actively teach the skills of academic writing

2. Provide templates and samples of good work

3. Provide feedback before the final judgement

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1. Actively teach the expectations of academic writing in your learning area

•Writing will be rational, rather than

emotional•It is analytical and evidence based•It is measured•It should be clear and direct

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Discourage the use of contractions.Contractions are informal and often provide the opportunity

for errors in punctuation.

Can’t Cannot

Aren’t Are not

Should’ve Should have

I’m I am

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Useful expressions to give a measured quality to academic

writing:

appears may can be interpreted

possibly

arguably might could seems

can claim suggests It is possible perhaps

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Encourage the use of active voice in writing.

It is direct, brief, and makes the content easy to understand.

Passive voice:‘An experiment was conducted…’

Active voice:‘We conducted an experiment…’

A sentence is in active voice when the subject of the sentence performs the action.

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From ‘The Double Helix’:

‘We wish to suggest a

structure for the salt of

deoxyribose nucleic acid

(D.N.A.). This structure has

novel features which are of

considerable biological

interest.’

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While there are times when the passive voice is appropriate, the

active voice usually produces greater clarity.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/

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Encourage students to write in a straight forward style.

‘Tutors prefer clear, direct writing, not obscure, inflated and long-winded styles’

David Buchbinder and Ann McGuire (Curtin University)

Cultures, Identities, Texts Study Guide

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Eliminate unnecessary words

Add up Add, calculate, count

Break down Analyse

Come about Occur, happen

Come up with Suggest, contribute

Figure out Interpret

Pass on Transmit

Leave out Omit

Rule out Eliminate

Try out Test

Work out Solve

Phrasal verbs Possible alternatives

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Structure academic writing using transitions

Signal evidence or examples - for example, for instance, this can be seen in

Signal detail or restatement - in other words, in particular, specifically

Signal additional information – furthermore, in addition , moreover

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Interpersonal Cues: ‘talking to the reader’

first, second, most importantly, finally

obviously, clearly, strangely, surprisingly, curiously, remarkably,

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Transitions and interpersonal cues help the reader to follow

an argument

For more information:Quin, R. 2006.pp 67-71

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Use sentences for effect:

•Sentence length: Include a short sentence after a number of long ones or vice versa

•Parallel structure or repetition (use sparingly):

‘Nobody wants to live in a community devastated by war. Nobody wants to live in a community where there is a large chance of becoming sick or injured and dying young.’

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2. Provide templates and work samples

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The Essay

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Essay Templates:

http://buildingthefuture.com.au/essay-scaffold-template

http://www.aquinas.qld.edu.au/index.php?

option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=36

http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/learning/essay/

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The Report

http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CiLL/reports.htm

http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/eng/Beng0001/learning/Word/extdoc/report.doc

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http://www.businessballs.com/freematerialsinword/free_SWOT_analysis_template.doc

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The paragraph

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dy-regional.k12.ma.us%2Fmes%2Fptemlate.pdf&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=null&oq=

http://www.dy-regional.k12.ma.us/mes/ptemlate.pdf

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Links to work samples:

Essay http://www.essaydepot.com/

Reporthttp://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/information-technology/report/1.3.3.xml

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3. Provide feedback

‘It is impossible to overstate the role of effective feedback on students’ progress in any discussion of effective teaching and assessment’

Ramsden

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Ways to Provide Feedback

•Write comments on work which are genuinely helpful•Timetable opportunities for students to discuss their work•Use model answers, either taken from students work or especially written by you•Timetable opportunities for peer feedback – asking students to explain their work to others often reveals misunderstandings.

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Make your expectations clear

• Provide criteria which link the purpose of the task to the curriculum requirements

• Help students to learn how to use assessments to display as much of their understanding as possible and develop a self-critical approach to their work.

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Encourage students to develop a self-critical approach

1. Use feedback constructively

2. Get students to be critics of their own work

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1. Use feedback constructively

Use the same assessment for both feedback and a final mark.

For example:

Have two deadlines: students get detailed oral and written feedback on the first draft and then return an improved version which gets a mark.

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2. Enable students to be critics of their own work

Provide students with a grade, but no comments, in the first instance.

Invite them to write about the assessment’s strengths and weaknesses and how they would improve it.

At the second stage, complete feedback is provided and the grade may be improved depending on the quality of the student’s self-assessment.

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More useful websites

Writing Templates:http://www.mead354.org/page.cfm?p=413http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Essay writing tutorials:From You Tube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaCxigjUJ7Q

From slideshare:

http://www.slideshare.net/thomsonro/essay-writing-1429489

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Exploring the on-line resources

Use the links provided in the slides to revisit the on-line resources.

See slides:17, 26-30, 37

Identify a range of resources which could be useful in your context.

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How appropriate is the use of templates and work samples in your

situation?

Select one template or work sample and explain how it could be utilised to improve

student writing in an assessment task in your learning area.

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Applying the strategies

•Identify any strategies which would not work in your situation. How could these strategies be adapted to meet your needs?

•Incorporate one of the feedback strategies into the design of an assessment task in your learning area. What adaptations would you need to make?

•How would you incorporate the active teaching of academic writing into your teaching-learning program?

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Your feedback is appreciated

I would appreciate your comments and reflection

concerning the information and strategies explored in this presentation. Please post a comment on the

blog created for this purpose.

Click on the link below to access the blog:

http://kayedavies.wordpress.com/

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References

Quin, R. Rayner, H., Solosy, A., Cody, W. (2006) English Gateways Pearson Education pp 25-40 67-72

Ramsden,P. (1992). Assessing for understanding. Chapter 10. In P. Ramsden, Learning to teach in higher education. London & New York: Routledge, (pp. 181-213)