User:2lies1truth/Writing assessment

The concepts of validity and reliability have been offered as a kind of heuristic for understanding shifts in priorities in writing assessment^[6] as well interpreting what is understood as best practices in writing assessment.^[7]

In the first wave of writing assessment, the emphasis is on reliability:^[8] reliability confronts questions over the consistency of a test. In this wave, the central concern was to assess writing with the best predictability with the least amount of cost and work. Some scholars like David Slomp held concern over the definition of reliability and how interrater reliability could affect how writing was assessed. He argued that often times there was not enough context based on the learner to appropriately judge their writing.^[3]

Then there was a shift toward the second wave marked a move toward considering principles of validity. Validity confronts questions over a test's appropriateness and effectiveness for the given purpose. Methods in this wave were more concerned with a test's construct validity: whether the material prompted from a test is an appropriate measure of what the test purports to measure. Teachers began to see an incongruence between the material being prompted to measure writing and the material teachers were asking students to write. Holistic scoring, championed by writing scholar Edward M. White, emerged in this wave. It is one method of assessment where students' writing is prompted to measure their writing ability.^[9]

The third wave of writing assessment emerges with continued interest in the validity of assessment methods. This wave began to consider an expanded definition of validity that includes how portfolio assessment contributes to learning and teaching. In this wave, portfolio assessment emerges to emphasize theories and practices in Composition and Writing Studies such as revision, drafting, and process.

Multiple-choice tests contain questions about usage, grammar, and vocabulary. Arthur Applebee adds that multiple-choice tests are a valid and reliable way of testing specific aspects of writing such as mentioned earlier, vocabulary. These specific types of tests should be used in conjunction to other written assessments rather than independently.^[10] Standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, and GRE are typically used for college or graduate school admission. Other tests, such as Compass and Accuplacer, are typically used to place students into remedial or mainstream writing courses.

Automated essay scoring (AES) is the use of non-human, computer-assisted assessment practices to rate, score, or grade writing tasks. Early on people used syntax as a way for computers to judge writing.^[11] It would prove to be a simple way for computers to evaluate essays. Automated essay scoring through computers made assessing and grading essays time and money efficient.^{[10] [11]}

Some software programs will take previously submitted essays to the same prompt as a control to compare new essays to. Other programs like the Intelligent Essay Assessor judge how correct and factual the information is within essays. The purpose was to score and test knowledge rather than other complexities of writing such as syntax and tone.^[11]