Evaluating Writing

Annotated Research

Question: What are three methods of evaluating student writing?

Answer: “Characterizes three methods for evaluating text quality, text –focused, expert-judgment-focused and reader-focused.” KA Schriver. 1990. P. 244.

Comment: At first I passed over this finding, But then I took a second look. This is annotated research, which means it is brief. Details are missing. However, I interpret “text-focused” as an attempt to describe the characteristics of the text, including organization, coherence, types of sentences, punctuation, etc. “Expert-judgment focused” would mean that an “expert” passes judgment on the quality of the writing, and “reader-focused” would mean the judgment of the ordinary reader.

Why would these types of judgment be significant? They are different and could produce different judgments as to the quality of the writing. “Expert-judgment-based would be the teacher, usually, or the raters in holistic scoring. Text-based would be the description provided by a researcher. And the reader-based judgment would be an ordinary reader. I’m not sure of the significance of the distinction. But I thought it was worth thinking about. RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” JD Marshall and RK Durst. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1991), 236.