Assessing The Writing Skill in EFL Classes

PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA
MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY OF ABDELHAMID IBN BADISS - MOSTAGANEM
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
MASTER IN
« Didactics and Applied Languages »
Assessing the Writing Skill in EFL Classes:

Case of First Year Pupils of BEN GUELLA
TOUATI High School, Mostaganem
Submitted by:
Ms. Sara CHETOUANE
The Board of Examiners:
Chairperson: Dr. BENSTAALI Leila University of Mostaganem
Supervisor: Dr. BENOSMANE Naziha University of Mostaganem
Examiner: Ms. ADNANI Rajaa University of Mostaganem
Academic year: 2019-2020

Dedication
I dedicate this work to:
My beloved parents, who have always been a constant source of inspiration, and
strengthens me with their love,
I also dedicate this work to my lovely brother and sisters, without their love and
support, this research would not have been made possible,
To my sister Nadia in particular without whom I would have never reached this stage,
To all my friends who have stood by my side.
I
Acknowledgments
First of all I owe particular thanks to Allah for having helped me to accomplish this
modest work.
This research project would not have been feasible without the support of many
people. First and foremost, I express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Naziha
BENOSMANE for her assistance, guidance, and advice in time of great need.
Deepest thanks also to the members of the jury, namely Dr. L. BENSTAALI and Ms.
R. ADNANI for devoting some of their time and accepting to read and evaluate this work.
I also convey special thanks to Ms. KEHAILIA and Ms. MAZ for their help,
insightful comments, and advice.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to the informants, being
teachers or pupils, who helped me a great deal in the conduct of the field work.
II
Abstract
The assessment of writing ability has recently received much attention from educators as well
as writing specialists, especially because the writing skill at different educational levels seems
less proficient than the one produced before. The development of writing skill involves more
than the accurate use of grammar and syntax, it involves raising the awareness, support,
practice, and continuous feedback. This study aimed mainly at raising teachers‟ awareness of
the importance of assessing the writing skill. Furthermore, it aims at investigating the way
teachers respond, measure, and score learners‟ writing competency and the role of feedback in
the EFL teaching/learning process. A mixed methods approach design has been chosen to
collect both quantitative and qualitative data from an exploratory case study of first year
pupils of Ben Guella Touati high school in Mostaganem. Hence, to achieve the objectives
above, the study relied on three research instruments: a questionnaire and interview which
were addressed to EFL teachers and also a classroom observation in order to shed light on the
importance of assessing the writing skill as well as determining both the scoring procedure
and its impact on students‟ results. The study reveals the importance of the teacher‟s choices
in both the assessment practices and the feedback in enhancing learners‟ writing
performances.
Key words: assessment, writing, teachers, tasks, pupils, feedback.
III
List of Abbreviations
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language
ICT: Information and Communication Technology
IV
List of Tables
Table 1.1: Dimensions of Assessment…………………………………………………......10
Table 2.1: Writing Activities in the Course Book……………………………………….....18
Table 3.1: Errors Symbols …………………………………………………...…………….40
V
List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Concept Map of the Professional Theme of Writing……………...……………5
Figure 1.2: Simplified Model for the Instructional Role of Formative Assessment………11
Figure 1.3: Simplified Model for the Instructional Role of Summative Assessment……...13
Figure 2.1: The Extent of Using Collaborative Writing…………………………………...26
Figure 2.2: Techniques Used in Assessing the Writing Skill……………………………...28
Figure 2.3: The Frequency of Providing Pupils with Feedback…………………………...28
Figure 2.4: Kinds of Writing Tasks Used in Assessing the Writing Performance………...28
Figure 2.5: The Teacher‟s Emphasis in the Correction of Written Production……………30
VI
Table of Contents
Dedication .................................................................................................................................. I
Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................................II
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... III
List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. IV
List of Tables............................................................................................................................ V
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... VI
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. VII
General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1
Chapter One: Theoretical Concepts of Writing and Assessment
1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Definition of writing ...................................................................................................... 4
1.3. Types of classroom writing performance .................................................................... 5
1.3.1. Imitative or writing down ..................................................................................... 6
1.3.2. Intensive or controlled writing ............................................................................. 6
1.3.3. Self-writing ............................................................................................................. 7
1.3.4. Display writing ....................................................................................................... 7
1.3.5. Real writing ............................................................................................................ 7
1.4. Importance of writing ................................................................................................... 8
1.5. Definition of assessment ................................................................................................ 8
1.6. Types of assessment ..................................................................................................... 10
1.6.1. Diagnostic assessment .......................................................................................... 10
1.6.2. Formative assessment .......................................................................................... 11
1.6.3. Summative assessment ......................................................................................... 12
1.7. Principles of assessment .............................................................................................. 13
1.7.1. Practicality ............................................................................................................ 13
1.7.2. Validity .................................................................................................................. 14
VII
1.7.3. Reliability .............................................................................................................. 14
1.7.4. Authenticity .......................................................................................................... 14
1.7.5. Wash- back ........................................................................................................... 15
1.8. Approaches to scoring writing ................................................................................... 15
1.8.1. Holistic scoring ..................................................................................................... 15
1.8.2. Analytic scoring .................................................................................................... 15
1.8.3. Trait-based scoring .............................................................................................. 16
1.9. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 16
Chapter Two: Research Methodology
2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 17
2.2. Research methodology ................................................................................................ 17
2.2.1. The participants........................................................................................................... 18
2.2.2. The educational context .............................................................................................. 18
2.2.3. Writing sessions .................................................................................................... 18
2.3. Data collection instruments ........................................................................................ 19
2.3.1. Classroom observation ........................................................................................ 20
2.3.1.1. Description of the observation ..................................................................... 20
2.3.2. Questionnaire ....................................................................................................... 21
2.3.2.1. Description of the questionnaire ................................................................. 22
2.3.3. Interview ............................................................................................................... 23
2.3.3.1. Description of the interview ......................................................................... 24
2.4. Data analysis ................................................................................................................ 24
2.4.1. Analysis of classroom observation ...................................................................... 24
2.4.2. Analysis of the questionnaire .............................................................................. 27
2.4.3. Analysis of the interview ..................................................................................... 33
2.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 34
Chapter Three: Discussions and Recommendations
VIII
3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 33
3.2. Findings discussion ...................................................................................................... 33
3.2.1. Discussion of the main results of the classroom observation ........................... 33
3.2.2. Discussion of the main results of the questionnaire .......................................... 34
3.2.3. Discussion of the main results of the interview ................................................. 35
3.3. General discussion of the results ................................................................................ 36
3.4. Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 38
3.4.1. Aligning the writing assignments to the pupils’ needs ..................................... 38
3.4.2. Allowing enough time for teaching and assessing writing ............................... 38
3.4.3. Providing pupils with more homework.............................................................. 38
3.4.4. Assessment of writing should be done regularly ............................................... 39
3.4.5. Integrating peer-assessment with teacher-assessment...................................... 39
3.4.6. Giving feedback about the wrong and right answers ....................................... 39
3.4.7. Develop grading criteria for each writing assignments .................................... 41
3.4.8. Rubrics as an assessment tool for writing.......................................................... 42
3.4.9. Portfolio as a means of developing and assessing writing skills ...................... 43
3.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 44
General Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 45
References
Appendices
IX
General Introduction
In education the term assessment is a systematic process of a wide variety of methods
that educators use to gather, interpret, record, and use information about learners‟ responses to
an educational task. In fact, it is a key component to a deep learning and it needs to employ
effective strategies. These strategies are addressing improvement needs and achieving desired
results.
Assessment provides valuable information that can inform decisions about learners‟
needs, if there should be some changes to be made or not to improve the method of teaching,
to meet students‟ needs for the next cycle and focus more on the individual learner. However,
assessing a foreign language writing skills is one of the most problematic areas in language
testing. Understandably, there has been a growing interest among educators as well as
instructors in effectively measuring and assessing the writing skills. Writing is a critical
communication tool for students to convey thoughts and opinion, describe ideas and events,
and analyze information. Indeed, writing is a life-long skill.
Writing assessment refers not only to evaluating student final papers, but also to
measuring learners‟ knowledge of the element that they were taught and the tasks and
practices used to evaluate learners writing and learning. Moreover, it can be used to monitor
students‟ progress as well as determining if changes in instructions are required to meet
students‟ need. Furthermore, to diagnose the weaknesses and strengths of the learner and to
certify that the student has achieved a particular level of performance, so that educators can
provide a specialized support, educational programming for the purpose of developing a deep
understanding of what learners know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result
of their educational experiences.
Responding to learners‟ papers encompasses so many of the challenges of teaching

writing successfully, correcting every error, writing detailed comments in the margin, offering
encouraging and helpful summary remarks when they finish. The assessment is based on
sound principles and procedures. Both teaching and assessment should relate to the learner‟s
goals and very frequently to institutional goals.
Thus, the general aim behind this study is to raise teachers‟ awareness of the
importance of assessing the writing skill, with reference to 1st year pupils of Ben Guella
Touati high school, Mostaganem. Specifically, it aims to investigate the way teachers respond
Page | 1
and measure learners‟ knowledge of the elements of writing they were taught focusing on five
major areas: sentence making, grammar, spelling mistakes, hand-writing, and comprehension.
It aims also to know which type of writing assessment is mostly used in the EFL classroom.
In addition, it seeks to explore the importance and the way of providing feedback. In other
words, it aims to see whether teacher‟s way of assessment contributes to develop student‟s
writing performance.
The research is an attempt to answer the following research questions:
 How can teachers assess or respond to students‟ writing in ways that are effective?
1. What are the types of tasks used to assess the writing skill?
2. What is the method (tool) used to give scores when assessing the writing skill?
3. How can teachers and learners receive a constructive feedback from
assessment?
The above mentioned questions led us to formulate the following hypotheses:
 Teachers respond to pupils writing according to their individual needs and by using
formative assessment.
1. The tasks used to assess the writing skill are free-writing activities and guided-
writing activities.
2. The method (tool) used to score the writing assignments is rubric; which means
using a scoring guide against a set of criteria.
3. Learners can receive a constructive feedback through making the process of
providing feedback positive and in such manner that will not discourage
students‟ learning while teachers will know better what to focus on when
teaching them.
Concerning the research methodology, the first tool to be used is a classroom
observation to have deep insights into the students and teachers‟ practices during the writing
sessions. In order to obtain secondary school teachers‟ views regarding writing sessions and
its assessment, a questionnaire is submitted online. After finishing all the writing sessions, an
interview is conducted with one teacher to check whether or not she maintains the same
attitudes in comparison with the classroom observation done before.
This study is divided into three chapters. The first chapter provides a theoretical
overview concerning some definitions related to different scholars, types, and importance of
Page | 2
the writing skill in education. Then, it tackles the definition of assessment, its types and
principles as well as providing the different approaches to scoring the written products.
The second chapter is devoted to provide a description of the research methodology,

sample population, and the educational context. Then, it provides the reader with information
about teaching the writing skill in secondary schools as well as the description of the data
collection instruments used to conduct this research. Finally, the results of the investigation
are analyzed.
The third chapter consists of two parts; the first part is devoted to discuss the findings
provided by the classroom observation, questionnaire, and the interview to either confirm or
deny the research hypotheses. The second part provides some suggestions and
recommendations related to assessing the writing skill in EFL classes.
Page | 3
Chapter One
Theoretical Concepts of
Writing and Assessment
1.1. Introduction
Assessing writing skills is one of the most problematic areas in language testing that has
expanded substantially in the past 30 years. Writing samples should be assessed across a
variety of purposes, for writing to give a complete picture of student‟s writing performance
across different text structures and genres. It is a teacher-centered approach in setting up
criteria which is mainly based on: content, clarity, writing mechanics, spelling, capitalization,
punctuation, and grammar. To this end, teachers spend a lot of time ensuring that their writing
assessment practices are valid and reliable. The present chapter reviews the key concepts
related to two fields; writing and assessment. First, we will give some of the theoretical
studies concerning the definition, types and importance of writing; second, we will provide a
definition of assessment, reviewing its types, and principles as well as types of scoring the
written product.
1.2. Definition of writing

Writing is becoming an increasingly important skill for second and foreign language
learners, especially in major world languages such as English. Composing a text engages
several major cognitive components that intervene at different levels of representation.
Writing is indeed one of the most effortful activities that humans can implement (Kellogg,
1994, Piolat, Olive & Kellogg, 2005).
According to Nunan (2003), writing is a physical and mental act. It is about discovering
ideas, thinking about how to: communicate; develop them into statements, and paragraphs
that will be comprehensible to a reader. Writing has a dual purpose-to express and to impress.
Writers must select the most advantageous medium for their writing. It is a process and also a
product. The writer creates plans, writes various drafts, revises, edits, and publishes, while
when the audience read is a product.
Some people hold on the false belief that writing is a talent that some have and others do
not. This belief makes them never make an effort to learn writing. According to Langan
(2012) writing is a skill, and like most other skills, such as: typing can be learned. Therefore,
writing can be learned through practice. Flognfeldt (2016) defines writing as:
A Process that ends with a product, this product has a structure, a certain
size, content, style, etc. Various strategies are involved in the writing
process and different tools may be useful in various stages of the process.
Page | 4
Social or affective factors may motivate the writer, since the writing
process takes place at school, the kind of assessment and feedback given
by the teacher may be facilitative factor. What the model does not show is
that writing is always embedded in context.
(Flognfeldt, 2016:262)
To understand the nature of writing, Flognfeldt (2016) made a map that represents
some of the key thematic factors involved in writing. As explained in the following figure:
Figure 1.1: Concept Map of the Professional Theme of Writing (Flognfeldt, 2016)
Furthermore, based on those definitions, it can be stated that writing skill is a complex
activity that allows students to put their feelings and ideas on a paper, and to convey a
meaning through a well constructed text. Also, developing writing skills means developing
other skills; such as, thinking, planning, and summarizing.
1.3. Types of classroom writing performance

Types of writing activities to perform writing should be based on the student‟s level and
capacity. According to Brown (2001), there are five major categories of classroom writing
performance.
Page | 5
1.3.1. Imitative or writing down

At the beginning level of learning to write, students will simply “write down” English
letters, words, and possibly sentences. This includes the ability to spell correctly and to
perceive phoneme-graphic correspondence in the English spelling system. Some forms of
dictation fall into this category, although dictations can serve to and test higher-order
processing as well. Dictations typically involve the following steps:
a. A teacher reads a short paragraph once or twice at a normal speed.

b. A teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase units of three or four words each and
each unit is followed by a pause.
c. During the pause, students write exactly what they hear.
d. A teacher reads the whole paragraph once more at a normal speed so student can
check their writing.
1.3.2. Intensive or controlled writing

Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing, or testing
grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled, written grammar
exercises. In this type of writing, students are supposed to copy sentences and words, rewrite
texts and passages, and order sentences among others.
A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in which

they have to alter a given structure through. So, for example, they may be asked to change all
present tense verbs to past tense; in such case students may need to alter other time references
in the paragraph.
Guided writing, for example, the teacher might get students to tell a story just viewed
on a videotape by asking them a series of questions: where does the story take place?
Describe the principal character. What does he say to the women in the car?
Yet, another form of controlled writing is a dicto-comp technique, the teacher, after
reading the passage, puts key words from the paragraph, in sequence, on the board as cues for
the students.
Page | 6
1.3.3. Self-writing
A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing, or
writing with only the self in mind as an audience. The most salient instance of this category in
classroom is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture for the purpose of later
recall. Other note-taking may be done in the margins of books and on odd scraps of paper.
Diary or journal writing also falls into this category. However, in many circumstances,
a dialogue journal, in which a student records thoughts, feelings, and reactions; which an
instructor reads and responds to, while ostensibly written for oneself, has two audiences.
1.3.4. Display writing

It was noted earlier that writing within the school curricular context is a way of life.
For all language students, short answer exercises, essay examinations, and even research
reports will involve an element of display.
Display writing is writing that is primarily intended for the teacher, who already
knows the answer that the student is addressing. The student is literally displaying what he or
she already knows. Examples of this type of writing include essays and other writing for the
purpose of a summative assessment.
1.3.5. Real writing

While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display writing in it,
some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of messages to an audience in
need of those messages. Three subcategories illustrate how reality can be injected:
a. Academic: The language experience approach gives groups of students‟ opportunities

to convey genuine information to each other. Content-based instruction encourages the
exchange of useful information, and some of this learning uses the written word.
b. Vocational/ Technical: Quite a variety of real writing can take place in classes of
students studying English for advancement in their occupation. This is what we call it
“English in the workplace”.
c. Personal: In virtually any ESL class, diaries, letters, post cards, notes, personal
messages, and other informal writing can take place, especially within the context of
an interactive classroom.
Page | 7
1.4. Importance of writing

Writing is one of the basic skills, and an essential factor of language. Hence it is important
for native, second and foreign language learners.
Writing skills may enhance students‟ chances for success. According to Mukulu et al
(2006), writing is considered the most important language skill that students require for their
personal development and academic success. In the same way, Rao (2007) asserts that writing
strengthens students‟ learning, thinking and reflecting on the English language in their
academics. So, this means that writing is the primary basis upon which one‟s work, learning,
and intellect will be judged; writing has become a vital component to assess a person‟s
knowledge.
Written expression is a crucial part of communication and critical thinking. For high
school students, developing strong written skills not only helps their high school grades, but
also prepares them for their academic and professional futures. Whether writing essays, taking
notes or applying for scholarships, high school students must learn to develop their ideas and
proofread their written work before sharing it.
Thus, the person is often judged by the quality of writing. Be it at school, college,
workplace or society. Furthermore, it equips us with communication and thinking skills.
Moreover, if writing is adequately practiced in the classroom, it helps a lot with recycling and
generating content. Studies have shown that the best way to learn to write is to rewrite. So,
this will certainly provide opportunities for the revision process (Haris, 1993).
1.5. Definition of assessment

One of the most important measurement tools of students‟ learning is how that learning is
assessed. Assessment is a vital component of the teaching-learning process. Therefore,
assessment gives a description of students‟ performances in order to provide a possibility to
make a sort of judgment about these learners.
Black and Wiliam (1998) refers assessment to “all those activities undertaken by teachers,
and by their students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as
feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged” (p.2), as
cited in (Cheng and fox, 2017:1 ). There are two main points about this definition. First,
assessment involves both teachers and students. Second, these activities include both the
classroom tests and daily assessments that teachers use in the classroom.
Page | 8
According to Barbara and Walvoord (2014), in the context of language teaching and
learning, assessment “is the systematic collection of information about student learning
undertaken with the time, knowledge, expertise and resources available, in order to inform
decisions that affect student learning” (p.7). In other words, assessment is the process of
gathering information on a daily basis in order to understand individual student‟s learning and
needs. In the same sense, Chapelle and Bingley (2002) define it as the “act of collecting
information and making judgments about the learner‟s knowledge of a language and ability to
use it” (p.267).
Broadly speaking, assessment is seen as a method used to determine knowledge about

student learning, and it is a part of advanced education. It provides feedback to learners,
educators, parents, policy makers, and the public about the effectiveness of educational
programs (the National Research Council, 2001).
Thus, the assessment of academic programs involves six steps (Allen, 2004):
1. Develop learning outcomes

2. Check for alignment between curriculum and outcomes
3. Develop an assessment plan
4. Collect assessment data
5. Use results to improve the program
6. Routinely examine the assessment process
Moreover, the following two terms best represent the dimensions of assessment (Cheng
and Fox, 2017):
- Assessment for learning: refers to the way towards looking for, and interpreting proof for
use by learners and their instructors to choose where learners are in their learning procedure,
where they need to go, and how best to arrive.
- Assessment of learning: refers to appraisals that occur after learning has happened, to
decide if learning has occurred. They are utilized to offer expressions about a student‟s
learning status at a specific point in time.
Where the learner is going Where the learner is How to get there
Teacher Engineering effective Providing feedback
discussions, tasks that moves learners
Page | 9
and activities that forward

Clarifying, sharing, and elicit evidence of
understanding learning intentions learning
Peer Activating students as learning resources for
one another
Learner Activating students as owners of their own
leaning
Table 1.1: Dimensions of Assessment (adapted from Wiliam, 2015)
1.6. Types of assessment

Assessment is a very important part of instruction, as it helps both teachers and learners
achieve successfully the educational objectives. It comprises two types, which are used in
language classrooms. These types occur in different times, and different forms to accomplish
multiple purposes. These types are formative and summative assessments.
1.6.1. Diagnostic assessment

Diagnostic assessment is a form of Pre- assessment that allows a teacher to determine
students‟ individual strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills prior to instruction. It is
primarily used to diagnose students‟ difficulties and to guide lesson and curriculum planning.
According to Murphy (2009), diagnostic assessment is the process of diagnosing

learners‟ strengths and weaknesses in the beginning of the course, not least the foreign
language lesson. It benefits both the instructor and the students. It allows teachers to plan
meaningful and efficient instruction.
Alderson (2005) suggests that diagnostic tests should identify strengths and
weaknesses in learners‟ use of language and focus on specific elements rather than global
abilities. Moreover, this assessment can be done at the beginning and the end of a course.
Post-course assessments can be compared with pre-course assessments and can show
students‟ potential improvement in certain areas and allow the instructor to adjust the
curriculum to meet the needs of students.
Page | 10
1.6.2. Formative assessment

Formative assessment occurs throughout the school year. It can be referred to as
continuous assessment. Initially, the goal of formative assessment is to monitor student
learning, and to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their
teaching; and by students to improve their learning.
According to Black and William (2009), formative assessment encompasses the

following processes: practice in a study hall is formative to the degree that proof about learner
accomplishment is evoked, interpreted, and utilized by instructors, students or their
companions, to settle on choices about the subsequent stages in guidance.
Alternatively, (Cizek, 2010:6) refers to formative assessment as:
The collaborative processes engaged in by educators and students for the

purpose of understanding the students’ learning and conceptual
organization, identification of strengths, diagnosis of weaknesses, areas of
improvement, and as a source of information, teachers can use in
instructional planning and students can use in deepening their
understanding, and improving their achievement.
As for the above definition, formative assessment is viewed as a collection of activities

or processes used by teachers, and students to recognize and respond to student learning and
for the purpose of identifying student‟s level, and boosting their learning outcomes. To
understand its role, a model was provided by (Gronlund, Norman, 1998).
Page | 11
Figure 1.2: Simplified Model for the Instructional Role of Formative Assessment
(Gronlund, Norman, 1998)
1.6.3. Summative assessment

Summative assessment is an appraisal of learning at the end of a project, unit,
semester, program, or at a specific point in time. It is used to evaluate student learning, skill
acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period.
Generally, summative assessment gauges how a particular population responds to an
intervention rather than focusing on an individual.
It”…aims to measure or summarize what a student has grasped and typically occurs at
the end of a course or a unit of instruction”. (Brown, 2003:6). This means that summative
assessment is a kind of evaluating and ranking students‟ learning, and it is generally done at
the conclusion of unit.
In addition, Miller (2006) state different purposes for using summative assessment in
the classroom:
 To pass or fail a student

 To grade or rank a student
 To allow progress to further study
 To assure suitability for work
Page | 12
 To predict success in further study

 To signal employability and selection for employment
To understand the role of summative assessment, a model was provided by (Gronlund,

Norman, 1998).
Figure 1.3: Simplified Model for the Instructional Role of Summative Assessment
(Gronlund, Norman, 1998).
1.7. Principles of assessment

The key concept of assessment is to enable the assessor to clarify if the learner has gained
the required understanding, skills, and knowledge required as a part of their program. To meet
the effectiveness of the assessment tasks used, certain principles are taken into consideration.
1.7.1. Practicality
Practicality can be simply defined as the relationship between available resources for the
test, it means seeing to which extent a test can be put into practice. Brown (2004) defines
practicality in terms of cost, time, administration, scoring / evaluation. That is to say, a
practical test:
 Stays within budgetary limits.

 Can be completed by the test-taker within appropriate time constrains.
Page | 13
 Have clear directions for administration.

 Consider the time and effort involved for both design and scoring.
1.7.2. Validity
Validity of a test is the extent to which it exactly measures what is supposed to measure
(Hughes, 2003). In order for the assessment to be valid, it should focus on the objectives of
the lesson. Brown (2004) proposed five ways to establish validity. They are:
 Face Validity: Mousavi (2009) refers face validity to the degree to which a test looks
right, and appears to measure the knowledge or abilities it claims to measure, based on
the subjective judgment of the examinees who take it, the administrative personnel
who decide on its use, and other psychometrically unsophisticated observers.
(Mousavi, 2009 as cited in Brown &Abeywickrama, 2010)
 Content validity: the most important step in making sure of content validity is to make
sure all content domains are presented in the test.
 Constructive validity: is the most obvious reflection of whether a test measures what it
is supposed to measure as it directly addresses the issue of what it is that is being
measured.
 Concurrent validity: is the use of another more reputable and recognized test to
validate one‟s own test.
 Predictive validity: is closely related to concurrent validity. Therefore, a test that
would yield predictable results in a letter measure.
1.7.3. Reliability
It means that if the test is administrated to the same students on different occasions,
then it produces the same results. In other words “if you give same test to the same students or
matched students on two different occasions, the test should yield similar results” (Brown,
2004:20). Thus, assessments are usually expected to produce comparable outcomes, with
consistent standards over time and between different learners and examiners.
1.7.4. Authenticity
It is the degree of correspondence of the characteristics of a given language test task to
the features of a target language task. Authenticity deals with a real world situation. Many
large-scale tests nowadays offer simulation of real-world tasks in writing, of which the
Page | 14
performance of this productive skill was not included previously. All types of assessment
tools should prepare the learner to function correctly when they are in the target culture.
1.7.5. Wash- back

The term wash-back (Hughes, 2003) refers it to the impact that tests have on teaching and
learning. For example the extent to which assessment affects a student‟s future language
development. Such impact is usually seen as being negative: tests are said to force teachers to
do things they do not necessarily wish to do. However, some have argued that tests are
potentially also „levers for change‟ in language education.
1.8. Approaches to scoring writing

Scoring writing is a very delicate task. According to Hyland (2003), such an approach
takes a variety of forms and falls into three main categories: holistic, analytic, and trait-based.
Each of these approaches has a different purpose, focus, and will provide different types of
information to teachers and students.
1.8.1. Holistic scoring

A method of evaluating a composition based on its overall quality, holistic scoring
results in a more general description for categories, but includes the different elements of
writing implicitly, or explicitly. This approach to scoring students‟ written performances
reflects the idea that “writing is a single entity which is best captured by a single scale that
integrates the inherent qualities of the writing.” (Hyland, 2003: 227)
Furthermore, this approach to scoring writing is quite short-sighted in that it reduces
writing to a single score. It is rather impressionistic and fails to pay attention to details by
providing a score for each of them.
1.8.2. Analytic scoring

Analytic scoring focuses attention on separate important traits of effective writing in
that genre. The student receives a separate score for each trait, which combines to create a
final score. In this approach, the teacher analyses the students‟ writing taking into account
different features such as: grammar, cohesion, and vocabulary. Hyland (2003) Suggests that it
is recommended that raters, when devising analytic rubric, use explicit and comprehensible
descriptors that relate directly to what is taught.
Page | 15
1.8.3. Trait-based scoring

Both analytic and holistic scoring were a priori in that they assumed a pre-determined set
of criteria which could distinguish good writing from poor writing. Trait-based approaches to
scoring writing are context-sensitive and, as such, differ from both holistic and analytic
scoring methods. Trait-based approaches are therefore task-specific. Hyland (2003) suggests
that trait-based scoring falls into two main categories: primary-trait scoring and multiple-trait
scoring.
 Primary-trait scoring: the teacher focuses on a particular component of the writing, but
may include a secondary trait which may receive less weight.
 Multiple-trait scoring: is task-specific; this requires that raters provide separate scores
for different writing features.
1.9. Conclusion
The present chapter provided different explanations of theoretical aspects related to
writing and assessment. Part of it was concerned with the clarification of what writing is; its
main types and importance were discussed. Furthermore, the second part of this overview
explained the meaning of assessment as well as its most important types and principles. At the
end of this chapter, the last part explored the different approaches to scoring the writing skill.
In the next chapter, the researcher will describe the practical part of the situation under
investigation to examine how teachers can assess their students‟ writing skill.
Page | 16
Chapter Two
Research Methodology
2.1. Introduction
Teaching and assessment are two important processes that are complementary to each
other. The second chapter provides a description of the selected context and the sample
population that contribute to the situation under investigation, with special reference to BEN
GUELLA TOUATI high school, as well as the research design and instruments. In the present
study, three data collection tools are used, including a classroom observation, a questionnaire,
and an interview. Also, this chapter is concerned with the analysis of the data gathered.
2.2. Research methodology

Research has been defined by various authors in different ways. It always begins with a
question or a problem and choosing an appropriate method to investigate the problem. After
collecting answers to your questions, you can analyze the findings or observations to draw
appropriate conclusions. Its purpose is to find answers to questions through the application of
systematic and scientific methods. Thus, research is a careful consideration of study regarding
a particular concern or problem using scientific methods.
According to (Creswell, 2012:03) research is “a process of steps used to collect and
analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or an issue”. This means that
research follows specific steps that aim at gathering and analyzing data to solve a particular
problem and finds new knowledge related to a specific field of study.
Doing a research requires specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select,
process, and analyze information about a topic; this later called research methodology. The
methodology sections answers two main questions: how was the data collected or generated?
And how was it analyzed?
Research methodology may be described as a science of analysis how research is done
systematically (Kothari, 2004). In it we investigate the various stages that are generally
implemented by a scholar in studying his problem of research in conjunction with the reason
behind them.
Additionally, “research methods are the tools and techniques for doing research.
Research is a term used liberally for any kind of investigation that is intended to uncover
interesting or new facts” (Walliman, 2011:01).
The methodological approach of this study was exploratory mixed methods approach,
as the study began with a quantitative study followed up the qualitative data gathering.
Quantitative methods allow the researcher to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting
and analyzing data. It provides support when the researcher needs to draw general conclusions
Page | 17
from a research, while qualitative methods is for exploring ideas and experiences in depth. It
seeks to delve deep into the topic and gain information about participants‟ attitudes,
impressions, and opinions. Creswell (2012) noted that quantitative research is the process of
collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and writing the results of study, while qualitative research
is the approach to data collection, analysis, and report writing differing from quantitative
approaches. For this reasons, researchers need to use both approaches to get results that are
wide-reaching and deep.
2.2.1. The participants

The present research was carried out with first year pupils of literary stream at Ben Guella
Touati high school, Mostaganem. The selected sample is composed of two classes. This latter
consists of 25 pupils in each class. Not only pupils, but also 02 teachers of English will take
place in this investigation. They all hold the degree of classical system. Their experience in
teaching English ranges from 06 to 15 years, and they teach two levels: first and third year.
2.2.2. The educational context

The study was conducted, at Ben Guella Touati high school, Mostaganem during the
academic year 2019_2020. The fact that the study aims at investigating how teachers can
assess the writing skill in ways that are effective, EFL classes is one of the reasons that
motivated us to choose this particular setting. Generally, the writing sessions take place along
three trimesters. Thus, the next part is devoted to describe the writing sessions in secondary
school in order to move on to the assessment part.
2.2.3. Writing sessions

Writing in high school is usually linked to the objectives of every unit. In the Algerian
first year English book; every unit covers some writing activities. This can be presented in the
following table:
Units Topics
Unit 1: Getting Through -Writing about the advantages of internet.
-Writing a letter to a friend.
-Writing an apology letter to the head master of the school.
Unit 2: Our Findings show Writing about the star sign.
Page | 18
-Writing about an accident.
-Writing a newspaper report about an accident.
Unit 3: Back to Nature -Writing an environmental S.O.S message.

-Writing about a problem to solve
-Writing about the problem of waste products.
Unit 4: Eureka -Writing a short biography about a famous person.
-Writing to reply to an extract from a letter of opinion.
-Writing about cloning and genetically modified foods.
Unit 5: Once Upon a Time -Writing short review of a book or a film.
-Writing a description of a deceased member of a family.
-Writing an E-mail to a friend.
Table 2.1: Writing Activities in the Course Book
When looking at the writing part in the course book, there are reading texts which include
all information needed and pupils are required to read the texts to get background
information. Moreover, to facilitate more the task, there are models to follow, pictures to
describe, information in tables as well as grammatical structures that they have studied before.
In addition, the pupils are taught the skills of writing at sentence level, and by the end of
each unit they have a project which enables the learners to develop their writing skills.
2.3. Data collection instruments

The underlying need for data collection is to capture quality evidence that seeks to answer
all the questions that have been posed. It is a methodical process of gathering and analyzing
specific information to offer solutions to relevant questions and evaluate the results. For this
study, we used three tools. These include: a classroom observation, teacher‟s questionnaire,
and an interview with a teacher. The interview was conducted with one teacher because it was
a face to face interview which took a long time. This latter allows us to gain a deep insight to
specific answers, meaningful discussion, and deducing the validity of each response.
Page | 19
2.3.1. Classroom observation
Observation methods are useful to researchers in a variety of ways to check for
nonverbal expressions of feeling, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how participants
communicate with each other, and check for how much time is spent on various activities
(SCHMUCR, 1997). In this case, observation has some aspects that are unique to this
research method; including training, entering and living the study group, length of time in the
field, sampling, and data collection techniques.
Moreover, participant observation is the process enabling researchers to learn about
the activities of the people under study in the natural setting through observing and
participating in those activities. It provides the context for development of sampling
guidelines and interview guides (DeWALT & DeWALT, 2002). However, this observation
was used as a first tool in the current research study, in which we tend to simply take notes as
an observer of the most important points relevant to the writing sessions and its assessment.
This latter can be referred to unstructured observation to collect primary research data.
2.3.1.1. Description of the observation

More specifically, the classroom observation started from February 13 th, 2020, until
March 09th, 2020 throughout the second trimester. We started observing the classroom
practices for better understanding of the teachers methods used in assessing the writing skill.
For the writing sessions in secondary school, pupils had from 4 to 6 sessions devoted as
following: the teacher had only one hour to present the writing assignment and give them time
for thinking, drafting, editing, and writing the final version of their paragraphs ( content
mostly), and the task were group-based. While they are writing, the teacher kept his ears on
sound system, moved from one group to another to read from time to time and highlight form
and content mistakes. For the next session, they took also one hour for reading their output;
after the teacher has corrected their written expressions paragraphs carefully at home. The
classroom observation meant to observe items related to pupils and teachers mostly, these
include:
a. Pupils’ group-based work: we draw attention if the collaborative work in the writing
class was successful or not, whether or not they were all participating in the writing
part, and correcting each other‟s mistakes.
Page | 20
b. Pupils’ self-monitoring: to determine the writing skill improvement, we pay attention
if teachers provided opportunities to their pupils for self-monitoring through self-
evaluations and peer evaluations on their both own and peer writing.
c. Teacher’s assistance: we pay attention to the way teachers assist and guide their
pupils while they were writing in the class, answering their questions, helping them at
the level of vocabulary, and giving them a sufficient time to practice writing and
produce their own piece of writing.
d. Teacher’s motivation: we focus on how usually teachers motivate their pupils to
learn writing, whether they gave their pupils permission to make mistakes, assigned
relevant writing assignment that are applicable to their pupils‟ own lives or just
sticking to the syllabus, and providing students with a writing prompt.
e. Teacher’s assessment: the focus is about if teacher‟s assessment occurred at many
different stages throughout the course, whether it also could come through different
forms or not. Additionally, if the teacher took different roles such as: motivator,
collaborator, critic, evaluator…etc, and asking questions to check for understanding.
f. Teacher’s feedback: focusing on the learning goal, we pay attention to teacher‟s
feedback throughout two stages: first, when they were at the level of revising; if the
teacher talked with her pupils about ideas, wrote written responses on their drafts.
Second, teacher gave multiple types of feedback at all stages, not just in the end and
the period that they took to provide feedback after the assessment process.
2.3.2. Questionnaire
As a second tool, we used a questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaire design is
very crucial and important part of the research. Therefore, a set of adequate questions in a
sequential order is required in a questionnaire. A questionnaire is defined as a document
containing questions and other types of items designed to solicit information appropriate to
analysis (Babbie, 1990).
From the questionnaire, we form an opinion or a conclusion according to the answers
that we receive. The questions are firmly constructed to receive answers related to the chosen
variable for analysis. Therefore, the questionnaire construction is the most important part of
the research and other information collection activities.
In order to have a better understanding of writing assessment in secondary school, we
used a questionnaire to get data from high school teachers, having almost 19 teachers that are
Page | 21
currently teaching. I opted for mail delivery of questionnaire due to the actual situation of
quarantine. The questionnaire will assist us in getting second information in analyzing the
responses being collected, also getting data on different aspects and sides of assessment
method.
2.3.2.1. Description of the questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of both qualitative and quantitative data. To provide
quantitative data we used both close-ended and multiple choice questions. Close-ended
questions require “Yes” or “No” answers while multiple choice questions require participants
to select the appropriate answer from the suggested ones. Moreover, to obtain qualitative data,
we used open-ended questions which require long responses according to the participant‟s
point of view. That is to say, the respondents could give some kind of reflections and
explanations. To organize this questionnaire, we divided it into three main sections; each
section contains a series of questions.
a. Section one: Profile (Q1-Q3)

This section is about the background participants‟ information. It aims at gathering
personal information about:
Question (1): aims at knowing teacher‟s gender.
Question (2): the educational system teachers studied in.
Question (3): aims at knowing teachers‟ years of teaching experiences.
b.Section two: Teaching practices (Q1-Q4)

This section is made up of four questions. It is mainly concerned with teachers‟ opinion
about the writing sessions.
Question (1): aims at knowing whether teachers prefer to do the writing tasks in group work
or not. After that, they have space to state either the benefits or the detriments of this
collaborative work for the sake of justifying.
Question (2): investigates the kinds of difficulties that teachers face when teaching the writing
skill.
Question (3): aims at comprehending the way teachers choose the appropriate writing
exercises.
Page | 22
Question (4): the last question of this section is intended to know the different objectives of
the writing practices at the end of the year.
c. Section three: Assessment practices (Q1-Q7)

In this section, teachers are asked about different concepts that are related to assessing
the written production.
Question (1): investigates the assessment techniques that instructors use during the writing
class such as: self-assessment, peer-assessment, teacher- assessment, or any other suggestion.
After that, they have space to mention and explain this specific suggestion or technique.
Question (2): tries to collect teacher‟s point of view about when to provide your pupils with
written feedback.
Question (3): intended to explore teachers‟ preferences about the type of the writing activities,
whether they use free-writing activities, guided-writing activities or projects. Then, they have
a space to mention other types they use.
Question (4): aims at knowing the way teachers present the writing assignment.
Question (5): seeks to discover the difficulties that teachers find when it comes to assessing
their pupils‟ writing.
Question (6): tries to gather information about their pupils‟ level in the writing skill.
Question (7): the last question of this section asked about teachers‟ areas of emphasis when
correcting their pupils‟ papers.
2.3.3. Interview
An interview is a conversation for particularly gathering qualitative information, and
the story behind a participant‟s experiences. It helps the researcher explains, better
understands, and explores the research subject. Interview questions are usually open-ended
questions so that in-depth information will be collected. (Richards, 2001:61) asserts that:
“interviews allow for a more in depth exploration of issues than is possible with a
questionnaire, though they take longer to administer and are only feasible for smaller groups”.
We conducted a structured face-to-face interview in which the interviewee responds to a set
of questions that are pre-prepared.
Page | 23
2.3.3.1. Description of the interview
The structured interview was conducted with one English teacher at Ben Guella Touati
high school. It is composed of six questions. The aim behind this interview is to know her
professional experiences as English teacher in assessing the writing skill in secondary school.
The questions were meant to provide an exchange of information, and to investigate deeply
the social, educational situation behind the problem being discussed concerning assessing the
written production.
Question (1): since pupils have to work in groups during the writing class; the teacher is asked
first, to describe her pupils‟ performance. Second, to describe the way followed to assess this
work.
Question (2): attempts to investigate teacher‟s personal opinion about whether the mistakes
should be discussed in the classroom with pupils or not.
Question (3): is an attempt to have insight about the importance of assessment and feedback
in gaining the writing skill.
Question (4): aims at knowing the teacher‟s way and focus when scoring the pupils‟ written
production.
Question (5): seeks to discover the way the teacher integrates feedback in both the writing and
learning processes.
Question (6): explores the purpose behind assessing the writing skill.
2.4. Data analysis

After collecting data from the classroom observation, the answers provided by teachers as
participants, and the interview at Ben Guella Touati high school, the results were analyzed to
answer the questions that have been asked and test the raised hypotheses in order to draw a
conclusion. These analyses are a description of the actual results in terms of numbers,
percentages, and figures.
2.4.1. Analysis of classroom observation

As mentioned before, the classroom observation was intended to observe specific items
related to pupils as well as teachers. These items included: pupils‟ group-based work, pupils‟
self-monitoring, teacher‟s assistance, teacher‟s motivation, teacher‟s assessment, and
teacher‟s feedback.
Page | 24
a. Pupils’ group-based work
Classes always consisted of advanced and struggling pupils. We noticed that the good
pupils always preferred to work alone, or with each others. Whereas, the struggling pupils sat
in isolation and they were struggling in understanding the instruction by themselves. They
gave the impression of that they were unable to exchange, create ideas, and produce a
coherent piece of writing. However, we found that only two groups which consisted of
advanced pupils were engaging in the writing task, discussing and sharing ideas among them.
Furthermore, we observed that the other groups which consisted of struggling pupils were not
only having difficulties at the level of participating and helping one another in the writing
process, but also at the level of correcting each other‟s mistakes due to time limitation and
their lack of familiarity with the target language. Additionally, the collaborative writing
environment was too noisy as compared by working individually. So, most of the pupils
might not be motivated in the collaborative work.
b. Pupils’ self-monitoring
Giving learners control over their writing assignments is a way of increasing autonomy.
We noticed that teachers always had the overall control of the writing task and its assessment.
Pupils were not aware of how to analyze the task (i.e. they always jump in without clear
understanding of the task). We noticed that pupils were having difficulty in monitoring their
thinking, and they were asking a lot of questions. We found that only the teacher who had the
right to evaluate and assess their written production after finishing the task without giving
them on what the correction was based.
c. Teacher’s assistance:
We noticed that teachers always guided their pupils in the writing assignment, explaining
carefully the task and repeating for many times, providing them with examples to direct their
thinking, giving them a start to begin with, and tips to follow. We saw that teachers moved
around from one group to another trying to simplify the instruction for those who did not
understand, showing them the way to develop ideas, providing them with the vocabulary they
need, and highlighting the mistakes.
Furthermore, we observed that teachers gave their pupils more time to finish their
assignments, encouraging them in different ways; for instance, teacher‟s appreciation of
pupils‟ efforts to make them work more.
Page | 25
d. Teacher’s motivation:
Another key factor that contributed in the writing class was to motivate pupils. We
observed that teachers always worked from the syllabus. This means that the instructors did
not relate the writing task to their pupils‟ own lives. They missed the point that pupils are
always interested in developing writing experiences from real-life events and searching for
topics that interest them. We found also that there were no prompt questions which can be
also used as a key motivator to pupils. On the other hand, we noticed that instructors allow
their pupils to make mistakes through the learning atmosphere. This was clear from hearing
teachers saying to their pupils that “from mistakes they will learn”; this may actually make
them benefit from those mistakes. Also, we observed that they tried to motivate their pupils
by giving them extra-marks which kept them motivated to finish the task and produce their
pieces of writing
e. Teacher’s assessment
We noticed that teachers were acting as facilitators more than evaluators inside the
classroom by checking for their pupils‟ progress. However, all teachers assumed that
correcting the written work is a time consuming activity for them.
On the other hand, we observed that when teachers dealt with controlled writing tasks
such as gap-filling, reordering, and open dialogues; it was usually corrected orally in the
classroom. The whole class went through the answer together. Also, we noticed that this
correction involved pupils in the revision and editing stages of their own pieces of writing so
that they can learn from their errors.
Additionally, there were times when pupils write individually in the free-writing
activities. Then, the teachers corrected their production at home focusing mainly on
grammatically correct sentences and phrases, spelling mistakes, and organization of ideas.
f. Teacher’s feedback
We noticed that most of the time teachers were giving encouraging and positive feedback.
Firstly, when pupils were at the drafting stage, teachers talked with them about different ideas
and gave them kinds of specific comments and suggestions, have pupils respond to their
classmates‟ drafts in the group workshop. Secondly, after correcting their papers, teachers
provided them with written feedback and explanations of what they did incorrectly.
Page | 26
2.4.2. Analysis of the questionnaire

The questionnaire was used as a data collection in this study to better understand how
teachers can assess the written production and give a constructive feedback after that. To this
end, the obtained answers were categorized into three main sections as stated earlier.
a. Section one: Profile

We can notice from the result obtained that twelve respondents of the questionnaire were
female and seven were male. Generally speaking, the number of the female teachers is usually
higher than male teachers in EFL classes. Also, the majority of teachers engaged in the study
belonged to classical system and have a reasonable experience which ranges from two to
sixteen years. This leads to say that the majority of them spent a number of years in the field
of teaching which gave them an adequate knowledge about teaching and assessing the writing
skill.
b. Section two: teaching practices

Item 1: do you let your pupils work collaboratively on their writing? , if yes say why?
Figure 2.1: The Extent of Using Collaborative Writing

The result revealed that 89% of teachers answered that they let their pupils work
collaboratively on their writing, while the rest of teachers representing 10, 5% of the total said
they did not. This means that they opted for working individually during the writing class.
Few of them had justified as follows:
Page | 27
“Team work is vital for exchanging, correcting each other’s ideas, it is a great help
for weak pupils, it helps in developing communicative skills, interaction, and critical thinking,
collaborative writing rises pupils motivation to work, it is much more productive and
competitive, pupils may ask each other’s questions they cannot ask the teacher about.”
Item 2: what kinds of difficulties do you encounter when teaching the writing skill?
This item is an open-ended question through which teachers reported the difficulties
they faced when teaching the writing skill. They stated as follows:
“Poor level of English, pupils’ poor vocabulary; they rely on Arabic translation, lack
of motivation, lack of contribution by some learners since their peers are doing the job,
choice of topics that motivate pupils, taking the pupils following the instruction, coherence
and cohesion, weak arguments, timing, big number of pupils.”
Item 3: How would you choose the appropriate writing task?

The teachers‟ choices of the appropriate writing tasks were quite different. Ten
teachers admitted that their writing activities must be related to the syllabus (textbook), topic
of the unit, and according to what they learnt during the sequence. In contrast, the other nine
teachers said that they choose their own writing tasks with clear instructions and simple ideas
to convey. These activities were related to their learners‟ needs, focusing on their pupils‟
interests in order to motivate them; the task should target the language point and at the same
time it must be relevant and significant to both their level, and life conditions. Also, they
usually take into consideration their abilities.
Item 4: what objectives do you intend to reach by the end of the year at the level of writing
with your pupils?
The objectives that were provided by the teachers were quite alike. These objectives
are summed up as follows:
“At the end of the year, learners will be able to compose letters, public statements,
speeches…etc correctly and accurately, a learner will be able to write correct paragraphs
free from errors, pupils will be able to write sentences and coherent paragraphs, using the
correct tenses and suitable linking words, teachers intend to enrich their learners’ vocabulary
and develop their style of writing in order for them to be able to express themselves freely,
upgrade their level, pupils will be able to produce a coherent and cohesive piece of writing,
Page | 28
they will be able to deliver a simple thought, an idea effectively and correctly; even with few
sentences, learners will be able to understand the concept of topic sentence, body paragraph,
and conclusion as well as different linking words, to enable pupils to write well-structured
and meaningful paragraphs and essays, pupils will be able to develop written expression’s
abilities, and produce a final version, making less spelling, grammatical mistakes, and
achieve fluency.”
c. Section three: assessment practices

Item 1: what are the assessment techniques you use in the classroom? (You can choose
more than one answer) If there are others, specify
Figure 2.2: Techniques Used in Assessing the Writing Skill
As it is mentioned in the graph, 73, 7% claimed that they use both teacher and peer
assessment in the writing class. Whereas, the other teachers 21, 1% confessed that they use
self-assessment as a technique in the classroom. Some teachers added some suggestions for
instance portfolios.
Item 2: How often do you provide your pupils with written feedback?
Page | 29
Figure 2.3: The Frequency of Providing Pupils with Feedback
The teachers‟ responses revealed that 57, 9% of them always provide their pupils with
written feedback. On the other hand, 42, 1% out of the total number of teachers had chosen to
comment sometimes on their pupils written products.
Item 3: What do you use from the following to assess your pupils writing performance?
(You can choose more than one answer)
Figure 2.4: Kinds of Writing Tasks Used in Assessing the Writing Performance
The result of this question showed that 52, 6% of the respondent teachers answered
that guided-writing activities were very much used in their classes. 21, 1% of teachers picked
out that they used free-writing activities. On the other hand, 5, 3% had chosen that they asked
pupils to prepare projects for the sake of assessing their writing performance. 5, 3% also
opted to use the three kinds of activities. Moreover, few of them had added further suggestion
like completing interviews and ordering sentences.
Page | 30
Item 4: How do you usually present the writing assignment?

For this question, teachers argue that presenting the writing assignments begin usually
with explaining the task through different ways. According to each instructor the task is
presented as follows:
- “They discuss the topic together and brainstorm it, collect the possible information
and write it on the board. Then, they divide pupils into groups and sometimes further
divide the topic and give each group part of it.”
- “By providing pupils with illustrations, picture study, videos, documents, class
discussions…etc to present the topic and guide them to brainstorm, then the teacher
writes the topic on the board, divides pupils into groups and let them work.”
- “Through brainstorming as a first step towards providing learners with clear
instruction about what they are supposed to do.”
- “Ask them to write paragraphs; one or two paragraphs would be selected to be
corrected.”
- “Explaining the topic using some mind maps or pictures from the text book.”
- “They start by presenting the topic through visual aids, and then write some ideas on
the board. After that, they present the aim and the assignments to pupils, and they
start working on it in groups.”
- “Using power points presentations”.
- “Writing the topic, pre-stage (brainstorming of ideas related to the topic), while-stage
(writing with the teacher monitoring), and finally post-stage (during which some
pupils read their paragraphs before a class check and developing a model topic).”
- “Explaining the topic, pupils think, share and then they produce together the
composition following the plan.”
- Some teachers prefer that “pupils guide themselves by themselves, and then they tell
them what to do or not to.”
-
Item 5: What are the difficulties you find in assessing your pupils‟ writing?
In this question, teachers have mentioned some difficulties they face at the level of the
assessment process when dealing with the writing skill. These difficulties are summarized as
follows:
Page | 31
- Some teachers noted that: “they actually face all kinds of difficulties due to the
poor level of pupils in the target language. Despite the fact that some pupils have
great ideas about the topic, but they still cannot translate that information into a
well organized paragraph in the English language.”
- Some teachers said that: “doing the assessing in class is time-consuming.”
- “They find it difficult to assess written productions that are full of mistakes to the
point that no sentence makes sense.”
- “Pupils’ lack of interest in the topic presented in the text book.”
- “Unable to understand some words (illegible hand-writing).”
- “The time devoted for the correction of written expression is not enough to deal
with all the mistakes done by the class.”
- “The influence of the mother tongue.”
- “Lack of cohesion and coherence, spelling and grammatical mistakes, choice of
the appropriate writing register.”
Item 6: How do you evaluate your pupils‟ writing skill as compared to other skills?
From the result obtained, we can say that all teachers showed a negative response. A
large number of respondents 63, 2% pointed out that most of the time pupils had
unsatisfactory level as well as 36, 8% out of the total number of teachers indicated that they
had a poor level when it comes to writing.
Item 7: When correcting your pupils‟ writing, do you focus more in: form, content, or both
of them?
Figure 2.5: The Teacher‟s Emphasis in the Correction of Written Productions
Page | 32
As it is shown in the graph above, the majority of the responses 89, 5% indicate that
teachers gave more importance to both form and content while the remaining teachers
10, 5% showed that they focused on content only.
2.4.3. Analysis of the interview

The analysis of teachers‟ interview aims at investigating how can teachers assess the
writing skill as well as providing pupils with feedback. Some questions were similar to those
of questionnaire in order to check any similarities or differences between the responses of the
two tools in relation with assessing the written products.
Question 1: How would you describe and assess group and pair work in writing in terms of
result and performance?
“Generally speaking, group work is an effective way in terms of teaching as well as results of
pupils, but for some pupils is not successful due to certain circumstances including the noisy
environment which can prevent some pupils from working and affect their quality of writing.
Whereas, pair work it can be considered as the successful way of grouping pupils.
Additionally, you should assess each individual contribution in the group work”
Question 2: Do you think that mistakes should be discussed in the class?

“First, making it safe to make errors in the classroom starts with u as a teacher. It is
important to discuss the mistakes in the class because it is the only place where pupils can
correct their mistakes and teachers highlight the gaps in knowledge and make sure that
everyone learns what they are supposed to be learning”
Question 3: Do you think that feedback / assessment is necessary for gaining the writing
skill?
“Yes it is necessary to assess the written products and give the appropriate feedback that
reflects how pupils did. First, the written assessment allows pupils to express their
understanding and requires pupils to perform thinking. Second, feedback helps pupils
recognize their strengths and weaknesses and shows them what and where they need to focus
more”
Question 4: What do you rely on when scoring your pupils‟ written production?
Page | 33
“I personally rely on content and grammar mistakes only because if you are going to judge
every single error, pupils are not going to the average”
Question 5: How would you successfully integrate feedback in the writing and learning
process?
“Integrating feedback can be through clarifying the learning objectives and criteria for
success, different strategies that can be used to accomplish the task, interaction through
fostering effective classroom discussions, correction, and through different orientations”
Question 6: What is your purpose of assessing the writing skill?

“The main purpose of assessing pupils writing assignments is to give information about
pupils’ performance in the writing development as well as improving writing”
2.5. Conclusion
This chapter attempted to portray the research methodology followed in collecting the
required data for the current study, the participants of this investigation and the educational
context in which the research took place. Furthermore, it gave a description and an
explanation of the data collection procedure used to carry out this research as well as
presenting the data analysis. Thus, the next chapter will deal with the discussion of the
findings obtained previously and give some recommendations and suggestions.
Page | 34
Chapter Three
Discussions and
Recommendations
3.1. Introduction
The present chapter provides discussions of the findings obtained from the instruments
used in conducting the research including classroom observation, questionnaire, and
interview. Moreover, it recommends some strategies to promote an effective teaching and
assessment of the writing skill including aligning the writing task to pupils‟ needs, allowing
more time, provide pupils with more homework assignments, integrating teacher with peer-
assessment, and developing grading criteria. By the end, the researcher suggests some useful
tools to assess and improve the writing competency and give more accurate written feedback.
3.2. Findings discussion

After collecting and analyzing the data obtained from the classroom observation. Also,
the responses provided by the participants though using a questionnaire and interview. We
attempt to discuss the findings obtained previously highlighting the shortcomings. We are
going to explore the pre-mentioned hypotheses in relation to the main findings of this research
work. Consequently, in this section the researcher can prove or refute the suggested
hypothesis concerning assessing the writing skill.
3.2.1. Discussion of the main results of the classroom observation

Through the obtained data from the classroom observation, the previously stated
hypotheses have been proved to some extent. First, teachers did not deal with each pupil
separately. In here the teacher‟s position can be explained in terms of lack of time devoted to
meet pupils‟ individual needs and the big number of learners in the classroom, while pupils‟
learning is affected by those needs especially at the revision stage where teachers are required
to work with them because pupils are mostly not interested in revising their writing. The
researcher concludes that if teachers are given enough teaching hours, the results and
performance of pupils‟ writing will be improved.
In the same vein, the use of formative assessment was clearly present throughout the
learning process. The interaction and discussion between the teacher and his pupils was open
and appropriate in the writing sessions, it is not based on marks but rather on corrective
feedback, they take errors into account, and the formative assessment practices including
(think, pair, share) which generate interaction among pupils and their teacher. Also, the
teacher acts as a facilitator and guides them when necessary. This confirms the use of
Page | 33
formative assessment and proved the second part of the general hypothesis. Worth noting, the
fact that the assessment of writing skill was not done regularly and it is under the teacher‟s
assessment only and sometimes it is through a discussion between the teacher and the whole
class.
Additionally, what was apparently observed from teachers during the sessions
attended is that they provide their pupils with feedback without mark as a characteristic of
formative assessment.
3.2.2. Discussion of the main results of the questionnaire

Clearly, the obtained results revealed that teachers use several types of activities which
are used to practice writing in the classroom, like free-writing activities in which pupils
compose paragraphs and reports. In addition, most of the teachers opt for the guided-writing
activities including filling the gap and multiple choice questions in which the pupils practice
the language features such as vocabulary and spelling. In particular, pupils are provided with
opportunities to experience successful and independent writing within the context of the
teacher support. Also, teachers offer their learners assignments as home work for further
practice.
Additionally, the assessment techniques vary from one teacher to another, from guided
to free writing activities in order to have different assessment results for each pupil. That is to
say, the use of a range of assessment tasks helps teachers to accommodate different students‟
needs. Also, they all share the same goal which is the collection of the pupils‟ information for
the purpose of improving the learners‟ performance in the writing expression. Thus, the
guided-writing allows the teacher to give immediate feedback on pupils‟ performances and
the opportunity to discuss further areas of improvement, whereas, the free-writing activities
allows teachers to discover what pupils know, think, where their gaps are and to promote
critical thinking skills.
The teaching methods using teacher/peer-assessment might be changed continually.
From the results obtained, teachers clearly use mostly two types of assessment. First, peer-
assessment is an effective technique that can teach pupils responsibility toward their learning.
However, teachers must not rely only on peer-assessment because learners may not receive
grammatically and structurally correct peer-assessment. That is to say, in EFL environment it
Page | 34
is not an easy task for most pupils to assess their partners‟ writing task. Therefore, they may
share the same difficulties in terms of grammar, vocabulary, words spelling, coherence and
cohesion. This latter will lead them to provide incorrect feedback. Generally speaking, pupils
do not have the background knowledge of the English language and they are not used to this
kind of reviewing their peers‟ written products.
However, in teacher-assessment, it seems that teachers assess the learners with much
strictness, have the knowledge of language and will give them more accurate feedback. One
can conclude that teachers have to provide pupils with assessment criteria and train them on
how to use these criteria. This will involve pupils in the assessment process and increase their
self confidence.
3.2.3. Discussion of the main results of the interview

Based on the obtained results, teacher‟s feedback is an essential part of an effective
learning environment in the sense that it helps pupils understand the subject and gives them
clear guidance on how to improve their learning. It relies mainly on the teachers‟ strategy to
provide feedback.
When interacting with the teacher, we noticed that she is not familiar with the concept
of feedback until we provided an explanation of it. Teachers opted for noting only the wrong
ones while it is important that they should discuss all the answers whether they are wrong or
right. Delving into the correct answer, this will hopefully let the pupils who got the wrong
answer have a little more understanding of what they did wrong and what steps they should
have taken to get the answer right.
Furthermore, this also will let the teacher see if there are any gaps in his/her teaching
through the discussion between the teacher and the class, she/he may see the
misunderstanding in her/his way of teaching.
Additionally, before pupils start to write, the teacher gave pupils feedback about what
they are trying to learn. This is one way that shows how teachers can integrate feedback in the
learning process. They will experience teacher feedback as additional to teacher directions
they have to follow. This means explaining criteria for success like what to use in this writing.
Page | 35
Also, teachers have provided positive feedback more than negative one, this shows that they
integrate successfully feedback in the writing and the learning process.
Another point, the teacher‟ answer in question four, as it is mentioned in the previous
results revealed that she is not aware of how to score pupils‟ pieces of writing especially in
tests and exams, since she relied only on two components namely grammar and content while
ignoring the other criteria related to writing. In addition, as it was mentioned in the classroom
observation with the same teacher that the time devoted for teaching and assessing is not
enough, but still it is not sufficient for grading learners writing based on two criteria only. To
this end, teachers should draw many criteria that contribute to the scoring process.
Also, the pupils‟ level in the writing composition was almost poor if we consider all the
mistakes made in that written production, but teachers should at least base that grading on
four or five criteria because the test or the exam scores are looking to see if the learner have
mastered a group of language mechanics that he or she was taught before for instance:
punctuation and capitalization.
3.3. General discussion of the results

Thanks to the classroom observation, teacher‟s questionnaire and interview, the
researcher has collected a considerable amount of data concerning the research work related
to assessing the writing skill in EFL classes with special reference to first year pupils of Ben
Guella Touati high school, Mostaganem. Here we provide a discussion of the main findings in
relation to the previously mentioned hypotheses.
In the beginning of this research, it was suggested as a general hypothesis that teachers
respond to pupils‟ writing according to their individual needs and they use formative
assessment during the learning process. After the collection of data through the three research
instruments, the research work revealed that due to the insufficient time allocated to the
teaching and assessing writing, teachers did not respond to pupil‟ pieces of writing according
to their individual needs. However, formative assessment was used and present during the
writing classes to measure pupils progress. These results confirm the second part of the
general hypothesis and refute the first part.
In the first sub-hypothesis, the researcher proposed that the tasks used to assess the writing
skill are free and guided writing activities. That is to say, teachers should diversify the types
Page | 36
of tasks used in the writing class to give more chances for pupils‟ learning and for teachers to
collect more information about their pupils‟ performance, weaknesses, and strengths.
However, what was found is that they use more than one type. Most of the teachers use
guided-writing activities more than any other tasks. In addition, they used free-writing
activities and projects but not as much as using the guided ones. This result confirms the first
sub-hypothesis. Regarding the second sub-hypothesis, the researcher proposed that the
method (tool) used to score the writing assignments is rubric; which means using a scoring
guide against a set of criteria. The previously mentioned results showed that teachers focus
mainly on grammar and content when scoring pupils‟ pieces of writing. However, they should
include a list of criteria that helps them evaluate pupils‟ performance in the writing
assignments (rubrics) for instance capitalization, punctuation, vocabulary, spelling mistakes,
coherence and cohesion. Ignoring all the other components of the pupils‟ work is not the
correct solution. Consequently, learners will not release that they have made any other
mistakes and they will continue on the same way. This result nullifies the second sub-
hypothesis.
In the third hypothesis, the researcher suggested that learners can receive a constructive
feedback through making the process of providing feedback positive; and in such a manner
that will not discourage pupils‟ learning while teachers will know better what to focus on
when teaching them. The investigation indicates that most of the time teachers provided
pupils with positive feedback which raises pupils‟ self esteem and motivates them to get rid of
their weaknesses. Teachers have always informed the learners how well or badly he or she has
performed plus providing a detailed explanation about the mistakes they have done. That is to
say, providing feedback involves the assessment of the work and correcting the mistakes.
Moreover, as it was mentioned, providing feedback highlights the strengths and

weaknesses of pupils. This feature allows teachers to know their learners‟ needs and gaps and
direct their teaching to concentrate more on those needs. Besides, teachers have the
responsibility to immediately provide feedback after one or two days from the writing class
because pupils will forget and cannot connect the feedback provided with errors they have
made. This above-explained result confirms the third sub-hypothesis provided by the
researcher.
Page | 37
3.4. Recommendations
After identifying the shortcomings of this research, some recommendations are suggested
bellow to make the assessment process of writing more effective.
3.4.1. Aligning the writing assignments to the pupils’ needs

Creating assignments is a major part of overall course design, and every activity the
teacher assign should clearly be aligned with your course‟s goals and pupils‟ needs.
Assessment involves real learning; teachers should integrate assessment into daily instructions
and classroom activities.
Alignment is the connection between learning objectives, learning activities and

assessment. An aligned course means that the learning objectives, activities and assessments
match up so that pupils can learn what the teacher intends them to learn in accordance with
their needs. Also, teachers should specify what they want learners to do when they finish the
task. When assessment is aligned with instruction and pupils‟ needs, both pupils and teachers
will benefit from it. Thus, pupils are more likely to learn because instruction is mainly
focused on their needs.
3.4.2. Allowing enough time for teaching and assessing writing

Considering teachers‟ complaints about the lack of time devoted for teaching and
assessing the writing skill, we suggest that teachers should be provided by more teaching
hours to meet the overall needs of the course. Writing is one of the skills that should be
mastered by students in order to learn a foreign language. To this end, teachers need more
and enough time to teach and assess their pupils‟ pieces of writing. The amount of time
devoted to instruction and practice in writing has a great influence on pupils‟ performance as
well as development. Insufficient practice time impacts pupils‟ achievement and results. Thus,
to ensure that the teaching and assessing of the writing skill is done accurately, teachers
should be provided by more and enough time to stay focused and achieve the desired results
and also to prevent teachers‟ error; for instance, using ineffective assessment criteria for a
given writing task; which is mainly caused by this insufficient time.
3.4.3. Providing pupils with more homework

Homework does have academic benefits; there is a strong link between homework and
achievement of learners in high school. For this reason, teachers should be aware of the
Page | 38
importance of assigning regular homework for their pupils; first, to help pupils develop their
writing skills as well as increasing their general understanding of the language. Second, it
helps pupils develop independent learning. Thus, we suggest that teachers should know how
to choose relevant activities as homework for their pupils and take individual learning styles
into account as well. Also, the assignments should match the writing skill, interests and needs
of pupils. Worth noting, that once the homework is set, it should be assessed and feedback
given by teachers.
3.4.4. Assessment of writing should be done regularly

Regular evaluation and regular progress check are essential elements of an effective
and beneficial assessment in general and formative assessment in specific.
The frequency of assessing pupils‟ pieces of writing will show the teacher if there are
any progress or not in learners‟ level as writers. So, this process should be carried out at least
one time per week. Additionally, this regular assessment will also contribute in the
improvement phase of pupils and will direct the teachers to where they need to focus more
when teaching them.
3.4.5. Integrating peer-assessment with teacher-assessment

Peer-assessment encourages learners to monitor their progress, take responsibility for
their own work. Peer-assessment is useful for advanced pupils who are involved in the
observation process. Pupils become better and competent at peer-assessment with practice,
clear guidelines and it should be highly related with teacher assessment.
For peer-assessment to have an impact on learning, pupils need training to peer-assess
effectively which includes using prompts, checklists of criteria and scoring rules, teacher
modeling of how to assess written works and give them enough time to do so.
The teacher‟s responsibility is to clearly outline the assessment criteria, and check if
they did well or not and highlight any other mistakes done. This can be done through a
discussion or debate in order to assist pupils in the assessment process.
3.4.6. Giving feedback about the wrong and right answers

Teacher feedback has always been an important part of writing; it also plays a
fundamental role in guiding students to write, ensuring teacher effect and writing
Page | 39
development. Thus, feedback is the information about how a learner is doing to reach a goal;
and there are two types of feedback including written and oral.
First, feedback does not need to fix everything possible, but only needs to take pupils‟
work to the next level. Teacher‟s feedback should be focused on both the correct and wrong
answers. Learners‟ motivation should rather be enhanced through encouraging and positive
feedback. The feedback provided by teachers should not only be informative, but it should
also take into account learners background knowledge, motivation, level of learning and
performance, and language ability. Teachers have to describe at least one thing the learner did
well, with reference to the success criteria, they need also to build on their strengths. The best
feedback on pupils‟ writing is the one which notices where pupils are meeting criteria that
show their learning.
The importance of the teacher written feedback has largely been documented by a
considerable number of researchers in the areas of ESL and EFL writing. In both English
language teaching contexts, especially in classrooms where the teaching of writing is process-
oriented, teachers and students have acknowledged the crucial value of the teacher written
feedback. Not only does it facilitates students‟ revisions, but also assists them during the step
learning to write process (Harmer, 2004; Peterson, 2010).
Teachers can use error codes and comments on the paper of pupils to give feedback
about their writing. The error code can be through underlying the errors to signify the
mistakes and write the symbols for these mistakes under it or in the margin to help pupils
know which type of mistake they did. Then, the students are required to correct those errors
by themselves. Nott (2008) explains some error codes used to indicate students‟ mistakes.
They are explained as follows:
Symbols Meaning
M Should be masculine (gender of noun and / or form of adjective)
F Should be feminine (gender of noun and / or form of adjective)
SG Should be singular (number of noun and / or form adjectives)
PL Should be plural (number of noun and / or form adjectives)
AG Make verb ending agree with subject or make adjective ending agree
Page | 40
with noun; can be used in conjunction with one of the symbols
above
SP Error of spelling, including verb, forms, and accents
V or VOC Error of vocabulary
T Error of tense
G Error of grammar
WO Error in word order
R or REG Error of register
ME Error of meaning other than VOC; meaning not clear
() Omit bracketed words; can be used in combination with other
symbols, such as letters or lines
^ Words missing, this symbol can be used in combination with other
symbols, or suggested words can be written above text
? (After a symbol). Not clear what the student intend the word /
phrase to mean
Table 3.1: Error Symbols (Nott, 2008)
3.4.7. Develop grading criteria for each writing assignments

Assessment criteria are a way to provide formative feedback throughout a course to
support ongoing learning and make it easy for teachers to explain how marks have been
awarded.
The grading criteria help teachers when evaluating pupils‟ papers. Criteria for writing
are usually presented to learners in one of the ways, analytically or holistically. The analytical
method gives separate scores for each criterion – for example, content: 8points; form:
12points, whereas, the holistic method gives one score that reflects the teacher‟s overall
impression of the paper. Also, developing and using criteria is important to be as fair as
possible when evaluating pupils‟ written products.
The purpose of assessment criteria is to establish clear standards of achievement for

each learning outcomes. It should also specify how the task will be evaluated.
Page | 41
Criteria make it clear to pupils what factors will be taken into account when making a
judgment about their performance, Lado (1962: 248) confirms this, he said: “there are things
which can be measured in connection within the content, the point of information to bring out,
the organization and sequence in which these points are, the formal signals given to the reader
to guide him in understanding the topic fully”.
Therefore, the number of criteria for a single task needs to be small in order to enable
pupils to clearly understand what is expected of them. The well written criteria are those who
help pupils understand what they need to do. Sharing assessment criteria with learners at the
beginning of the course is an effective way to help pupils build confidence in their learning
and improve their performance.
3.4.8. Rubrics as an assessment tool for writing

A rubric is a scoring plan that utilizes a set of criteria for the assessment of learners‟
performances. It gives a portrayal of each degree of execution that the student is accepted to
accomplish (Zidane, 2010). Thus, rubrics are a coherent set of criteria for pupils‟ work that
include descriptions of levels of performance.
The development of scoring rubrics goes through different steps:
1. The identification of the qualities and attributes that the teacher wishes to observe in
the pupils‟ outputs that would demonstrate their level of proficiency.
2. Determined whether holistic or an analytic rubric would be more appropriate.
3. The identification and definition of the criteria for lowest level of performance.
Writing rubrics allows the teacher to help pupils improve their writing skills. It helps
teachers also in reducing the time they spend grading pupils work and makes it easier for
teachers to explain to learners why they got this specific grade and also what they can do to
improve their writing.
Therefore, rubrics can have two essential functions. First, they present a tool of
measurement that is used to make judgment about learners‟ performance. In addition, they use
these assessment results to develop pupils‟ writing skill.
Rubrics are classified into two types. The first type is analytic rubrics which breaks down
the objective into specific components parts. Every section is scored independently using a
rating scale. It is useful for assessment because a rubric can list a different category for each
components of the assessment that needs to be included.
Page | 42
The second type is holistic rubrics; the instructor scores the assignments as a whole,
without judging components separately. Holistic rubrics are best to use when there is no
single correction answer or response and the focus is on overall quality, proficiency, or
understanding of a specific content skills.
3.4.9. Portfolio as a means of developing and assessing writing skills

A portfolio is a purposeful collection of pupils work samples. Crosby (1997) indicates
that primary purpose of portfolios in EFL contexts is to increase the level of students‟
motivation and to give them a sense of autonomous learning. It provides teachers with diverse
and multi-source information for the purpose of assessment. Also, it inspires students to
become active, engaged, and reflective learners.
Portfolio used in the EFL writing classrooms can reduce writing anxiety and help
pupils in improving self-assessment skills. The term writing portfolio refers to a form of
portfolios which centers on writing skills. It helps pupils in raising their awareness of their
own writing and supports them in improving their writing skills. Moreover, it provides
various opportunities to practice writing, and helps them to interact with peers in the
discussion of writing.
With both the teacher and student participating in the selection of the contents of the
portfolio assessment becomes a collaborative process. This can make pupils active and raises
their motivation to work.
Furthermore, commenting on learners work in the margin or in the end is considered

as teacher-pupil conversations about how they did in these assignments. Thus, teachers have
to comment on pupils‟ work in the margin and adding the final comments in the end.
Teacher‟s comment on learners writing in the margins should be based on some

principles. These principles include:
1. Responding as a reader, not as a writer
2. Ask questions to help pupils revise and improve
3. Resist the temptation to edit
4. Be specific
Page | 43
Final comments should reflect back the paper‟s main points, discussions of strengths and
weaknesses. Also, teachers have to limit their comments and begin by making positive
comments first.
3.5. Conclusion
This final chapter seeks to discuss the findings obtained throughout the research
process in order to answer the research questions. It provides some recommendations and
suggestions which can contribute in improving the teaching and assessment of writing.
Moreover, the chapter has emphasized on the importance of aligning the written tasks with
pupils‟ needs, allowing much time for teaching writing, and developing grading criteria. Also,
it presents the role of regular and peer-assessment, and homework in improving writing skills.
Attention has been paid to the tools which can be used to assess and develop writing ability in
relation with teacher written feedback.
Page | 44
General Conclusion
Writing is a necessary component of education. It is considered as a major element in
the process of teaching and learning which have to be mastered by students. By learning to
write, the students will get knowledge about how to write effectively, express ideas, and how
to share their thoughts. Effective schooling practices and assessments have numerous benefits
aside from the obvious one of providing a measure of students' progress as it can be a means
to engage students with their learning. Therefore, they should aim to support active
learning rather than assessment of learning to ensure that the assessment process is an integral
part of the students‟ education.
The current research work has focused on three main objectives. The ultimate purpose
is to highlight the need of assessment of EFL classes and development of students writing
skill. It also attempts to investigate the types of tasks used in order to assess the writing
ability. Moreover, the study aims at discovering the pedagogical tools that help EFL learners
improve their writing through an effective assessment as well as shedding light on the
importance of providing learners with feedback.
The research work is composed of three chapters. The first chapter dealt with the
theoretical concepts related to teaching and assessment. The second chapter explored the
methodology; it described the participants and the educational contexts as well as analyzing
the data driven from the instruments used including a classroom observation, a questionnaire,
and interview. The last chapter was devoted to discuss the findings followed by a general
discussion of all the results obtained previously and offer some recommendations and
suggestions based on those results.
As far as the results are concerned, the quantitative analysis of the classroom
observation as well as the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the teachers‟ questionnaire
and interview revealed that EFL high schools teachers cannot respond to their students‟
writing according to their individual need due to the lack of time devoted for writing sessions,
but they maximized the use of formative assessment in the classroom. That is to say, they
provided their pupils with ongoing feedback to help them recognize their strengths and
weaknesses. The study also concluded that most of the teachers diversify in the writing
activities in order to make learning beneficial and improve learners‟ level in writing.
Furthermore, the results showed that instructors did not rely on particular tool which consists
of list of elements when scoring their students‟ writing but rather than focusing on two
Page | 45
components of language mechanics namely: grammar and content. Most importantly, teachers
were aware of the importance of providing their pupils with constructive and positive
feedback to help students identify their strengths and weaknesses; and teachers to know their
learners‟ needs and recognize any gaps in their teaching.
Hence, the previously mentioned hypotheses have been proved to some extent. We
assumed that Teachers respond to pupils writing according to their individual needs and by
using formative assessment. We also estimated that the tasks used to assess the writing skill
are free-writing activities and guided-writing activities. Moreover, we expected that the
method (tool) used to score the writing assignments is rubric; which means using a scoring
guide against a set of criteria. Finally, we suggested that learners can receive a constructive
feedback through making the process of providing feedback positive and in such manner that
will not discourage students‟ learning while teachers will know better what to focus on when
teaching them.
Eventually, this research does not involve all aspects of assessment of the writing skill.
Therefore, this can open the door to other researchers to discuss other important aspects
related to teaching and assessing the writing skill in secondary school that were not discussed
in this work such as: the use of self and peer-assessment to assess students writing
performance and the use of ICT in teaching and assessing the writing skill. The researcher has
conducted this research work because she believes in the importance and great value of
writing skill and its assessment. We hope that our humble work including the proposed
suggestions and recommendations will meet both students‟ needs and teachers‟ expectations
for fruitful learning outcomes. However, this work has some limitations, the libraries were
closed due to the actual situation because of Corona‟ virus. Also, the data collection was not
an easy task, in the sense that some teachers did not accept to be observed, and lack of
participants due to the unexpected school closing.
Page | 46
References
References
Alderson, J. (2005). Diagnosing Foreing Language Proficiency: the Interface between

Learning and Assessment. London.
Babbie, E. (1990). Survey research methods (2nd ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Black, P. W. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising Standards through classroom assessment.
Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-48.
Brown, H. D. (2003). Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. California:

San Frasisco State. University.
Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. White

plains, NY: Pearson. Education.
Brown, H. D. (2010). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. New York:
Pearson Education.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language

Pedagogy. New York: London: 2nd Edition.
Chapelle, C. A. (2002). Assessment, An Intriduction to Applied Linguistics . Oxford

University Press.
Cizek, G. J. (2010). An Introduction to Formative Assessment: History, Characteristics, and

challenges. New York: Taylor and Francis.
Council, N. R. (2001). Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of
Educational Assessment. Washington, D. C: National Academy Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research : Planning, conducting and evaluating

quantitative and qualitative research( 4th ed). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Crosby, C. (1997). Portfolio assessment in the Korean ESL writing classroom. Thai TESOL
Bulletin, 10(2).
DeWalt, K. M. (2002). Participant observation: a guide for fieldworkers. Walnut Creek, CA:
AltaMira Press.
Flognfeldt, M. (2016). Profesional Feedback Loop: How Can Practicing Teacher's Reflection
Inform English Language Teacher Education? Oslo and Akershus University College of
Applied Sciences.
Fox, J. &. (2017). Assessment in The Language Classrooms: Teachers Supporting Student
Learning. London.
Hamzauoi-El Achachi, H. (2006). An Exploration into the Strategies used for Essay Writing
across Three Languages: The case of EFL University Students (doctorate Thesis). University
of Tlemcen.
Harmer, J. (2004). How to teach writing. England: Longman.
Harris, J. (1993). Introducing Writing. London: Penguin Group.
Hughes, A. (2003). Testing for language teachers. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press:
2nd edition.
Hyland, K. (2003). Second language writing . London: Cambridge University Press: Kroll, B
(ed). (1990). Second language writing : Research insights for the classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
kellog, R. T. (1996). A Model of Working Memory in Writing. C. M. Levy, & S. Ransdell: The
science of writing: theories, methods, individual differences and application (57-72).
Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum associates.
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd ed.). Daryaganj:
New Age International Ltd, Pub.
Lado, R. (1992). The construction and use of foreign language tests. New York: MC Graw-
Hill Company.
Langan, J. (2012). English Skills. New York: McGray-Hill.
Mary, j. A. (2006). Assessing General Eduation Programs . United States. Retrieved Martch,
2020, From https://archive.org/details/assessinggeneral0000alle/mode/2up
Miller, N. (2006). Alternative forms of formative and summative assessment .
Mukulu, E. e. (2006). KCSE Revision English Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

Murphy, S. (1999). Assessing Portfolio. In C. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds), Evaluating Writing (p
114-136). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Norman, E. G. (1998). Assessment of student achievement. Retreived April, 2020, from

https://archive.org/details/assessmentofstud0000gron/mode/2up
Nott, D. (2008). Making students' written works: principles and practice . UK: subject centre
for languages. Retreived june, 2020, from https://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/2956.html
Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English Language Teaching . McGraw-Hill, Singapore, 88:

International Edition.
Piolat, A. R. (2004). Processing Time and Cognitive Effort in Revision: Effect of Errors Type
and Working Memory Capacity. L. Allal, L Chanquoy, & P. Largy: Revision cognitive and
instructional processes (21-38). New York: Kluwer Academic .
Rao, Z. (2007). Training in Brainstorming and Developing Writing Skills. ELT.
Richards, C. J. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching . Cambridge, UK; New

York: Cambridge University Press.
Schmuck, R. (1997). Practical action research for change. Arlington Heights, IL:
IRI/Skylight Training and Publishing.
Walliman, N. (2011). Research methods : The basics. New York, NY: Routledge.
walvoord, B. E. (2014). Assessing and Improving Student Writing in College: A Guide for
Institutions, General Education, Departments, and Classrooms. United States of America: 1st
edition. Retrieved Martch, 2020, from
https://archive.org/details/assessingimprovi0000walv/mode/2up
Wiliam, D. &. (2015). Embedding Formative Assessment . United States of America.
Zidane, R. (2010). Validating holistic scoring for the assessment of EFL Learners " writing
performance. Case of forth year graduate students at AbouBekrBelkaid University -Tlemcen.
(Doctorate-thesis).
Appendices
Appendices
Appendix (1): Checklist Observation
Items for observation Yes No Y/N

When assessing pupils‟ work, teacher marks areas for
improvement
Teacher uses and encourages self and peer correction
Teacher locates errors and gives them symbols to denote types of
errors (using coding system)
Teacher indicates in the margin that there is an error of a
particular kind somewhere on that line and asks pupils to locate it
& correct it
Teacher shares with pupils the grading criteria that is to be used to
assess their written work
Teacher uses a variety of writing tasks of throughout the unit
Teacher provides constructive feedback
Teacher provides motivation
Using formative assessment during the class
Assessment of pupils‟ mastery at the end of the lesson to confirm
mastery of lesson objectives
Assess pupils‟ progress before, during, and after instruction
Graciously accepts less than “right” responses with straggling
pupils
Make supportive statements to pupils
Pupils‟ understanding is assessed throughout the lesson by the use
of teacher‟s questions
Pupils written work are assessed regularly & accurately
Homework are used and appropriate
Encouragement of pupils self-monitoring & self- assessment
Provide interesting & adequate reinforcement
Appendix (2): Teacher’s Questionnaire
Teacher’s Questionnaire:
Dear Teacher,
This set of questions seeks your response as a teacher to the delivery system of assessing
writing skills at secondary level. Its objective is to examine an academic issue. The researcher
gives you full assurance that your response will be kept strictly confidential, and will be used
only for research purpose.
I thank you for your collaboration.
I. Profile:
1. Gender………………………………………………………..
2. What is your degree?
 Classical
 Magister
 Licence
 Master
 Doctoral
3. How many years have you been teaching……………………… years
II. Teaching practices:

1. Do you let your pupils work collaboratively on their writing?
 Yes
 No
Why?...............................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................
2. What kind of difficulties do you encounter when teaching the writing skill?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………
3. How would you choose the appropriate writing task?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………..
4. What objectives do you intend to reach by the end of the year at the level of writing
with your pupils?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………….
III. Assessment practices:
1. What are the assessment techniques you use in the classroom?
 Self-assessment
 Peer-assessment
 Teacher-assessment
 Others
Specify…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
2. How often do you provide your pupils with written feedback?

 Always
 Sometimes
 Never
3. What do you use from the following to assess your pupils writing performance? (You
can choose more than one answer)
 Free-writing activities
 Guided-writing activities
 Projects
Others……………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………
4. How do you usually present the writing assignments?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………
5. What are the difficulties you find in assessing your pupil‟s writing?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
6. How do you evaluate your pupils‟ writing skill as compared to other skills?
 Good
 Satisfactory
 Unsatisfactory
 Poor
7. When correcting your pupils‟ writing, do you focus more in?
 Form
 Content
 Both of them
Thanks for your collaboration.

Appendix (3): Teacher’s Interview
The aim of this interview is to discover your feedback about assessing the writing skills in
secondary school. Your honest answers will be of great use for this research.
1. How would you describe and assess group and pair work in writing in terms of result
and performance?
2. Do you think that mistakes should be discussed in the class?
3. Do you think that feedback/assessment is necessary for gaining the writing skill?
4. What do you rely on when scoring your pupils‟ written production?
5. How would you successfully integrate feedback in the writing and learning process?
6. What is your purpose of assessing the writing skill?

Assessing The Writing Skill in EFL Classes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Assessing The Writing Skill in EFL Classes

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Assessing The Writing Skill in EFL Classes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PEOPLES’ DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA

MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

UNIVERSITY OF ABDELHAMID IBN BADISS - MOSTAGANEM

FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

« Didactics and Applied Languages »

Assessing the Writing Skill in EFL Classes:

Ms. Sara CHETOUANE

The Board of Examiners:

Chairperson: Dr. BENSTAALI Leila University of Mostaganem

Supervisor: Dr. BENOSMANE Naziha University of Mostaganem

Examiner: Ms. ADNANI Rajaa University of Mostaganem

Academic year: 2019-2020

I dedicate this work to:

To all my friends who have stood by my side.

Key words: assessment, writing, teachers, tasks, pupils, feedback.

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

ESL: English as a Second Language

ICT: Information and Communication Technology

Table 1.1: Dimensions of Assessment…………………………………………………......10

Table 2.1: Writing Activities in the Course Book……………………………………….....18

Table 3.1: Errors Symbols …………………………………………………...…………….40

Figure 1.1: Concept Map of the Professional Theme of Writing……………...……………5

Figure 2.1: The Extent of Using Collaborative Writing…………………………………...26

Figure 2.2: Techniques Used in Assessing the Writing Skill……………………………...28

Figure 2.3: The Frequency of Providing Pupils with Feedback…………………………...28

Figure 2.5: The Teacher‟s Emphasis in the Correction of Written Production……………30

Abstract ................................................................................................................................... III

List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................. IV

List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... VI

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. VII

General Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1

Chapter One: Theoretical Concepts of Writing and Assessment

1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

1.2. Definition of writing ...................................................................................................... 4

1.3. Types of classroom writing performance .................................................................... 5

1.3.1. Imitative or writing down ..................................................................................... 6

1.3.2. Intensive or controlled writing ............................................................................. 6

1.3.3. Self-writing ............................................................................................................. 7

1.3.4. Display writing ....................................................................................................... 7

1.3.5. Real writing ............................................................................................................ 7

1.4. Importance of writing ................................................................................................... 8

1.5. Definition of assessment ................................................................................................ 8

1.6. Types of assessment ..................................................................................................... 10

1.6.1. Diagnostic assessment .......................................................................................... 10

1.6.2. Formative assessment .......................................................................................... 11

1.6.3. Summative assessment ......................................................................................... 12

1.7. Principles of assessment .............................................................................................. 13

1.7.1. Practicality ............................................................................................................ 13

1.7.2. Validity .................................................................................................................. 14

1.7.4. Authenticity .......................................................................................................... 14

1.7.5. Wash- back ........................................................................................................... 15

1.8. Approaches to scoring writing ................................................................................... 15

1.8.1. Holistic scoring ..................................................................................................... 15

1.8.2. Analytic scoring .................................................................................................... 15

1.8.3. Trait-based scoring .............................................................................................. 16

1.9. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 16

Chapter Two: Research Methodology

2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 17

2.2. Research methodology ................................................................................................ 17