The assessment of student writing skills is an issue of considerable importance and the topic of much recent debate. After discussing one of the difficulties in this area, it is proposed that the development of a valid and reliable means of assessing expository writing skill may resolve many of these problems. The Standardized Test of Essential Writing Skills (STEWS) has been developed for this purpose. A series of studies concerning the reliability and validity of the STEWS are presented and their implications for the use of the STEWS discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bain, A. (1870). English composition. New York: D. Appleton and Co.
2.
Cooper, C. R. (1977). Holistic evaluation of writing. In C. R. Cooper and L. Odell (Eds.), Evaluating writing: Describing, measuring and judging. New York: National Council of Teachers of English, 3-31.
3.
Derrick, C. (1964). Tests of writing. The English Journal, 53, 496-499.
4.
Diederich, P. B. (1974). Measuring growth in English. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
5.
Genung, J. (1887). The practical elements of rhetoric. Boston: Ginn and Company.
6.
Hill, D. J. (1977). The science of rhetoric. New York: Sheldon and Co.
7.
Hogan, T. P. and Mishler, C. T. (1979). Judging the quality of students' writing: When and how. The Elementary School Journal, 79, 142-146.
8.
Lewis, E. H. (1894). The history of the English paragraph. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
9.
Lloyd-Jones, R. (1977). Primary trait scoring. In C. R. Cooper and L. Odell (Eds.), Evaluating writing: Describing, measuring, and judging. New York: National Council of Teachers of English, 33-66.
10.
McElroy, J. (1889). The structure of English prose: A manual of composition and rhetoric (3rd ed.). New York: A. C. Armstrong and Son.
11.
Pence, R. W. (1929). College composition. New York: The Macmillan Co.
12.
Scott, F. N. and Denney, J. V. (1909). Paragraph writing (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
13.
Scott, F.N. and Denny, J. V. (1911). The new composition-rhetoric (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
14.
Westwood, P. S. (1975). The remedial teacher's handbook. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.
15.
Winer, B. J. (1971). Statistical principles in experimental design (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
