Learning Aims and OutcomesLinking Assessment to Learning OutcomesLearning outcomes help you decide what aspects of students' writing to assess.

Topic 1: Learning Aims and Outcomes

Linking Assessment to Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes help you decide what aspects of students' writing to assess. For example, imagine the learning outcome is: Students can use the words first, then, and finally correctly to tell a story with three events. 

When you assess your students' writing, you will check that they used the words with the appropriate event and put them in the correct place in sentences.

You can assess learning in different ways. Formative assessment techniques include monitoring students during activities, and giving feedback on students' in-class tasks and homework. At the end of a unit, you can give students a summative task or test to assess their progress in the writing skills that you covered.

When assessing your students, it is possible to use the same writing activity for either formative or summative assessment. It depends on your purpose, not on the type of activity. For example, imagine a classroom activity where students add punctuation to sentences. While they work on this task, you can walk around the class and look at what students are doing. You can ask several students to put their work on the board. Then you can address any issues together as a class. This would be an example of formative assessment.

It is possible for you to use the same type of activity as a summative assessment. In this case, students complete the task alone and then turn in their papers for correction and grading. The task is the same, but the teacher uses it differently. Formative assessment helps the teacher improve lessons and focus more directly on students' needs. Summative assessment provides a record of students' learning and usually comes at the end of a unit or course.

Here are some examples of classroom activities and ways of assessing student learning. They are linked to the outcomes from screen 2.

Learning Outcome Classroom Activity Assessment Examples

Students can write a paragraph with correct punctuation. 1. Students choose cards with small or capital letters. They put them into gapped sentences.

2. Students choose the correct punctuation for sentences.

3. Students edit errors in capitalization and end punctuation.

Formative

1. Give pairs a poster with a paragraph for them to punctuate. They share their answers with another pair before sharing with the whole class.

2. Monitor in-class writing.

Summative

1. Students write a paragraph with correct punctuation.

2. Students insert punctuation in a paragraph.

Students can write information in sentences using correct word order and can order the sentences in a paragraph logically.

1. Word order warm-up activity: give each student one word of a sentence. Ask students to stand in order to create a sentence.

2. Students correct sentences with word order mistakes.

3. Put sentences from a paragraph on strips of paper. Students put strips in the correct order.

4. Students circle words in a paragraph that indicate the order of information.

Formative

1. Students choose sentences with correct word order from pairs of sentences.

2. Students write a well-ordered paragraph from a series of sentences.

Summative

1. Students write a paragraph from picture prompts (the order of the pictures can be mixed or in the correct order). 

2. Students create a paragraph from word prompts on a timeline.

Students can describe something they like and give reasons why they like it.

1. Students choose a picture of something they like and talk about it with a partner. 

2. Students listen to a partner talk about something they like and take notes. They present their partner's likes to the class or to a group.

3. Students find a partner who likes the same thing as they do and together they complete a graphic organizer of what they like and why.

Formative

1. Using a model, students write a paragraph about something they like.

2. Using grids created by others, students write a paragraph about something a classmate likes and why.

Summative

1. Students write a paragraph describing something they like and give reasons for liking it.

2. Students choose something they like and tell about it and why they like it.

Assessing Writing

Listen to Teacher A discuss her experience teaching writing. Think about these questions as you listen: How did her teacher assess her writing? Did she like it? Then read the text.

What to Assess

Effective writing communicates the writer's ideas clearly, accurately, and appropriately. The person reading the message can understand it.

When you assess students' writing, some things to evaluate are: the use of language (Is the language accurate and appropriate in the context?), the mechanics (Are words spelled correctly, and is punctuation used properly?), and the content and organization (Are the ideas expressed in a logical order?). You will see examples of activities to practice and assess these aspects of writing in Units 3 and 4.

As Teacher A explained, writing can be difficult to assess. Often teachers want to correct everything. It is important that your students are assessed only on specific aspects of writing. It is also important that students know what those aspects are before they begin writing. 

The aspects of writing that are in the learning outcomes for the lesson or unit should be the ones you focus on in an assessment. You can also assess writing points from previous learning outcomes. For example, a long time after students begin learning punctuation rules, they may still need feedback on using them correctly. It is not usually a good idea to give feedback on points that the students have not yet learned. Consider their level. If the appropriate language is a higher level, students are probably not ready to learn it.

Topic 2: Assessing Writing

Refer to screens 4-5 as you read.

How to Assess

Teachers can assess students' work. Students can also assess their own writing or their peers' writing. There are important benefits to self and peer assessment. Both help students improve their writing skills. They help students learn to read carefully and pay attention to details. Peer assessment can also encourage student collaboration. 

Correction Sheets

At early writing stages, students can use correction sheets to self or peer assess. Correction sheets give the answers to controlled activities. They guide peer assessment so students do not highlight something incorrectly. Look at I. Correction Sheets on screen 4. The first example shows a correction sheet for an activity practicing mechanics. The second and third are correction sheets for Activities A and B from the sequence of activities you saw in Topic 1. Notice that the activities are controlled and have a limited number of answers (usually just one). Students are able to find and correct the errors themselves.

Topic 2: Assessing Writing

Rubrics

Before students write, they need to know what aspects of their writing will be assessed and how their writing will be graded. A rubric can give them this information. The criteria listed in the rubric should link to the learning outcomes.

The rubric shows students what kind of score their work will receive (for example, a number or letter grade.) You will complete the same rubric when your students hand in final work. The completed rubric shows students exactly what they did well and what they still need to work on. In addition to teachers, a rubric can be used by students before they write and by peers who read each other's work.

Look at II. Rubrics on screen 5. The first rubric gives criteria for an assignment working on mechanics (capital letters, periods, question marks, and a space between sentences). It can be used to assess the first activity (Correction Sheet 1). The second rubric gives criteria for a freer writing activity (such as the email writing activity in Topic 1, Activity C). The students' email will be assessed on the content, organization, language use, and mechanics.

There are many online sites about rubrics. Type "rubrics" or "writing rubrics" in a search engine to find examples or rubric templates to help you create your own.

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Refer to screens 4-7 as you read.

Sample Student Book Activities for Teaching Writing

The activities on screens 4-7 are common activities for teaching writing. They are organized into four groups according to their skill focus. The four groups are: mechanics, language, generating and organizing ideas, and writing and editing. Navigate to screens 4-7 to view the activities. Refer to them as you read.

Mechanics 

Some beginning students need to learn to write upper- and lowercase letters correctly and neatly. They can learn by tracing and copying letters and words on worksheets. Look at Activity 1 on screen 4. In this activity, students learn how to form letters correctly as they follow arrows and trace the letters. Blank lined paper can be used for more practice. Teachers can download lined writing sheets and worksheets like these from the Internet. 

Students need to practice spelling words correctly. In Activity 2 on screen 4, students unscramble letters to spell words. A scrambled word activity like this can be used to practice spelling the new vocabulary in a textbook unit. The words will determine the level. This can be a fun practice activity for students at all levels.

Students also need to learn and practice punctuation. In Activity 3 on screen 4, students practice rewriting texts using the correct letters and punctuation. In addition to practicing punctuation, this activity gives students more practice forming letters and spelling words because they rewrite the text. This type of activity can be used for all levels.

Language

Students need to practice the writing sub-skills of using accurate and appropriate vocabulary and grammar. Activities 4 and 5 on screen 5 show different ways to practice using sequence words to write about daily activities. In Activity 4, students choose the appropriate words to complete the paragraph. In Activity 5, a higher level task, students read two sentences then choose the best sequence word to combine the sentences into one sentence. This type of activity helps students learn to write longer, more complex sentences. In Activity 6, students are asked to choose the more appropriate word for use in a formal letter. This helps students become aware of the differences in language in formal written English.

Topic 1: Techniques and Activities

Refer to screens 5-7 as you read.

Generating and Organizing Ideas

There are a variety of ways students can get ideas for writing. Teachers can link writing to the other skills work in textbook units. For example writing might take place in the final stage of a reading lesson. It is often the "Post-" in the PDP lesson sequence you read about in Unit 8, Teaching Reading. It might also take place at the end of a speaking lesson.

Because students usually read, speak, or listen before they write, students can:

use information they got from reading or listening texts

use ideas or information they discussed during a speaking activity

respond to ideas or information they read or listened to

Teachers can also help students generate ideas using graphic organizers. Activity 7 shows an example of a chart, one type of graphic organizer that can be use to think about advantages and disadvantages. You saw examples of other graphic organizers (a mind map and Venn diagram) in Unit 3, Topic 1.

Students also need to learn how to organize their thoughts or organize the information they want to write about. There are many activities students can do to help them learn how to do this. For example, in Activity 8, students put sentences in order to create logical paragraphs. This helps them notice how the language is used to organize ideas and information.