Improving Students’ Writing in Assessment tasks

1. Improving Students’ Writing in Assessment tasks Canning College ‘Lens on Literacy’ Professional Development Conference Kaye Davies October 12 2009

2. The Problem An analysis of 2008 results demonstrated:Students with an ESL background performed 14% lower than English first language students in subjects where written assessments were the predominant assessment type. NB: Literacy strategies for ESL students, help all students.

3. There is no magic solution to this problem. The extent to which a student successfully expresses their ideas in written assessment tasks depends on: 1. their understanding of the concepts being taught and 2. the clarity of the link between these concepts and the task itself.

4. The active teaching of writing skills will only enhance student assessment performance if students: • understand the purpose of the task • and • have a sound understanding • of the concepts underpinning the • task.

5. The goals of this presentation: To consider ways of improving students’ writing through: being explicit about the purpose of a task the incorporation of specific strategies such as: Actively teaching generic features of academic writing Using templates Providing feedback Encouraging students to be self-critical

6. What is the purpose of any assessment? Assessment is about getting to know our students and the quality of their learning It’s about reporting on student achievement It’s about ways of teaching more effectively through understanding what students know and do not know

7. ‘The assessment of students is a serious and often tragic enterprise’ Ramsden, 1992. p.181

8. Why can assessment be a tragedy? • Assessment is sometimes seen as an addition to teaching, rather than as an essential part of it • Assessment techniques come to be regarded as more important than the subject matter that the methods are assessing • Bill Moore on assessment: • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3USs16J3Y

9. Three ways to take the tragedy out of assessment and focus on the educative purpose: 1.Think of assessment as a means of helping students to learn design a task which allows students to show their understanding of concepts, not memorised information Provide detailed criteria which link to the course goals

10. 2. Use assessment to encourage interest, commitment and challenge Link assessment to learning Mimic realistic problems whenever possible

11. 3. Use different assessment methods for different parts of the subject matter Offer students responsible choice Discuss with students how assessment methods link to course goals

12. 1.Actively teach the skills of academic writing 2. Provide templates and samples of good work 3. Provide feedback before the final judgement Ways to help students express their knowledge and understanding in writing.

13. 1. Actively teach the expectations of academic writing in your learning area Writing will be rational, rather than emotional It is analytical and evidence based It is measured It should be clear and direct

14. Discourage the use of contractions. Contractions are informal and often provide the opportunity for errors in punctuation.

15. Useful expressions to give a measured quality to academic writing:

16. Encourage the use of active voice in writing. It is direct, brief, and makes the content easy to understand. Passive voice: ‘An experiment was conducted…’ Active voice: ‘We conducted an experiment…’ A sentence is in active voice when the subject of the sentence performs the action.

17. From ‘The Double Helix’: ‘We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.’

18. While there are times when thepassive voice is appropriate, the active voice usually produces greater clarity. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/

19. Encourage students to write in a straight forward style. ‘Tutors prefer clear, direct writing, not obscure, inflated and long-winded styles’ David Buchbinder and Ann McGuire (Curtin University) Cultures, Identities, Texts Study Guide

20. Eliminate unnecessary words Phrasal verbs Possible alternatives

21. Structure academic writing using transitions Signal evidence or examples - for example, for instance, this can be seen in Signal detail or restatement - in other words, in particular, specifically Signal additional information – furthermore, in addition , moreover

22. Interpersonal Cues:‘talking to the reader’ first, second, most importantly, finally obviously, clearly, strangely, surprisingly, curiously, remarkably,

23. Transitions and interpersonal cues help the reader to follow an argument For more information: Quin, R. 2006.pp 67-71

24. Use sentences for effect: Sentence length: Include a short sentence after a number of long ones or vice versa Parallel structure or repetition (use sparingly): ‘Nobody wants to live in a community devastated by war. Nobody wants to live in a community where there is a large chance of becoming sick or injured and dying young.’

25. 2. Provide templates and work samples

26. The Essay

27. Essay Templates: http://buildingthefuture.com.au/essay-scaffold-template http://www.aquinas.qld.edu.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=36 http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/learning/essay/

28. The Report http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CiLL/reports.htm http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/eng/Beng0001/learning/Word/extdoc/report.doc

29. http://www.businessballs.com/freematerialsinword/free_SWOT_analysis_template.dochttp://www.businessballs.com/freematerialsinword/free_SWOT_analysis_template.doc

30. The paragraph http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dy-regional.k12.ma.us%2Fmes%2Fptemlate.pdf&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=null&oq= http://www.dy-regional.k12.ma.us/mes/ptemlate.pdf

31. Links to work samples: Essay http://www.essaydepot.com/ Report http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/information-technology/report/1.3.3.xml

32. 3. Provide feedback ‘It is impossible to overstate the role of effective feedback on students’ progress in any discussion of effective teaching and assessment’ Ramsden

33. Ways to Provide Feedback Write comments on work which are genuinely helpful Timetable opportunities for students to discuss their work Use model answers, either taken from students work or especially written by you Timetable opportunities for peer feedback – asking students to explain their work to others often reveals misunderstandings.

34. Make your expectations clear Provide criteria which link the purpose of the task to the curriculum requirements Help students to learn how to use assessments to display as much of their understanding as possible and develop a self-critical approach to their work.

35. Encourage students to develop a self-critical approach Use feedback constructively 2. Get students to be critics of their own work

36. 1. Use feedback constructively Use the same assessment for both feedback and a final mark. For example: Have two deadlines: students get detailed oral and written feedback on the first draft and then return an improved version which gets a mark.

37. 2. Enable students to be critics of their own work Provide students with a grade, but no comments, in the first instance. Invite them to write about the assessment’s strengths and weaknesses and how they would improve it. At the second stage, complete feedback is provided and the grade may be improved depending on the quality of the student’s self-assessment.

38. More useful websites Writing Templates: http://www.mead354.org/page.cfm?p=413 http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ Essay writing tutorials: From You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaCxigjUJ7Q From slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/thomsonro/essay-writing-1429489

39. Exploring the on-line resources Use the links provided in the slides to revisit the on-line resources. See slides:17, 26-30, 37 Identify a range of resources which could be useful in your context.

40. How appropriate is the use of templates and work samples in your situation? Select one template or work sample and explain how it could be utilised to improve student writing in an assessment task in your learning area.

41. Applying the strategies • Identify any strategies which would not work in your situation. How could these strategies be adapted to meet your needs? • Incorporate one of the feedback strategies into the design of an assessment task in your learning area. What adaptations would you need to make? • How would you incorporate the active teaching of academic writing into your teaching-learning program?

42. Your feedback is appreciated I would appreciate your comments and reflection concerning the information and strategies explored in this presentation. Please post a comment on the blog created for this purpose. Click on the link below to access the blog: http://kayedavies.wordpress.com/

43. References Quin, R. Rayner, H., Solosy, A., Cody, W. (2006) English Gateways Pearson Education pp 25-40 67-72 Ramsden,P. (1992). Assessing for understanding. Chapter 10. In P. Ramsden, Learning to teach in higher education. London & New York: Routledge, (pp. 181-213)