Writing Assessment in Colleges and Universities

Illinois State University Course Number: English 494, Section 1
Semester: Spring 2005
Instructor: Bob Broad, Associate Professor of English
Course meeting times: Tuesdays 5:30 to 8:20 p.m.
Course meeting places: Stevenson 221-A (and possible alternative rooms TBA)

Course Overview

This course helps participants build their knowledge of the history, theory, and practice of writing assessment in colleges and universities. Topics and themes for the course will range from classroom concerns such as assigning, responding to, and grading students’ writing to such programmatic issues as large-scale writing assessment (including administration of placement and proficiency exams) and evaluation of writing across the curriculum.

Writing assessment is the foremost arena in which the discourse of English Studies (which, following Robert Scholes, I would dub “textuality”) meets the discourses of science and politics. For over a hundred years, humanists and positivists (among others) have struggled for control over how texts will be valued. The struggle continues and, surprisingly, the humanists are holding their own. Stay tuned.

We will delve into some or all of the following topics:
• Histories of writing assessment
• Theories of educational evaluation, including evolving conceptions of “reliability” and “validity”
• Authentic and educative assessment vs. testing
• Students’ reflection, self-evaluation, and peer evaluation
• Portfolio assessment
• Large-scale assessment
• Writing program assessment
• Computer-assisted writing assessment
• Assessment of texts written by second-language learners
• Writing assessment across the university curriculum

Course Format

We will read books and articles about writing assessment. We will write informally and formally, and share our readings, writings, resources, and ideas during class meetings. In addition to establishing a broad basis of professional knowledge regarding the evaluation of writing, course participants will conduct individual or collaborative research studies (empirical and/or textual) on a particular aspect of writing assessment. These research studies should be closely linked to participants’ plans for future teaching, internships, theses, dissertations, articles, books, and other professional responsibilities. Finally, participants in this class will undertake a communal change project by which we attempt to apply our shared knowledge and hope in order to change the world for the better.

Check the links below for more information.

This web page is authored by Bob Broad. It was last updated on
March 11, 2005, and has enjoyed visits. 

The URL for this page is
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rlbroad/teaching/494/494.htm

Copyright © 2005 Bob Broad