The Assessment of ELL writing skills

All languages have consonants and vowelswhich can be at the beginning ,in the middle or even in word final position.Many Hispanic and Afro-American students do not pronounce consonants which are in word final position when there is a consonant cluster.for example,i missed(st) the bus,she walks(ks) to school,hold(ld) my hand,friend(nd),first(st),It`s the man`s(ns) book ,I see three girls(lz),etc.Therefore ,these students do not write the consonants they do not pronounce.Hence, Hispanic and Afro-american students may not use the simle past tense(e.g.burned),third person presnt singular(sings),possessive(the teacher`s book),plurals (cars),etc.In this case , how can the teacher score his students?
THE ASSESSMENT OF ELL WRITING SKILLS:
First,there are different types of writing.For example,descriptive,narrative,expository and technical.Moreover,different techniques are used while writing.For instance,definition,comparison \contrast,analysis,cause\effect,enumerate and examples.
Second,teachers may use two ways of scoring ELL writing skills: analytic or holistic.
O n the one hand,for the analytic scoring , the teacher takes into consideration the relevance of content, the adequacyof vocabulary for purpose and grammar(including spelling and punctuation).Concerning the advantages of this type of scoring, it can be used with proficiency and achievement tests, it can also be used for diagnostic purposes and the bases of norm referenced permits the comparison of students on an ability continum.However,students anxieties are much higher and it is difficult to match results with instructional objectives.
O n the other hand,the holistic scoring gives much importance to the evaluation of larger components(e.g.ddressing the topic ,the development of the topic with appropriate examples,cohesion,etc.)For the advantages of the holistic scoring,the criteria referenced students are not evaluated by comparison with other students, tests accurately reflect teaching objectives(e.g. comparison writing,etc.) and the students` anxieties are much lower. Nevertheless, students are unable to compare their performance with other students, objectives are often too limited and students are not encouraged to reach higher standards of excellence.
a summary presented by LOUBNA ZOUHRI