Introduction

This section of the book provides guidance for developing large-scale writing tests; that is, tests of writing beyond the level of the classroom. Chapter 4 presents an overview of research in what is often referred to as ‘direct’ writing assessment, while Chapters 5 and 6 build on the theoretical underpinnings of Chapter 4 to provide practical guidance in developing tasks for writing assessment (Chapter 5) and scoring procedures (Chapter 6).

An assessment task in which test takers actually produce a sample of writing, often referred to as a ‘direct’ test of writing, is probably the most common method for testing writing in both first-and second-language contexts. Hamp-Lyons (1991a: 5) gives five characteristics of a so-called ‘direct’ test of writing. Candidates must write at least one piece of continuous text (here Hamp-Lyons suggests a minimum number of 100 words, but this minimum presupposes a fairly high level of language proficiency and may not be appropriate for low-proficiency learners); test takers are given a set of instructions (or ‘prompt’) but have considerable leeway in responding to the prompt; each text is read by at least one, and normally two or more, trained raters; judgements are tied to a common yardstick, such as a set of sample responses or one or more rating scales; and judgements are expressed as numbers, rather than or in addition to verbal descriptions. Two additional characteristics of most such writing tests are the fact that texts are written in a limited time frame, generally between thirty minutes and two hours, and that the topic is unknown to test takers in advance.