A primary school writing assessment:theory and application - Essay Example

A Primary School Writing Assessment: Theory and Application This assessment will address a piece of writing completed by a primary school in year four. The assessment will begin with a brief theoretical discussion of writing assessment at the primary school level and thereafter concentrate more specifically on applying this theoretical background to this child's piece of writing. Particular attention will be paid to the spelling and grammatical features of this writing. The assessment will involve the specific comments to be made to the writer of this text and an additional analysis of the writer's development pursuant to the checklist established by Harris et al (2003: 104). The final part of this assessment will propose some specific methods of spelling and grammar instruction for the writer of this text. Theoretical Framework for Writing Assessment As an initial matter, any literacy assessment, whether of reading or of writing, is necessarily dependent on a set of governing principles or a guiding framework. This assessment begins with an acknowledgment of Freebody and Luke's "four role's model" of literacy (2003: 52). Harris incorporates this framework, and presents a general social model of literacy which includes "four interrelated sets of literacy practices" (2004: np). The first concept of which instructors should be aware is referred to as text code and encoder practices. The focus is on deciphering text and creating, for purposes of this assessment, a written text. A second concern is referred to as a text participant role. For the primary school student as a writer, this practice involves the means by which the student creates meaning through the written text. Text user practices, the third area, refer to the student's capacity for producing and manipulating a written text in order to accomplish different social purposes. The final practice addresses a more analytic function; in this practice, the student writer is assessed according to his ability to consider an audience's reaction to the text. More specifically, does the student writer use proper conventions to address the audience. These four sets of literary practices are interwoven and provide an overarching theoretical framework within which more particularized writing assessments may proceed. With respect to writing, Harris et al have noted that "children progress through a number of important phases as "they develop mastery over the conventions and the process of writing" (2003: 72). A series of developmental stages for text encoders is divided into an emergent phase which includes role play and experimental writing contexts, an early phase which progresses into the initial stages of writing, and a fluent phase which is characterized by the proper use of conventions as well as proficient and advanced writing abilities. These developmental stages are clearly marked by writing indicators and a parallel set of recommended pedagogic practices has been established to aid instructors in leading children through these progressively complicated phases. The emergent phase is defined with reference to a number of preliminary indicators. In this phase, for example, children writers begin to recognize symbols, they group these symbols into words, they assign meaning to symbols, they ascertain a sense of constancy in written symbols, they rely extensively on sounds to reinforce the meaning of written symbols, and they begin to perceive the relationship between speech and the written symbols. These are foundational indicators which seek to clarify the cognitive challenges that children encounter as they begin to learn about writing, and they provide a comprehensive baseline for instructors to develop and employ instructional methods. The use of sounds and visual aids, to illustrate, can assist children in the emergent phase. This is because they are making connections and links among all of the stimuli around them. Specific classroom practices might include the use of colorful pictures to provide context for a written assignment or audible clues in order to facilitate linkages between sounds and written symbols. The early phase is indicated by a more expansive understanding of the purposes of writing and the types of writing. Children begin to understand why they are engaged in a certain writing exercise. They begin to recognize that there are different types of writing, such as narratives or instructions. This phase is also indicated by an ability to "encode words and construct simple sentences" (Harris et al, 2003: 73). In addition, students are beginning to grapple with the rudimentary elements of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. They are starting to be able to discuss their writing with others and to understand the concepts of revision and editing through consultation with classmates, parents, and instructors. Instructional methods for this phase continue to rely on modeling and the use of more advanced sound patterns, such as vowel digraphs and blends, in order to emphasise the relationships between speech and the written text. Word play is also encouraged at this stage. Tongue twisters, songs, and word games are useful as are exercises which involve the manipulation of words through the addition or subtraction of prefixes and affixes. Instructors may also wish to set aside some time for individual conferences with the children in order to determine what encoding strategies the students are employing and whether the children are, in fact, aware of the encoding strategies on which they are relying. Finally, the fluent phase is indicated by a more sophisticated use and manipulation of available writing features and structures. A stronger cohesiveness in the construction of a written text is evident as is a stronger recognition of the need to review, edit, and revise a written text. Individuals at this developmental stage also begin to adjust their encoding strategies in order to achieve different types of objectives and a more personalized style of writing begins to evolve. Instructors are advised to model and develop writing exercises which revolve around different types of texts and which are designed to communicate different types of objectives. Students should be proficient in the use of dictionaries and they should intensify their encoding skills through the use of homonyms, synonyms, and antonyms. Exercises should also incorporate elements of self-evaluation and analysis. Instructors ought not to limit children to the written text, but are instead advised to encourage thoughtful discussions to deepen and broaden the experience which the written text provides. Application of Theory: Spelling Considerations and Comments There are distinct developmental stages in the learning of spelling. Harris et al have paraphrased the existing research and set forth five developmental phases (2003: 80-83). These developmental stages include a preliminary spelling phase, a semi phonetic spelling phase, a phonetic spelling phase, a transitional spelling phase, and an independent spelling phase. In this particular case, the year four student's writing is characterised mostly by the developmental features of the phonetic spelling phase with some very minor movement into the transitional spelling phase. A closer examination of the writer's spelling mistakes can provide the instructor with valuable insights into the source of the student's mistakes. There are a number of spelling mistakes; interestingly, however, there is a consistency in the types of mistakes that are made by the student. The student is making mistakes that are quite common in the phonetic spelling phase. The student spells, for instance, "mysterious" for mysterious; "whoul" and "whowl" for whole; "devorsed" for divorced; "beap" for beep; "hardley" for hardly; "glimps" for glimpse; "bom" for bomb; "curtans" for curtains; "Ifal tower" for Eiffel tower; "deternater" for detonator; "exept" for except; and, "hostpide" for hospital. In addition to these spelling mistakes, there are also a few word choice mistakes. The student writes "saw" where "so" should be used, and "the" where "that" ought to be written. The overwhelming majority of spelling mistakes demonstrate the student's repeated attempts to spell certain words by relying on sounds and phonetic conventions. This assessment, therefore, would place the student most securely within the phonetic spelling phase. As noted by Harris et al, students in this stage have a fairly firm grasp of the relationship between sounds and letters; mistakes arise because students "overuse these relationships to spell words" (2003: 81-82). This student's writing displays a genuine attempt to sound out the words, and there is clearly an overuse of these sound-letter relationships to resolve spelling difficulties. Significantly, the student also appears to be progressing, ever so slightly, into the transitional spelling phase. This is indicated by the student's notes on the paper, where the student has written a number of possible alternative spellings for "hardly" and "their." In addition to relying on sounds, the student is beginning to experiment with visual reinforcement. More specifically, this student is beginning to question whether the spelling "looks right", and is teaching himself to question the accuracy of a purely phonetic approach to spelling. This student is ready to begin moving into the transitional phase, with respect to spelling, and the instructor's comments should proceed from the basis that while the student is overusing sound-letter relations, the student is at the same time beginning to understand the need to utilize more sophisticated spelling strategies. An instructor ought to make comments to the effect that using sounds is an important technique but that it would be helpful to understand how certain spelling conventions are governed by non-phonetic rules. Specific plans for the child's instruction in this respect are addressed below. Application of Theory: Grammatical Considerations and Comments The student in this assignment has been asked to create a narrative text. The purpose of this text is to consider a narrative set-up and a photo before constructing a story to explain the neighbours. There are a variety of grammatical features associated with the narrative genre. Harris et al explain that narratives are frequently characterised by reference to specific participants, by the use of action verbs, by the use of the past tense, by the use of linking words to indicate transitions in the narrative, and by descriptive words (2003: 89-90). The narrative form is also characterised by a more frequent use of a variety of punctuation symbols (Derewianka, 1990). In the instant case, the student appears aware of the general purpose of the narrative genre; however, there are a number of grammatical mistakes. As an initial matter, the student shifts quite frequently between the use of the present tense and the past tense. It must be noted that the student employs the verb tenses correctly in certain sentences, but that there is a lack of consistency in this respect. On the other hand, the student demonstrates an ability to use suitable action verbs for his narrative text. He refers, for example, to the neighbours having "moved" in, to "playing" soccer, and to the "making" of a bomb. Transitions and linking words are a bit weak, and punctuation is not used to emphasise certain features of the narrative text. Overall, the writer appears aware of the purpose of the narrative genre, but needs to focus on the grammatical characteristics of this genre. An instructor might be advised to comment that the story is fairly cohesive, that the characters and the bomb plot are creative and interesting, but that the student needs to think about when these events happened and how to use punctuation to make the narrative a little more exciting. Assessment of the Development of the Writer The writer is competent in all aspects of the emergent phase. He is able to recognize symbols, to group letters into words, to understand the correspondence between speech and written language, able to use sounds to create written symbols, and able to use directionality in the creation of a written text. This writer, based on this writing sample, is clearly in the early writing phase. The checklist created by Harris et al further divides this stage into three subcategories: emerging, developing, and competent (2003: 104). This assessment argues that the student is not competent in any of the early phase sub-categories; however, the student appears to be in the high development stage in terms of his ability to be aware of his audience, his ability to construct simple sentences, and his abilities to draw on wider resources and familiar topics in order to plan and create this written text. Other writing skills would appear to be in the emerging to developing phases. As previously mentioned, this student is still in the beginning stages of understanding a variety of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation conventions. There are many mistakes, though reasonable mistakes, and the student appears to be in the emerging phase. There are no substantial attempts at editing and revision, though the student does some minor checking of spelling and grammar. The student would appear to be moving from the emerging stages to the developing stages in these respects. In sum, the writer fits within the early developmental stage, but within this stage he demonstrates certain skills at an emerging level and others at a higher developing level. Specific Plans for this Child's Instruction Specific plans for this child are made slightly easier due to the fact that the spelling and grammatical mistakes are characteristic of the early phase, and also because there is a consistency in terms of the mistakes made by the student. In terms of spelling, this child should use a dictionary to supplement an overuse of phonetic-based spelling strategies and should be encouraged to explore non-phonetic spelling strategies and conventions. In terms of grammar, the student should continue to practice producing narratives in order to improve the conventions associated with this text genre and also be encouraged to edit and revise more extensively. This type of editing and revision can be done individually and in peer groups to see how these mistakes are being made by other children as well. References Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring how texts work. Primary English Teaching Association: Sydney. Freebody, P. and Luke, A. (2003). Literacy as engaging with new forms of life: The 'four roles' model. In G. Bull and M. Anstey (eds), The Literacy Lexicon. 2nd edn. Sydney: Prentice Hall. 52-57. Harris, P. (2005). Children in Search of their Place and Voice as Literacy Learners at School. Available: http://www.aare.edu.au/04pap/har041029.pdf (Accessed 6 September 2006). Harris, P., Fitzsimmons, P., McKenzie, B., & Turbill, J. (2003). Writing in the Primary School Years (pgs. 69-106). Social Science Press: NSW, Australia. Read More