This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Sasaki, M. Articles by Hirose, K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Development of an analytic rating scale for Japanese L1 writing

Nagoya Gakuin University, f43689g{at}nucc.cc.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Keiko Hirose

Aichi Prefectural University, Japan

The present study developed an analytic rating scale for Japanese university students’ first language (L1) expository writing. Research proceeded in four stages. In Stage 1, we devised a questionnaire to investigate Japanese L1 teachers’ criteria for evaluating expository writing. A total of 102 teachers responded to the questionnaire, and rated the 35 related descriptions according to their importance. In Stage 2, based on the questionnaire results, we either eliminated or reorganized these 35 descriptions under six analytic criteria:

1) Clarity of the theme;

2) Appeal to the readers;

3) Expression;

4) Organization;

5) Knowledge of language forms; and

6) Social awareness.

Then, in Stage 3, we attempted to investigate possible weighting of these six criteria. We asked 106 teachers to rate two to four compositions with varied profiles using both a holistic scale and the obtained analytic scale. The results showed that the explanatory power of each criterion can vary from composition to composition, and thus we concluded that the six criteria should have equal weighting. Finally, in Stage 4, we pilot-tested the obtained scale using a new set of 69 compositions. The results indicate that the present scale is both valid and reliable, and that it is superior to a traditional analytic scale in capturing such composition qualities as appeal to the readers and social awareness.

Language Testing, Vol. 16, No. 4, 457-478 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/026553229901600403


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Kondo-Brown A FACETS analysis of rater bias in measuring Japanese second language writing performance Language Testing, January 1, 2002; 19(1): 3 - 31. [Abstract] [PDF]