FACTORS AFFECTING THE ASSESSMENT OF WRITING WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO TEACHERS’ FEEDBACK AT SSS II LEVEL

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Author

Presented To

Department of English and Linguistics

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

11    Background to the study

The four basic language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing Writing is described as the most difficult of the four language and communication skills and the last of the skills to be acquired (Maduekwe, 2007; 157)

Writing is a means of communication using the written word Communication implies that what you are writing should be understood by the person who is reading it If your writing does not communicate then it has not achieved the primary purpose of writing which is to pass your message clearly to the person who is reading your piece of writing (Ukwuegbu, et al 2002)

Writing is an essential, indeed indispensable part of the academic engagement of students in schools Learning takes place when students guided by their teachers, are able to compare issues and perspectives, define, classify, analyze and illustrate phenomena As students’ write, their competence, comprehension and general capacity for learning come into focus They are tested through writing to discover how much has been learned or need to be learned (Oloko, 2012)

Writing is therefore, an indispensable part of scholarship It is about the most permanent record of one’s view on an issue and when done appropriately and memorably, it has the capacity to preserve reputation longer than well-rendered speeches can Writing well requires training, fact, imagination and rigour (Oloko, 2012)

To write well requires a whole range of abilities-listening, speaking, reading vocabulary, grammar etc In other words, every writing serves a basic purpose - to communicate something about a topic to a particular audience of readers (Maduekwe, 2007)

Writing is a personal act; it is an expression of the self It draws on intuition as well as on reasoning, on sensation and emotion, facts and memory A writer’s experience, educational background, exposure, co-ordination, composure or lack of it could be revealed by his writing Writing is a process that is done for a purpose, which results in a product It is a process of thought and emotion that requires certain skills and abilities to gain the product and accomplish the purpose (Maduekwe, 2007)

Writing is a process of composing thought and putting the thoughts on paper in order to have meaningful interaction with the reader Writing contributes to learning by clarifying thought, encourages reflection and develops analytical thinking skills

All expression requires words, ideas and larger units organized into a pattern or arrangement which accomplishes or seeks to accomplish the purpose for such expressions This arrangement is composition and the effectiveness of it depends upon the thinking that went into it Composition is essentially a thinking process while composition hinges upon mental expression, the skill needed to put the idea and experiences into graphic symbols on paper is the reality called writing Writing is therefore a process of gradual transformation of random ideas with polished prose (Maduekwe, 2007)

Also, writing is an act of communication, an important and difficult literacy and language skill to develop especially in an oral culture where people generally lack the culture of reading and writing (Ikonta, 2010)

Writing involves a synthesis of a number of skills which the writer utilizes almost simultaneously namely; choosing a topic, arranging ideas in a particular order, putting them into words, sentences and paragraphs and revising to an acceptable standard Writing therefore is a process It is not an activity accomplished in one sitting, rather just as a house is built in stages, writing also is built in stages It is generative and has an interrelated set of recursive stages of pre-writing, drafting, revision, editing, proofreading and publishing (Ikonta, 2010; 165)

Writing must be done in stages The first stage has to do with linguistics acquisition and cognition This is important because you cannot write your speech in a language you do not understand After you have acquired the linguistic skill, you then move to other stages of drafting and proof reading before the presentation (Adedun, 2012)

Written work in English is a major determiner for overall evaluation of the performance of students at the secondary level Maduekwe (2007) opines that at the junior secondary level, written composition is usually controlled and guided based on oral words eg writing about one’s family, holidays etc However, at the senior secondary level, the intention is to foster free writing as well as to further enhance the basic skills in creative writing introduced at the junior level

It is through composition we can most efficiently train the pupil to use language to express his feelings, needs, ideas, knowledge, and interest with exactness and precision Composition develops intellectual and emotional maturity of the pupil Through composition, the pupil learns to use language clearly, correctly, precisely and effectively The assessment of composition writing is thus central to the process of effective teaching and learning of writing (Jones, 2002)

The evaluation of writing ability of second language students’ has become increasingly important in recent years because the results of such evaluations are used for a variety of administrative, instructional, and research purposes Due to the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students, the assessment of their English writing is more problematic than the assessment of Nigeria English (NE) students’ writing (Hamp-Lyons,1991)

One of the first decisions to be made in determining a system for directly assessing writing quality is what type of scoring procedure will be used: should a single score be given to each text, or should the different features of a text be scored? This issue has been the subject of a great deal of research and discussion in the composition literature There are generally two different types of writing scale for assessing student written proficiency, holistic marking and analytical marking (McNamara, 2000)

Holistic marking is where the scorer records a single impression of the impact of the performance as a whole (McNamara, 2000: 43) In short, holistic marking is based on the marker’s total impression of the essay as a whole

Analytic marking, on the other hand is where raters provide separate assessment for each of a number of aspects of performance In other words, raters mark selected aspects of a piece of writing and assign point values to quantifiable criteria (Combe&Wiens, 1999) It involves the separation of the various features of a composition into components for scoring purposes Depending on the purpose of the assessment, texts might be rated on such features as content, organization, cohesion, register, vocabulary, grammar or mechanics

Another decision to make in the assessment of writing is the question of how valid or reliable the assessment is because validity and reliability are central to effective assessment practice (Speek& Jones, 1998)

According to Munice (2000), feedback is vital in helping learners to improve their writing skill and whatever forms it takes; it can have positive effect on the learners’ awareness in terms of writing It is commonly reported that students do not read teachers’ feedback comments (Duncan, 2007) This however, suggest that teachers and students see feedback in isolation from other aspects of the teaching and learning process, and consider feedback to be primarily a teacher owned endeavor (Taras, 2003)

Correspondingly, feedback process is most effective when all the teachers and students are actually involved in the process One strategy is to design assessment so that students can see the direct benefits of attending to feedback advice (Nicol, 2008)

Another strategy to encourage student reflection on feedback comments is to give a provisional grade, but invite students to talk about their work and potentially earn a higher grade ( Taras, 2003)

12 Statement of the Problem

It is widely recognized that feedback is an important part of the learning cycle, but both students and teachers frequently express disappointment and frustration in relation to the conduct of the feedback process

Students may complain that feedback on assessment of writing is unhelpful or useless, and sometimes even demoralizing Additionally, students are not given guidance as to how to use feedback to improve subsequent performance Even worse, students sometimes note that feedback is provided too late to be of any use or relevance at all For their part, teachers feel that students are not interested in feedback comments and are only concerned with the mark

Furthermore, teachers express frustration that students do not incorporate feedback advice into subsequent tasks This project seeks to examine some of the issues associated with feedback on assessment and provide some guidelines for effective writing

13    Purpose of the Study

The central purpose of this research is that to some extent, writing is not fairly assessed or scored as they should be because various factors have been found to affect the accuracy, reliability and validity of the scoring and assessment of writing The purpose of this study therefore is to examine some of these factors that affect effective assessment of writing with particular reference to teachers feedback in some selected secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria The specific objectives of the study are:

1           To determine the factors that affect effective assessment of writing

2           To ascertain which of the methods of assessment (holistic or analytic) is more effective in assessing writing

3           To examine the extent to which teachers’ educational qualification affect assessment of writing

4           To investigate the extent to which teachers’ years of experience affect effective assessment of writing

5           To explore the extent to which teachers’ marking strategies affect effective  assessment of writing

6           To find out the strategies used by teachers  for providing effective feedback

7           To determine the importance of feedback on students' writing development

14    Research Questions

The present study seeks to answer the following questions:

1           What are the factors that direct effective assessment of writing?

2           Which of these approaches (holistic or analytic) do teachers mostly adopt?

3           To what extent does teachers’ educational qualification affect effective assessment of writing?

4           To what extent do teachers’ years of experience affect effective assessment of writing?

5           To what extent does teachers’ marking strategies affect assessment of composition writing?

6           Which strategies are effective for providing effective feedback?

7           Of what importance is teachers' feedback on students' writing development?

15    Significance of the Study

The following are the significance of the present study It will increase database on the factors that affect effective assessment of writing

It will alert evaluators and the government on the problem in assessment and also the factors that affect effective assessment of writing

It will provide English language teachers with the knowledge of the factors that affect effective assessment of writing

 It will enlighten English language teachers on the impact and importance of teachers’ feedback on students writing development

It will provide teachers’ with the strategies needed for effective feedback on students’ writing development

Furthermore, the study will suggest possible solutions to the problems highlighted in the assessment of writing and teachers’ feedback  It will also serve as a guide for future research

16    Scope of the Study

The scope of this study will be limited to assessment and teachers’ feedback and not any other classroom process Similarly, this study will be focused on and will be limited to writing skill and not any other language skill such as listening, speaking or reading Also, the focus of this study will be on Senior Secondary School II Students of English Language in Yaba Local Government Area and Shomolu/Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos State The study will be selecting twelve (12) schools involving fifty (50) English Language teachers and one hundred and twenty (120) students

17 Operational Definition of Terms

Assessment:  is a systemic and systematic process of examining students’ progress in learning

Feedback: a critical assessment or suggestions to improve performance

Writing skill: it is one of the four basic language and communication skill required by the learner for effective communication 

Writing: is a process of composing thoughts and putting the thoughts on paper in order to have meaningful interaction with the reader

Composition: is the arrangement of words, ideas and expression in a particular pattern

Language: is a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols

Communication: is the act or process of using words to express or exchange information