ABSTRACT
This study sought to assess the factors
affecting the assessment of writing with particular reference to teachers’
feedback at SSS II Level. Seven research
questions were formulated to guide the study. Relevant literatures were also
cited. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and the population
for this study comprised English teachers in selected schools in Yaba Local Government
Area and Somolu /Bariga Local Government
Area of Lagos state. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 12
senior secondary schools and 10 students from each school.4 teachers each were
selected from 10 schools and 5 teachers each were selected from two schools.
This brings the number of teachers to be 50 and the students to be 120. The
instrument used to gather information was questionnaire and the data were
analysed using percentage. Some of the findings of the study are: There are factors
that direct effective assessment of writing, both teachers and students prefer
analytic scoring, teachers’ educational qualification has a significant effect
on the assessment score, teachers’ years of experience affect the assessment of
writing, teachers’ marking strategies affect the assessment of writing. Based
on this, the study recommended among others, that government should embark on
accelerated construction of classrooms to decongest crowded classes.
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Pages
Title
Page i
Declaration
iii
Certification
iv
Dedication
v
Approval
Page vi
Acknowledgements
vii
Abstract
viii
Table
of Contents ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background
to the Study 1
1.2.
Statement
of the Problem 6
1.3.
Purpose
of the Study 7
1.4.
Research
Questions 8
1.5.
Significance
of the Study 9
1.6.
Scope
of the Study 9
1.7.
Operational
Definition of Terms 10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1.
Introduction 11
2.2 The Concept of Writing 12
2.2.1 What is Writing 12
2.2.2
Kinds of Writing 13
2.2.3
Characteristics of Writing 16
2.3 The Concept of Composition 18
2.3.1 What is Composition 18
2.3.2 Differences
between Composition and Writing 18
2.4 The
Concept of Assessment 19
2.4.1 What
is Assessment 19
2.4.2 Types
of Assessment 19
2.4.3
Characteristics of Assessment 20
2.4.4
The Importance of Assessment in Writing 21
2.4.5 Purpose
of Assessment 22
2.4.6 Assessment
versus Marking 23
2.5 The
Concept of Feedback 27
2.5.1 What
is Feedback 27
2.5.2 Kinds
of Feedback 27
2.5.3 Characteristics
of Feedback 28
2.5.4 Importance
of Feedback 29
2.5.5 Method
of Error Correction 30
2.5.6 Teacher’s
Feedback and its impact on Students’ Writing 32
2.6 Teacher
Factor and its Effect on Assessment of Writing 43
2.6.1 Teacher
Qualification 44
2.6.2 Teacher’s
Personal Beliefs their Vision and Implication
on
Assessment 45
2.7 Class
Size and its Effect on Assessment of Writing 47
2.7.1 Over
Population 47
2.8 Criteria
for Good and Effective Writing 48
2.9 Summary
of Literature Review and Justification for the Study. 49
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 51
3.2 Research
Design 52
3.3 Population
of the Study 52
3.4 Sample
and Sampling Technique 52
3.5 Research
Instrument 53
3.6 Validity
of Research Instrument 53
3.7
Reliability of Researc h Instrument 54
3.8 Procedure
for Data Collection 54
3.9 Procedure
for Data Analysis 55
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
4.1 Introduction 56
4.2 Data
Presentation 56
4.3 Analysis
of Research Questions 58
4.3.1 Research
Questions 1 58
4.3.2 Research
Questions 2 61
4.3.3 Research
Questions 3 64
4.3.4 Research
Question 4 66
4.3.5 Research
Questions 5 67
4.3.6 Research
Questions 6 69
4.3.7 Research
Questions 7 72
4.4 Discussion
of Findings 74
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1
Introduction 78
5.2
Summary of the Study 78
5.3
Implication of the Findings 80
5.4 Recommendations 81
5.5
Conclusion 82
5.6
Suggestions for further studies 83
References 84
Appendix
1 90
Appendix
2 93
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 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 e.g. 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).
1.2 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.
1.3 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.
1.4 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?
1.5 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.
1.6 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.
1.7 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.
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