Mixed Methods: Using a Combination of Techniques to Assess Writing Ability

A productive ability such as writing can be assessed only through a candidate‘s performance on a task, giving rise to concerns about the reliability and validity of writing assessments. In this chapter, it is argued that a combination of different techniques can help improve the quality of an evaluation of writing ability. First, an indirect test can be applied to reliably assess specific components of the writing process (e.g., revision), adding to the validity of the assessment. Furthermore, an analytic rating procedure accompanied by anchor essays allows raters to reliably evaluate the content and overall structure of written pieces. And last, automated scoring techniques can be used to objectively score text features considered important to text quality. Combining these methods provides an evaluation that is solid and informative