An investigation of writing features which have predictive evidence of validity for EPT placement levels
This study focuses on the validation of criteria used to rate EPT compositions of graduate students at UIUC. The purpose of the research was to investigate which writing features are most useful (and not useful) in guiding EPT rating decisions. By verifying the appropriateness of each student's placement and then examining that evidence along with the writing features of the essays, it was determined which writing features were most useful in predicting a "correct" placement for the students. Those found to be most useful can be said to have "predictive evidence of validity" for this particular testing context; those found to be not very useful lack "predictive evidence of validity." To test the "predictive validity" of writing features, the researcher read and analyzed 237 graduate student EPT essays, mostly from the 1997-1998 academic year. A "features analysis guide" was developed and used to record various features of the essays. A subset of these essays were also analyzed by a second trained teacher/rater. In addition, the placement of each student was checked through ESL teacher surveys and interviews and surveys of the exempted students. A handful of "misplaced" students were identified, and a "corrected placement" was determined for them. Data from the features analysis of each student’s essay was-tallied for-each-placement-level. From there-it-was determined that-writing features such as quality of linguistic expression, ability to paraphrase and synthesize, and quality of support/development discriminated the best between placement levels and, therefore, have predictive evidence of validity. Such features as having a thesis statement, developing a main idea, citation of source, and presence or absence of plagiarism lack predictive evidence of validity for EPT placement decisions.
Teaching English as Second Language, EPT compositions Writing features, Predictive validity, Placement decisions
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign