Examining a process-oriented writing assessment in a large-scale ESL testing context

Research shows that writing ability is a competence that requires the coordination of various complex cognitive skills and that revision is an essential step that determines the quality of a text. For this reason, process-oriented assessment such as portfolio assessment is rapidly replacing the timed single draft essay in the classroom. Contrary to findings in writing research and the movement toward the process-oriented writing assessment in classrooms, the timed single draft essay test is dominant in large-scale English as a Second Language (ESL) testing contexts.; The lack of application of process-oriented assessment is attributed to the scarcity of large-scale process-oriented assessments available for testing practitioners and the lack of supportive research evidence in favor of this new writing assessment approach. Therefore, the present study aims to (1) introduce a process-oriented writing assessment that can be operationalized in a large-scale setting and (2) build the argument that a process-oriented assessment has enhanced validity and accuracy of ESL academic writing proficiency, using multiple sources of evidence.; The new writing assessment, called a workshop essay test, was proposed as an alternative placement test of ESL writing ability at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The principle of the workshop-based essay test is based on the current cognitive writing process theory. The test provides a variety of pre-writing activities and a revision session in order to facilitate the examinees' writing process and obtain a writing performance sample that is the by-product of the successful execution of all skills.; Arguments for the adequacy of each writing test as performance assessment were made by examining (1) the quality of essays written by the same individual on the two tests, (2) accuracy of each test with reference to content-field faculty's evaluation of ESL students' academic writing ability, and (3) other contextual evidence available. The results indicate that the workshop-based essay test holds promise as an alternative to the timed single draft essay test. Although the present study is quite contextually bound, the findings can be discussed in other large-scale EAP writing assessment contexts.