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Within the booming context of teaching learners the so-called 21st-century skills, tutoring teachers in novel teaching methods, approaches, and evaluation strategies, coupled with the massive trending use of games and gamification tactics, merge a necessity for teachers to be able to join together a series of requirements if they want to keep up-to-date as a part of the 21st century educational curriculum. In the quest to find activities that motivate English language students at the Language Center in the Autonomous Metropolitan University at Iztapalapa and Azcapotzalco campuses, it was decided to use a game-oriented activity. In many cases, a game-based approach has been used as a pedagogical activity that transmits knowledge; however, the possibility to create knowledge and to use games as evaluation tools has been set aside. Having analyzed learners’ perspective on the overall activity, it was decided that the assessment strategy needed deeper examination so that an implementation model could be proposed. It was considered that the rubrics used had the opportunity to be enriched. Thus, the types of rubrics and their characteristics were further investigated so that the rubrics initially used could be re-elaborated and improved. After the theoretical research, it was concluded that even though rubrics pose a positive assessment tool, they do need thorough planning and evaluation.

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The standard of language assessment is considered to be similar within the same country, but it actually varies from institution to institution even within the UK. Rubrics are important for language teachers to access students’ written work, and it also relates to teachers’ objective or subjective marking. This paper looks at Japanese assessment criteria in a British STEM university where students study Japanese in the IWLP context. Using two dimensions from Hofstede et al.’s (2010) cultural taxonomy and Hall’s (1976) concept of high- and low-context culture, Japanese language rubrics for the written assessment was analysed in 2017.The findings show that the rubrics examined in this study were under the influence of Hofstede et al.’s (2010) collectivist and strong uncertainty avoidance educational culture. The emphasis on the correct use of grammar was observed and also found that language teachers in this institution grade students’ written work more objectively using quantitative method. The rubrics includes instructions which enhance the quality of grading consistent and standardise among all language teachers. This process also helps to justify the first markers’ awarded marks to the second marker and also the external examiner. Recommendations are given to language teachers and managers who coordinate languages. Language teachers are recommended to inform students whether the focus is accuracy or creativity as this information affects students in working on their assessed work. It is also recommended for managers at language centres to revise periodically the definition of categories to examine if there are any duplication among the rubrics and update them. Incorporating some aspects of rubrics mentioned in this study may enhance the quality of language teachers’ grading to be standardised and consistent.

L’élaboration d’une grille d’évaluation est une tâche complexe qui exige une bonne connaissance de l’objet d’évaluation et du niveau d’apprentissage des apprenants pour lesquels elle est destinée. Parmi les différents types de grilles d’évaluation qui sont utilisées en milieu scolaire, la grille descriptive critériée ainsi que la grille descriptive analytique s’avèrent des choix particulièrement appropriés pour guider le jugement des évaluateurs. En suivant la méthodologie de la recherche-développement, les concepteurs se sont engagés dans un processus réflexif qui, après de nombreux aller-retour dans la formulation des critères, des échelons et des descripteurs, a mené à l’élaboration, à la validation et à la mise à l’essai de trois versions d’une grille descriptive analytique. Les résultats permettent d’identifier les éléments à considérer dans la construction de cet outil pour des élèves du premier cycle du secondaire présentant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme (TSA) et une grande diversité de profils cognitifs.

The development of rubrics is a complex task that requires a good knowledge of the object of evaluation and the learning level of the students for whom it is intended. From the several types of rubrics used in school environments, the analytic rubrics and developmental rubrics prove to be especially appropriate choices to guide the judgment of the evaluators. By following the research and development methodology, the designers engaged in a reflective process which, after many round trips in the formulation of criteria, scale and descriptors, led to the development, validation and implementation testing of three prototypes of analytic rubrics. The results make it possible to identify the elements to be considered in the construction of this tool for pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the first cycle of secondary school who present a great diversity of cognitive profiles.

This article analyses rubrics in Middle High German miscellany manuscripts of short texts in rhyming couplets (Reimpaargedichte). A corpus consisting of 1433 rubrics from 68 manuscripts was created to be able to perform this study. As rubrics in medieval manuscripts were not authorial, but composed by scribes, they offer insights into the reception of the texts. This paper analyses their features and functions as a proxy to interrogate the standing and status of Reimpaargedichte between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The main methodology is distant reading, i.e. the application and interpretation of statistical methods on a textual corpus. The features analyzed include the length of the rubrics, their level of variation, the presence of author names, and vocabulary. Although no general patterns regarding length nor level of variation were detected, some important conclusions can be drawn: 1. there were no clear markers of literary genre in rubrics; 2. authorship was mostly absent, except for some specific cases of famous authors; 3. relatively stable keywords were used to identify particular texts, but they were more common in manuscripts with narrative texts (Erzählungen) and less common in later manuscripts dominated by the genre known as Minnereden. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that rubrics used a series of linguistic procedures to show that they participated in a different speech act than the main text – they embodied an interaction between scribes and readers, in which the former framed the reception of the work.

Reading is one of the four language skills includes reading as one of its abilities. Reading is frequently a challenge for English language learners, particularly in terms of vocabulary acquisition. In addition to this, additional factors impede the reading comprehension of English learners. This research seeks to develop a rubric for assessing the reading skills of English language learners. This study focuses on the VELT questions, which are a specialized English proficiency exam for vocational school students. This research employs the Research and Development methodology. The results of this study indicate that there are four benchmarks for the reading abilities of English language learners: excellent, decent, satisfactory, and poor.

The article analyses the origin of two rubrics of Justinian’s Digest: De in diem addictionem (D. 18, 2) and De lege commissoria (D. 18, 3). A hypothesis on the creation of these rubrics and relative titles is envisaged: the Digest compilers would have decided (probably in the final phase of the sampling, in an attempt to bring the structure of the Digest into line with the material available to them) to disaggregate a ‘complex’ title D. 18, 1, already formed, extracting passages from it to form two new titles, which are the subject of the research.

Background: Assessing requires planning, data collection, interpretation and judgment before finely making a decision. It is always based on a variety of assessment tools. Objective: This article aims to present and illustrate numerous tools for assessment and to link these tools with the assessment process. The tools are individually presented. They can collect quantitative and qualitative data. The possibility of combining these data to make an evaluative judgment is addressed albeit, not thoroughly detailed. Analysis: We first present the assessment process consisting of five stages. After a few considerations about the nuances between assessment and measurement, we highlight objects to be assessed using the definition of Miller's pyramid. Subsequently, we propose two models to support the development of assessment tools, which lead us to present two categories of assessment tools. The first category comprises what we called classic tools, namely exams and tests. The second category is more concerned with instruments associated with competencies and skills' assessment that are widely used in the field of medical education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graduate studies go way beyond the simple acquisition of knowledge, aiming among other things at developing critical thinking as well as research and scientific writing skills. Evaluating the latter poses real challenges. Rubrics have long been used to assess writing skills but have not yet made their way into the evaluation practices in the context of graduate studies. This article presents a co-construction process conducted by a team of professors, students and educational counsellors from Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). It led to the development and testing of a rubrics-based evaluation tool to assess scientific writing skills among master’s and doctoral students. Following a literature review and the exploration of tools previously used in one university faculty, an inductive and iterative approach helped develop an evaluation grid including eight criteria divided into sub-criteria, each being accompanied by a qualitative descriptive scale. While the first experiments of the tool support its usefulness and relevance, the pitfalls that emerged from the process are discussed in light of the contributions and limits of such tools in the context of graduate studies. Beyond the creation of the tool itself, the innovative nature of the project was also related to the process of collective thinking that was used, going beyond the individual production method usually followed for the construction of such tools.

The article describes a childhood education program for developing the individual and collective “consciousness” of a class of children. The word consciousness is used to refer to the level of an inner awareness, and responsibility being held by an individual and or group of people. The authors view consciousness as being a fundamental part of our experience, and although not easily seen, it is something that can be pointed to, described and developed. Practically, this means learning how to give attention to the “interior” as well as exterior dimension of a classroom environment and discovering how these are intrinsically connected. A set of tools are presented that can enable teachers and students to learn about this inner dimension of our experience – how to bring value and focus to it – and the effect it has on our choices and behavior. When consciousness is recognized and given importance it becomes something that can be experienced by everyone at any moment. When it is intentionally focused on and developed, an atmosphere of dramatic possibility, true discovery and infinite potential can be created in any classroom. Whenever this happens, children and adults alike are able to experience, envision and become attracted to new and more mature possibilities in the way they learn, teach, communicate and relate to each other.

This article discusses an action research project that took place during the author's second year of teaching English as a foreign language. During the course, the author/teacher was given the responsibility of introducing English as to a group of beginning young language learners (first graders; ages five to seven). Following a few months of teaching, the author detected the need to develop better strategies for the assessment of the pupils’ oral skills. This led to the subsequent steps of designing and implementing an Action Research (AR) project the following aims: to find an assessment system that worked well for the author/teacher, that provided clear evidence of the learners' improvements in their communicative competence and that matched the objectives as stated in the national curriculum for foreign language teaching and learning. This article will describe and discuss the design and outcomes of the AR.

In this article, I support the thesis that utilizing rubrics, discussed and agreed upon teachers and students, guarantees the promotion of fair assessment practices. This claim is supported by the argument that designing and applying scoring rubrics enhances validity and transparency in evaluation, while their consensual design supports democracy, promotes positive washback and facilitates equitable assessment practices—all of them principles inherent to fairness. A concept of rubric that integrates an authentic task and its scoring scale, applied as an alternative assessment procedure within a critical approach, is emphasized.

Cet article porte sur les apports des grilles critériées (ou rubric en anglais) aux enseignements, en intégrant à la fois la présentation des repères théoriques de ces grilles et la description de leurs applications à un enseignement interdisciplinaire. Les grilles critériées permettent de mieux définir les critères d’évaluation et même les indicateurs ou niveaux de performance correspondant aux divers critères, et ainsi de réduire la subjectivité de l’enseignant lors de l’interprétation des rendus des étudiants (travail écrit ou présentation orale). Toutefois, si les grilles permettent de réduire la subjectivité de l’enseignant lors de l’interprétation des rendus des étudiants, cet article souligne qu’elles ne l’éliminent pas complètement. Certains paramètres, qui doivent être pris en compte par les enseignants (enthousiasme, créativité intellectuelle, persévérance, etc.), sont en effet impossibles à fixer dans une grille, sous peine de l’étendre à l’infini.

This article discusses the design and validation of a writing assessment system. Two main processes are addressed: validation of the construct and the writing test prompts, and design and validation of scoring instruments. Construct validation included defining and aligning the construct, the standards, and the nature of the assessment tasks. The validation of tasks was determined by analyzing task content against a set of criteria to design appropriate writing tasks and by surveying students' understanding of the prompts. Finally, scoring rubrics were designed based on the standards and the construct. To validate the rubrics, their alignment with the construct and the standards was established, as well as the estimation of their inter-rater reliability (r = > 0,7). Received: 09-03-06 / Accepted: 19-07-06 How to reference this article: Muñoz, A. P.; Mueller, J.; Álvarez, M. E. & Gaviria, S. (2006). Developing a Coherent System for the Assessment of Writing Abilities: Tasks and Tools. Íkala. 11(1), pp. 265 – 307