CAF Profiles of Iranian Writers: What We Learn from Them and Their Limitations

This study is an attempt to report the varying profiles of Complexity, Accuracy, and Fluency (CAF) in students’ writing. In practice, the written performance of 22 Iranian freshman students at university was analysed. Having taught the writing skills during a semester, the researcher collected and analysed the final written performance of test takers through CAF rubrics to report their final examination writing profiles. Results of the study revealed that the relative contribution of each feature could to some extent assist to inform understandings of the problematic areas in written performance. In sum, the findings of this study may corroborate the very idea of using analytic measures to determine objective writing assessment. The wider discussion of this study refers to using Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) in the written performance of students as a complement to the CAF profile analysis as a way of determining the processes, strategies, and knowledge students possess and activate in producing their exam-based writing scripts.