Assessment Scale for Written Work

E.Fleischmann, R.Huber,  E. Po¨lzleitner, R. Vaupetitsch, K. Weißenbo¨ck
Adapted from: Jacobs, Holly L. et al., Testing  ESL Composition:   A Practical Approach,  Newbury House, Rowley 1981

Please use according to the instructions  on the reverse side

Content	20-18

17-14

13-10

9-6	Excellent to very good: Excellent to very good knowledge of subject; considerable variety of ideas or arguments; independent and thorough treatment of topic; relevant to assigned topic; accurate detail.
Good to Average: Adequate  knowledge  of subject;  variety  of ideas/arguments above average; adequate treatment of topic; some detail, mostly relevant to topic. Fair  to  Poor:	Knowledge   of  subject   is  hardly   adequate;   limited   variety   of ideas/arguments; sufficient treatment of topic;  lacking detail or extraneous material included.
Very  Poor: 	Knowledge   of  subject   too   little;    hardly   any   or   no  variety   of ideas/arguments; insufficient treatment of topic, or not enough to evaluate.	
Organization	20-18

17-14

13-10

9-6	Excellent   to  Very  Good:	Fluent   expression;   ideas  clearly  stated  and   sup- ported; well organized; logically sequenced (coherent); connectives appropriately used (cohesive).
Good to Average: Somewhat choppy but main ideas stand out; logically sequenced;
connectives sometimes used inappropriately.
Fair to Poor: Choppy;  loosely organized;  main  ideas are not always clear; connec- tives often used inappropriately.
Very Poor: Non-fluent; ideas often confused or disconnected; lacks logical sequencing or development.	
Vocabulary	25-23

22-18

17-13

12-8	Excellent  to Very Good: Wide range of vocabulary;  accurate word/idiom choice and usage; appropriate register.
Good to Average: Adequate range of vocabulary;  occasional errors of word/idiom form; choice and usage but meaning  not obscured; register not always appropriate. Fair to Poor: Limited  range  of vocabulary;   frequent  errors  of word/idiom  form, choice and usage; meaning  confused or obscured; inappropriate register.
Very Poor: Range  of vocabulary  too limited;  essentially translation; meaning  con- fused or obscured;  or not enough to evaluate.	
Language	30-27

26-21

20-15

14-9	Excellent to Very Good: Confident handling  of appropriate constructions; hardly any errors of agreement, tense, number,  word order, articles, pronouns,  prepositions; meaning  never obscured;
Good to Average: Well-formed sentences, but constructions not always appropriate to task (register);  some  errors  of agreement,  tense,  number,   word  order,  articles, pronouns,  prepositions; meaning  sometimes slightly obscured
Fair to Poor: Not sufficient variety of constructions available;  problems  mainly  in complex  constructions; several  errors  of negation, agreement, tense, number,  word order/function, articles, pronouns,  prepositions; meaning  sometimes obscured.
Very  Poor:  Ma jor  problems  in  sentence  construction;  frequent  errors  of nega- tion, agreement, tense, number,  word order/function, articles, pronouns,  prepositions; meaning  often obscured.	
Mechanics	5

4	Excellent to Very Good: Demonstrates mastery of conventions; hardly  any errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing.
Good to  Average:  Occasional   errors  of  spelling,   punctuation,   capitalization,	
	
3-2	paragraphing
Fair to Poor: Frequent errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, poor handwriting	

Table  1: Sehr gut ≥ 90%, Gut ≥ 80%, Befriedigend  ≥ 70%, Genu¨gend ≥ 60%