Writing is an important skill that takes time to master. Berninger and Amtmann’s (2003) ‘Simple view of writing’ is a useful framework for understanding the different skills; language, cognitive, and motor processes involved in writing and how they interact. In early childhood the focus is on mastering the ‘transcription’ skills of how to form the letters and words required to represent language in its written form. Once this essential skill is mastered, then the focus moves to ‘text generation’ and how to use written language effectively to convey information. Writing skills are important throughout education with handwritten work continuing to be used as a method of assessment. However, for some students, writing continues to present challenges in higher education (HE), with difficulties experienced in the accuracy and fluency of writing letters or spelling words (transcription skills) and/or in the planning and composition of ideas and thoughts into written text (text generation skills). This includes students with specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) such as dyslexia and in 2021-22 students with SpLDs accounted for 6.15% of the higher education (HE) student population in the UK and for 33% of the student population with a known disability (Higher Education Statistics Authority, 2023). Various tools are available to measure aspects of transcription. For example, the standardised Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH, Barnett et al., 2007; DASH17+, Barnett et al., 2010) measures handwriting speed across a range of writing tasks. Handwriting legibility can be assessed with the criterion referenced Handwriting Legibility Scale (HLS; Barnett et al., 2018). However, tools for measuring writing quality are limited, particularly for use with students in HE. The development of the Writing Quality Scale (WQS; Stuart & Barnett, 2023) arose out of the needs of specialist teacher assessors working in HE. The aim was to develop a quick, simple, and practical criterion referenced tool to help in gathering information about the difficulties that a student may experience in writing in HE and to help inform decisions about the support that they may need. The WQS has been designed to be used with the free writing task from the DASH 17+ 1(Barnett et al., 2010). The WQS uses an analytic scoring measure that provides an overall score for writing quality based on scores given for six individual criteria. The six criteria target areas known to predict writing quality in HE academic assignments (Crossley, 2020; Crossley et al., 2014) as well as the areas in which students with SpLDs (such as dyslexia) often have difficulty with when writing (Connelly et al., 2006; Galbraith et al., 2012; Sumner & Connelly, 2020). Within an overall score for writing quality (which can be categorised as: low, medium, high), the WQS indicates where areas of relative strength and difficultly lie and where support might best be targeted. The WQS was designed for use by a range of professionals, including specialist teacher assessors and educational psychologists, to identity students whose writing quality may be a cause for concern and require appropriate support. The WQS does not require the need for specialised or subject specific language and/or knowledge to administer it. The aim of the WQS is to help identify students (aged 17-25) in HE who have poor written expression or writing quality.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/sq3r-1m26
Stuart, Nichola Barnett, Anna L.
Year of publication: 2024Date of RADAR deposit: 2024-04-17
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