Assessing+Writing



When assessing early writing there are three main elements to look for. These include written language, ideas and text conventions. (Hill 2006, pg 288-292) __Written Language __ This covers what the child knows about letters, words and sentences. Any recognisable letters would receive 1 point, words 2 points etc.

__Ideas __ The child scores a point if they comment that the writing says something. It may be a sign next to a drawing or a written name. Later this will lead to the childs own ideas being conveyed. __Text Conventions __ The placement and directionality of the writing. In the beginning this is writing from left to right, then spaces between the words, then commas, full stops etc.

The following is an example of emergent writing that shows words but the child has not grasped the notion of spaces yet so would get a score of 1 for written language. The child would probably score around a 3 for ideas because the writing conveys the message of asking if you like snow. The child would probably score a 2 for text conventions as they do not have spaces between words. The image is from http://mason.gmu.edu/~cwallac7/TAP/TEST/writing/2.html which also provides infornation on emergent literacy, comprehension and word knowledge.