Resumen de Coherence in the assessment of writing skills
Robin Walker, Carmen Pérez Ríu
Unhappy with the contradiction of teaching writing skills through a process-genre approach and testing them by means of a timed essay, the authors devised the Extended Writing Project (EWP) as an alternative evaluation mechanism. This requires students to write an extended text in consecutive sections that are drafted and revised with external help. At the marking stage, the final version is compared with the drafts to gain an insight into the development of both content and language from the planning stage to the final version. The EWP allowed the incorporation of process into the assessment of writing skills, and encouraged increased learner autonomy. Despite flaws, the EWP was well received by students as is reflected in a voluntary questionnaire.
