The Influence of Holistic Scoring of Students’ Assignments on Their Motivation and Second Language Acquirement

Abstract

‘The process of writing is a process of thinking and discovering things. Writing is the result of employing strategies to manage the composing process, which is one gradually developing a text. (Pedagogical writing course reader, pg. 302)’We as teachers should pay attention to all of the aspects of language acquiring and we should try to use many methods and strategies in order to help the learners as much as possible to acquire the language and to be always high motivated to do it. Evaluation is the most difficult and complicated part which the teachers should involve successfully in their teaching. Keeping in mind this importance I decided to make this research proposal in order to search for the most appropriate methods of evaluation and also to support my believes that holistic scoring is a very motivating and helpful method which helps students to acquire the language easily and more effectively. ‘Holistic scoring is a method by which trained readers evaluate a piece of writing for its overall quality. It requires readers to evaluate the work as a whole, while considering four elements: focus, organization, support, and conventions. The holistic scoring method is based on the theory that a whole piece of writing is greater than the sum of its parts. With this method, essays are read for the total impression they create, rather than for individual aspects. 1The aim of this research is to confirm that this is one of the best ways of scoring which has positive and encouraging effects on learners’ language progress; and it would help me to know better the advantages and disadvantages of its use which will help me to know precisely when and how to use it in my teaching.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n1s1p15