Linguistic accuracy (LA) has been shown to be indicative of second language (L2) essay quality through the use of various measurements, such as error counts and error-free T-units. However, concerns persist regarding the precise definition of LA, as findings in recent literature often depend on the specific measures of LA employed. This study…

In educational measurement contexts, essays have been evaluated and formative feedback has been given based on the end product. In this study, we used a large sample collected from middle school students in the United States to investigate the factor structure of the writing process features gathered from keystroke logs and the association of that…

The present study examined the factor structures across features of 446 examinees' responses to a writing task that integrates reading and listening modalities as well as reading and listening comprehension items of the TOEFL iBT[R] (Internet-based test). Both human and automated scores obtained for the integrated essays were utilized. Based on a…

The e-rater[R] automated essay scoring system is used operationally in the scoring of TOEFL iBT[R] independent essays. Previous research has found support for a 3-factor structure of the e-rater features. This 3-factor structure has an attractive hierarchical linguistic interpretation with a word choice factor, a grammatical convention within a…

This paper explores automated methods for measuring features of student writing and determining their relationship to writing quality and other features of literacy, such as reading rest scores. In particular, it uses the "e-rater"™ automatic essay scoring system to measure "product" features (measurable traits of the final…

In the area of large scale assessment, there is increasing interest in the measurement of students' written performance. At issue is whether the task demands in writing assessment can be simplified to involve the production of paragraph-length writing samples and/or multiple choice testing, rather than full-length essays. This study considers data…

Research reported in this paper considered the construct validity of a trial essay administered in 1985-87 Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The addition of the essay caused the non-science factor observed in previous MCAT research to be more strongly defined. (Author/LMO)

In this study, the effects of motivational and behavioral dimensions of study behavior on objective and essay modes of evaluating course content were investigated. Several performance measures in two undergraduate Educational Psychology courses were factor analyzed, and three orthogonal performance factors were obtained: general achievement,…