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Timed essay writing: implications for high-stakes tests.
Noel Gregg1, Chris Coleman, Mark Davis
1Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, USA.
Journal of Learning Disabilities
|August 24, 2007
Summary
Timed essay tests pose challenges for adolescents with dyslexia. Writing format and specific skills like vocabulary complexity significantly impact essay quality scores for these students.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- High-stakes tests frequently use timed impromptu essays to assess writing.
- Adolescents with writing disorders, particularly dyslexia, face significant barriers in such assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of handwritten, typed, and typed/edited essay formats on quality scores for students with and without dyslexia.
- To examine how spelling, handwriting, fluency, and vocabulary complexity contribute to essay quality scores in these groups.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of essay quality scores across different writing formats (handwritten, typed, typed/edited).
- Regression analyses to determine the contribution of specific writing components (spelling, handwriting, fluency, vocabulary) to overall essay quality.
- Inclusion of students with and without dyslexia (n=65 each).
Main Results:
- Vocabulary complexity, verbosity, spelling, and handwriting explained more variance in essay quality for students with dyslexia compared to their peers.
- Writing format influenced quality scores differently across the two groups.
Conclusions:
- Writing format and specific skill proficiencies differentially affect essay quality for students with dyslexia.
- Findings have implications for developing targeted assessment, instruction, and accommodations for struggling writers with dyslexia.
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