Abstract

MASHI QIZI, Farida Huseynova. Evaluation of students’ writing skills in higher education. Universidad y Sociedad [online]. 2024, vol.16, n.1, pp. 145-154.  Epub Feb 28, 2024. ISSN 2218-3620.

In recent years, finding efficient methods to assess university students' writing abilities has received significant attention. It has been pointed out that existing English writing exercises are largely ineffective for incoming university students, and students struggle with free writing tasks. This way, developing strong writing skills in English poses many challenges for students so, it is necessary to look for efficient ways to improve students' knowledge, sentence structure, and content when writing. In this regard, a key goal is emphasizing the importance of assessment for successfully teaching English writing. Considering the above, this study examines concepts for assessing university students' English writing skills. To accomplish this goal, the main methods of research used were a literature review and a survey among students at Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. The study highlights how writing proficiency benefits students' cognitive growth and considers the psychological impacts of writing assessments. Findings indicate that assessments may increase anxiety and lower performance for college students' writing. As a result, evaluating students' written work poses difficulties for educators. Moreover, the writing process and features of effective writing differ in research versus assessment contexts. Key findings in the survey conducted show that instructions described for assessing writing offer students’ systematic knowledge for effectively developing their writing abilities.

Keywords : Assessment principles; Writing process; Product writing; Evaluation criteria.

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