The effect of variations in handwriting and print on evaluation of student essays

The variety of factors contributing to the quality of handwriting or print provides an opportunity to determine the extent to which teachers are influenced by the interaction between different bias elements during evaluation of examinations. Fifty-three teachers evaluated compositions that had been...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Assessing writing 2005, Vol.10 (2), p.134-148
Main Authors: Klein, Joseph, Taub, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bias
Essays
Grading
Handwriting
Legibility
Penmanship
Student Evaluation
Teacher Attitudes
Writing assessment
Writing Evaluation
Writing Research
Writing tools
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The variety of factors contributing to the quality of handwriting or print provides an opportunity to determine the extent to which teachers are influenced by the interaction between different bias elements during evaluation of examinations. Fifty-three teachers evaluated compositions that had been awarded grades of 80% by impartial experts. A comparison was made of scores assigned to essays containing a variety of biasing factors: legibility as opposed to illegibility, use of different writing tools, and employment of esthetic devices such as color or underlining. Findings: the hypothesis examined was supported, indicating that assessors cumulatively incorporated biases deemed pertinent and fair into the grade, and overlooked those considered irrelevant.
ISSN:1075-2935
1873-5916
DOI:10.1016/j.asw.2005.05.002