Effects of Choice of Essay Prompts on the Quality of Writing

• 발행기관: 한국영어평가학회
• 저자명: Hyejung Paik
• 간행물 정보: 『English Language Assessment』Vol.2, 51~65쪽, 전체 15쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 언어학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2008.12.30

영문 초록

This study investigates effects of choice of essay prompts on the writing performance of test takers in terms of scores in a college English program at a Korean university. Participants were divided into a choice group (N=20) and a no-choice group (N=20) and only the choice group was provided with two different essay topics in two different essay types: expository/private and argumentative/public. Writings were rated analytically to compare the influence of topic choice on the content and organization of the essay with the one on the vocabulary and grammar. Besides the quantitative investigation, the choice group was asked to answer a questionnaire in order to examine the test takers’ preference as well as the reasons for their selection of prompts. Results revealed that the choice of essay prompts had positive effects on test takers; in particular, the choice group had higher scores on content and organization. Those who had considered the essay type only or considered both essay type and topic familiarity when they had made a choice significantly outperformed the other participants. Out of twenty participants in the choice group, nineteen favored having a topic choice, believing that they write better with familiar topics. The findings indicate that having a topic choice has positive effects both on the test takers’ performance and affective side.

목차

I. INTRODUCTION

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

III. RESEARCH METHOD

IV. RESULTS and DISCUSSION

V. CONCLUSION

키워드

choice essay topic writing