Assessing Competency in Business Writing

Abstract

Assessing the level of improvement of students' writing competency during a semester is becoming increasingly important for business communication instructors. When conducting an assessment, instructors need to be aware of issues that will affect reliability and validity. They need to develop cleargoals at the beginning; for example, good assessment strives to improve instruction and to develop students' communication skills. Because different schools have different missions and operate in different environments, a custom-made instrument will ensure that the assessment fits the local conditions. Before conducting the assessment, the instrument needs to be validated for specific use, and scorers must be trained in holistic scoring to reach an overall assessment.

Peer versus Self Assessment of Oral Business Presentation Performance

“…Finally, the instructor rated presentation quality. In accordance with accepted procedures for holistic scoring of communication quality (Vamer & Pomerenke, 1998), all raters were trained in the use of the rubric for assessing the quality of oral business presentations during a 15-minute lecture and a 50-minute small group session in which the rubric was used to evaluate multiple presenters.…”

Major Difference: An Examination of Student Writing Performance by Major and It's Implications for Business Communications

“…Critics complain that rubrics are too standard and overlook differences in learning styles and experiences (Kilpatrick, Duean, & Kilpatrick, 2008). Rubrics also may not accommodate different mission statements and operational environments (Varner & Pomerenke, 1998). To avoid these issues, writing rubrics for the business disciplines should be tailored to specific assignments, specific performance criteria, and specific levels of competency.…”

Diagnostic and Value-Added Assessment of Business Writing

“…In this way, the results of the assessment would be meaningful to classroom instructors as well as administrators. Varner and Pomerenke (1998) note, it is unmanageable to have an established group of raters assess every written assignment of every student for an extended academic period, such as a quarter or semester. Varner concluded that despite limitations, pretests and posttests are useful assessment tools.…”

“…In business writing and business communication, researchers are defining what constitutes effective assessment in the context of institutional standards. For testing at the college level, Varner and Pomerenke (1998) provided an overview of testing methods and holistic scoring of business communication assessment. Marshall (2002) offered methods, development, and testing for portfolio-based assessment in our discipline.…”