The Use of Analytic and Holistic Scales in the Evaluation of Iranian EFL Learners Essay Writing

This study was carried out to investigate the use of analytic and holistic scoring scales in the evaluation of (male and female) Iranian EFL learners’ essay writing. The participants in the current study were 66 available senior learners of English in two intact classes randomly assigned to the experimental treatments. The necessary data were gathered from the written tasks of the participants during seven sessions of their essay writing classes. The written tasks of one of the classes were evaluated analytically and those of the other class holistically. Then the data were analyzed quantitatively. Firstly, the contribution of the components of the analytic scoring – content, organization, language use, vocabulary and mechanics – to the composite writing score was examined in order to find out the strongest predictor of the total writing score. Next, it was investigated whether there was any difference between the two gender groups writing performance mean scores and gain scores as a result of the application of analytic and holistic scoring. The results of a multiple regression analysis conducted for the scores on the final writing task (posttest) indicated that language use was the strongest predictor of the total writing score. Furthermore, the results of two-way ANOVAs – conducted based on the standardized pretest and posttest scores and the gain scores of the participants of the two groups – showed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of males and females and their gain scores as a result of the application of analytic and holistic scoring.