Writing

The NAPLAN writing task requires students to write in response to a stimulus or prompt. The text of the prompt is read to all students. In 2008 and 2009 the task was a narrative assessed against 10 criteria: Audience, Text Structure, Ideas, Character and Setting, Vocabulary, Cohesion, Paragraphing, Sentence Structure, Punctuation and Spelling. Each criterion has a different number of broad categories based on identifiable developmental stages. The marking guide is available at: www.naplan.edu.au.

Comparability of skills demonstrated in the Writing and
Language Conventions assessments

Although there is some overlap in the skills assessed in the Writing and Language Conventions assessments, (for example, both assess spelling and aspects of grammar and punctuation), a student’s placement on the band scales for the two tests may not match, due to the difference in the nature of the assessments. The Writing assessment is a production task whereas the Language Conventions assessment is essentially an editing task. Students may be able to identify errors or choose the correct option in an editing task without being able to apply the skill in their own writing.

Spelling results, in particular, may not be comparable across the two assessment tasks. For the Writing task, spelling is scored in the context of writing and depends on the students’ selection of vocabulary and the level of correctness then demonstrated. In contrast, the Language Conventions assessment requires students to identify and correct spelling errors in 25-30 pre-determined words which identify specific spelling skills.

In the Writing task, the Spelling criterion consists of six broad categories to measure the range of performance demonstrated from Year 3 through to Year 9.

Using the broad categories for assessing spelling in Writing, students at the minimum standard may demonstrate similar skills in Years 5, 7 and 9.

This does not mean that students at the minimum standard for Writing fail to make progress from Years 5 to 9. Rather, it reflects a continuing tendency amongst students at the minimum standard to spell difficult or challenging words (as defined in the Writing criteria) incorrectly. The same applies to Punctuation and Grammar. The use of a particular punctuation mark or sentence structure may not be applicable to the writing task and so will not necessarily be used by the student in his or her own writing; however when given a specific item in a different context, such as determining the correct use of apostrophes, quotation marks and dependent clauses in the Language Conventions test, students may demonstrate competency.

Year 3

At the minimum standard, Year 3 students generally write a text consisting of a few simple ideas that show audience awareness by using common story elements; for example, using a simple title, or beginning with Once upon a time. Students name the characters and setting and the ideas and vocabulary used are generally very simple. Students typically choose mostly simple verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns. They may include a few examples of precise words and produce some correctly formed sentences.

Students use some capital letters and full stops correctly and correctly spell most of the simple words they choose to use in their writing.

Year 5

At the minimum standard, Year 5 students generally write a story with a few related ideas which are not well elaborated, and attempt to create a clear context by providing brief descriptions of the characters and/or setting. The vocabulary used is usually simple.

Students correctly structure most simple and compound sentences and generally use some correct links between sentences. Most referring words are accurate.

Students typically correctly punctuate some sentences with both capital letters and full stops. They may demonstrate correct use of capitals for names and some other punctuation.

Students correctly spell most simple and common words.

Year 7

At the minimum standard, Year 7 students generally structure a story to include a beginning and a complication, although the conclusion may be weak or simple.

Students typically include sufficient information for the story to be easily understood by the reader and there is usually development and elaboration of ideas which all relate coherently to a central storyline.

Some precision is evident in the vocabulary use although words are not all used successfully.

Students correctly structure most simple and compound sentences and some complex sentences and correctly punctuate some sentences with both capital letters and full stops. They may demonstrate correct use of some other punctuation, for example quotation marks for direct speech.

Students correctly spell most simple and common words.

Year 9

At the minimum standard, Year 9 students generally write stories with a beginning, complication and ending and can organise a story into paragraphs that focus on one idea or a group of related ideas. Students attempt to develop context by providing some elaboration, detail and description of characters and settings.

Students typically use accurate words or groups of words when describing events and ideas although there are typically errors evident in sentence construction. The writing often uses a small range of connectives and conjunctions to link text sections and sentences correctly.

Students punctuate most sentences correctly with capitals, full stops, exclamation marks and question marks. Students correctly use more complex punctuation marks correctly some of the time.

Students correctly spell most simple and common words.