Evaluation of students’ writing processes to help develop writing skills: from theory to practice

Abstract

[eng] Metacognition is the ability to be aware and in control of one’s own cognitive mental processes, such as writing. Taking Flower and Hayes’ Cognitive Process Model as the major theoretical framework, this master’s thesis main objective is to demonstrate how the writing process is an integral part of the final written task, and, as such, should be taken into deeper consideration by both teachers and students. To deal with this issue, the didactic proposal aims at creating tools (1) to serve the purpose of defining the rhetorical situation that an opinion essay presents, (2) to help students monitor their own metacognitive enterprises in order to adapt their writer-based prose (typical of novice writers) into a reader-based prose (particular of expert writers), and (3) to foster different revision strategies. The rubrics provided will also allow teachers evaluate their students’ writing processes as part of the final task within the sphere of formative assessment.