How Useful Is the Think-Aloud Protocol as a Tool for the Diagnostic Classroom Assessment of High School Students’ Writing? Insights From Teachers’ and Students’ Experiences

• In Event: Fostering Student Awareness of Literacy Strategies and Processes

Abstract

Informative diagnostic assessments are a cornerstone of effective writing instruction. This study examines the usefulness of the think-aloud protocol (the TAP) as a tool for diagnostic classroom assessment of writing. We investigated the extent to which the TAP provided ESL and ELA teachers with diagnostic information about their students’ strengths and weaknesses as writers beyond what they learned from students’ writing, and how teachers used this information to identify relevant instructional strategies. From the TAP assessment teachers gleaned useful information about challenges related to audience awareness, vocabulary, and a disconnect between oral and written expression of ideas. Teachers identified relevant instructional strategies based on the assessment, though the specificity of their recommendations varied for genre-specific challenges and general writing challenges.

Authors

• Sarah W. Beck, New York University

• Lorena Llosa, New York University

• Alyssa Trzeszkowski-Giese, New York University

• Kristin Black, New York University