Assessment of Year 1 Student's Writing Skills

EDEE312 / EDEE321
Assessment 1: Essay

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Strength of Students writing.......................................................................................................3
Weakness of Students writing.....................................................................................................3
PART B............................................................................................................................................4
Teaching Strategies to develop students writing.........................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
Appendix A......................................................................................................................................7
Appendix B......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The report highlights the assessment and examination of a year 1 students' reflection of
the achievement in the work supplied as a sample for study (Appendix A). The sample is
provided by Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Students
are given task to identify text purposes and features of the language, images and vocabulary.
Further, assessment of the sample helps to identify the strengths and weakness with the use of
marking rubric (Appendix B). Along with the teaching strategies are analysed that will provide
guidance to the students in enhancing their abilities in literary reading and writing (ACARA,
2017).
MAIN BODY
Part A
Strength of Students writing
From the assessment of the sample of work of a year 1 student on 'reading response:
Dunbi the Owl' it has been observed that the student by the end of year able to connect characters
and key events with their personal experience. Students started to understand use of words to
describe an event and character which is in the sample study is an Owl. In the students the ability
to reading and understanding of characters by using short-words is developed (ACARA, 2018).
Along with the use of high and low voice while describing about the character. When reading
students able to use nouns and vowels like 'I' and 'Owl'. Also, use of pronouns like 'him', etc.
They are able to recall main ideas and acknowledge textual meanings both implied and literal. It
has been observed that the students are able to present their thoughts in paragraphs and use of
simple and compound sentences to create a scenario that represent thoughts clearly. The students
understand the use of verbs in the sentences with the creation of diagrams that state the clear
picture of what the students are trying to describe. The use of full stops and capital letters shows
that the students beginning to understand patterns of writing.
Weakness of Students writing
From the sample provided it has been observed that the students are not yet able to spell
and write complex words. Misspelled and inappropriate use of words in the reading response
shows that students has not aware of the uses of tenses i.e. past, present and future in the

sentences. The writing is clear but the use of multimodal features are not resolve the purpose of
the activity. It is also seen as there are no headings and sub-headings used in the paragraph.
Students lacks the use of grammatical features like expression of language which shows that the
students knowledge is underdeveloped at the current stage (Ikhwan, 2019). Further
understanding of phonetic, syllable words and morphemes are still at the developing stage in the
students.
As per the ACARA, students get literate as they progress to incorporate knowledge and
skills to learn and communicate through using language. Behaviours and learning assists students
to become confident and develop skills to use it for the communication. From the above
assessment of skills it has been seen that with the implementation of ACARA curriculum the
students are able to develop new skills and enhance literacy.
PART B
Teaching Strategies to develop students writing
When students engage in writing, they apply their prior knowledge and skills which set a
direction for writing. Teachers can use different strategies to help the students to improve in
writing. Various literary development methods like practising writing, experimenting with the
words, response to the stories, partner interaction, sentence writing, descriptive writing,
formation of correct letters, etc. can be used. A model introduced as the NSW teaching model
can be used that contains three elements that help in the classroom and assessment practice to
improve students learning (ACARA, 2018). The elements are intellectual quality, significance
and producing environment that provide quality learning. When teachers plan for to provide
teaching and support to the students the following consideration are taken i.e. understanding of
students prior knowledge and what abilities they posses. How to link learning with the existing
knowledge students have. Implementation of learning processes and strategies to measure
learning outcomes. From the use of rubric to assess students texts teachers can observe the
learning progress of the students. This assessment provides an idea of the achievement of the
students in a particular period by the teachers. Teachers can also use diagrams and pictures to
make students learn about the concepts of using grammar and words in the text or sentences.
Teachers can also use scaffold instructions which support students in the stages of learning. This
strategy ensure that the students are effectively apply their skills and knowledge independently.