Co-equal Participation and Accuracy Perceptions in Communal Writing Assessment
Abstract
The present study examines the extent of raters' co-equal engagement and accuracy perceptions in a communal writing assessment (CWA) context, where raters collaborate to reach final scores on student scripts. Results from recorded discussions between experienced CWA raters when they deliberated to reach a final score supplemented with their retrospective reports show that, although some raters were more verbose than their co-raters, they displayed signs of co-equal engagement and reached what they perceived to be the most accurate scores possible for the student scripts. This study supports a hermeneutic approach to examining validity in writing assessment.
Keywords: CWA, score accuracy, hermeneutic, co-equal, collaborative assessment, score negotiation.