The knowledge, skills and understandings relating to students’ writing have been drawn from the Statements of Learning for English (MCEECDYA 2005).
Students are taught to write a variety of forms of writing at school. The three main forms of writing (also called genres or text types) that are taught are narrative writing, informative writing and persuasive writing. In the Writing tests, students are provided with a ‘writing stimulus' (sometimes called a prompt – an idea or topic) and asked to write a response in a particular genre or text type.
In 2013, students will be required to complete a persuasive writing task.
The Writing task targets the full range of student capabilities expected of students from Years 3 to 9. The same stimulus is used for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. The lines in the response booklet for Year 3 students are more widely spaced than for Years 5, 7 and 9 and more capable students will address the topic at a higher level. The same marking guide is used to assess all students' writing, allowing for a national comparison of student writing capabilities across these year levels.
Assessing the Writing task
Students’ writing will be marked by assessors who have received intensive training in the application of a set of ten writing criteria summarised below. The full Persuasive Writing Marking Guide ( 5.7 MB) and the writing stimulus used to prompt the writing samples in the Marking Guide are both available for download.
Descriptions of the Writing criteria
||Description of marking criterion
|The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and persuade the reader
||The organisation of the structural components of a persuasive text (introduction, body and conclusion) into an appropriate and effective text structure
||The selection, relevance and elaboration of ideas for a persuasive argument
||The use of a range of persuasive devices to enhance the writer’s position and persuade the reader
||The range and precision of contextually appropriate language choices
||The control of multiple threads and relationships across the text, achieved through the use of grammatical elements (referring words, text connectives, conjunctions) and lexical elements (substitutions, repetitions, word associations)
||The segmenting of text into paragraphs that assists the reader to follow the line of argument
||The production of grammatically correct, structurally sound and meaningful sentences
||The use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid the reading of the text
||The accuracy of spelling and the difficulty of the words used
The Narrative Writing Marking Guide (used in 2008 - 2010 ) is also available.
Use of formulaic structures
Beginning writers can benefit from being taught how to use structured scaffolds. One such scaffold that is commonly used is the five paragraph argument essay. However, when students becomes more competent, the use of this structure can be limiting. As writers develop their capabilities they should be encouraged to move away from formulaic structures and to use a variety of different persuasive text types, styles and language features, as appropriate to different topics.
Students are required to write their opinion and to draw on personal knowledge and experience when responding to test topics. Students are not expected to have detailed knowledge about the topic. Students should feel free to use any knowledge that they have on the topic, but should not feel the need to manufacture evidence to support their argument. In fact, students who do so may undermine the credibility of their argument by making statements that are implausible.
Example topics and different styles:
City or country (see example prompt )
A beginning writer could write their opinion about living in either the city or country and give reasons for it. A more capable writer might also choose to take one side and argue for it. However, this topic also lends itself to a comparative style response from a more capable writer. It can be argued there are benefits and limitations to living in the city and living in the country. A writer could also choose to introduce other options, for example living in a large country town that might have the benefits of city and rural life. Positions taken on this topic are likely to elicit logical, practical reasons and anecdotes based on writers’ experiences.
Books or TV (see example prompt )
A beginning writer could write about their opinion of one aspect and give reasons for it. However, this topic lends itself to a comparative style response from a more capable writer. It can be argued there are benefits and limitations to both books and TV. The reasons for either side of the topic are likely to elicit logical, practical reasons and personal anecdotes based on the writer's experiences of both books and TV.
It is cruel to keep animals in cages and zoos (see example prompt )
A beginning writer could take on one side of the topic and give reasons for it. However, this topic lends itself to be further redefined. For example, a more capable writer might develop the difference between open range zoos and small cages and then argue the merits of one and limitations of the other. The animal welfare issues raised by this topic are likely to elicit very empathetic and emotive arguments based on the writer's knowledge about zoos and animals.
More information on persuasive writing can be found in the FAQ section for NAPLAN - Writing test.
National minimum standards
The national minimum standards for writing describe some of the skills and understandings students can generally demonstrate at their particular year schooling. The standards are intended to be a snapshot of typical achievement and do not describe the full range of what students are taught or what they may achieve.
For further information on the national minimum standards see Performance Standards.