Steps to Create a Scoring Rubric for Assessing Business Correspondence Writing

Abstract

Scoring rubrics have been used widely in English Language Teaching and Learning. They are invaluable tools that teachers use to communicate expectations, provide focused feedback, grade learners’ writing products, and also design the lesson plans. Students also find scoring rubrics helpful because they give a clear picture of what qualities students’ work should have. However, creating a great rubric is more than just slapping some expectations on a paper, assigning some percentage points, and calling it a day. A good rubric needs to be designed with care and meticulousness to ensure the reliability and validity of the assessment. In addition, the procedure of creating a scoring rubric consists of a number of steps which should be tailored to the purpose and subject of the rubric. Developing rubrics for the assessment in ESP writing is therefore in some ways different from developing rubrics for the assessment in general English writing, which is because ESP writing is characterized by distinctive features, e.g. different genres’ features. This paper wil report the whole procedure of creating a scoring rubric that has been being used to assess business correspondence such as letters, emails, or reports, which are written by students of Business English. The paper is for teachers, students or anyone who are interested in developing or evaluating rubrics for ESP writing classes.