WRITING TASKS

Writing tasks are used for direct testing of writing ability, which means that test-takers are required to
produce an extended (beyond individual words or short phrases) written response to a given stimulus.

Unlike direct testing, indirect testing of writing ability attempts to assess competencies underlying
writing ability, such as the knowledge of written grammar, spelling or genre conventions. An indirect
test of writing ability might, for example, include a task assessing test-takers’ knowledge of grammar
or a set of items assessing the knowledge of spelling and punctuation.

Although it is widely accepted that grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. play a role in one’s writing
ability, it can be argued that writing ability goes beyond these individual ‘components’. This might
mean that a test-taker who knows written grammar, spelling, etc. will not necessarily be able to write
a good essay, report, etc. That is why, setting direct writing tasks is the most common approach to
assessing writing ability nowadays.

A writing task normally consists of a set of instructions and a prompt. Below, a series of
recommendations on producing effective writing prompts and instructions is provided.

Recommendations for topic selection

• The topic should be accessible to all test-takers. Care should be taken not to disadvantage any of
them because of their unfamiliarity with the topic. It is easier to find suitable topics for test-takers
with similar backgrounds. In a test intended for a wide international audience, choosing a suitable
topic might be more problematic.

Describe your favourite app and

This topic will be unsuitable for test-takers who do not use apps or
how you use it.
might not have a smart phone.

• Choose a topic which does not require creativity, imagination or advanced logical reasoning from
test-takers. This is because writing tasks are meant to test writing ability and not imagination,
creativity, etc.
This topic requires imagination from test-takers to produce an
extended response. Not all test-takers will have it in equal measure.
What would you do if you found
Those without a developed imagination will be disadvantaged by this
a pair of magical shoes?
task.

• Topics that are interesting for test-takers will normally elicit longer and better-quality responses.
At the same time, a balance should be found between topics that are engaging and topics that
might provoke a strong emotional response. The latter might affect the test-taker’s ability to
produce an adequate piece of writing, and the resulting response might also be difficult to rate.

Copyright © 2024 Olena Rossi. All rights reserved. This worksheet was downloaded from [Link]
 This topic might provoke a strong emotional response from some
test-takers: remembering this clearly unpleasant situation might
Write about a time you had to make them anxious or upset, which could affect their writing ability.
lie to your best friend. On the other hand, some test-takers might find it difficult to
recollect such a situation. To produce a response, they will have to
use their imagination to make up a story that never happened. As
discussed above, not all test-takers will have a developed enough
imagination to come up with a coherent or plausible story.

• Avoid so-called ‘taboo topics’ - topics that are controversial and might be perceived as unpleasant
by test-takers or might be unsuitable for a particular group of test-takers. For example, setting
topics that touch upon pigs or dogs might not be suitable if there are Muslims among the test-
taker population. Generally, topics about alcohol, drugs, wars, violence, sex, and politics are to be
avoided. In small-scale localized testing, however, some test developers are not averse to using
controversial topics because they are thought to provoke extended responses from test-takers.
When using such topics, it is important to ensure that they will not result in a strong emotional
response from test-takers.
• Avoid banal topics that will only be found in a test. Those topics will not pique test-takers’ interest
and can only result in equally banal responses.
This bland topic is often found in textbooks. It might help test-takers
Describe your typical day from to display their knowledge of the present indefinite tense, but it is
morning to night. unlikely to result in interesting responses that would go beyond
describing a string of actions. It is also difficult to imagine where such
a response might be called for in real-life situations.

Recommendations for genre selection

• Choose authentic writing genres – genres that are found in real-life writing situations.
This example comes from Hughes & Hughes (2020). A conversation is
Write a conversation you have not an authentic writing genre. In real life, the ability to ‘write a
with a friend about a holiday conversation’ might be required only from a script writer. Moreover,
you plan to have together. the conversation is imaginary and might disadvantage test-takers
without a developed enough imagination.

• Choose genres that test-takers will use outside the testing situation. For example, test-takers who
are taking the test for university entry might require report or article writing ability, while test-
takers who are taking the test for professional reasons might have to write business reports,
memos or meeting minutes, depending on their job.
• Narrative (e.g., a story) and descriptive (e.g., travel writing) genres are cognitively easier than
expository (e.g., a report) or argumentative (e.g., a persuasive essay) genres. Different genres
might also require different types of language. For example, stories often require the knowledge
of past tenses, while modals and conditionals are often used in argumentative essays. These
should be taken into consideration when setting a writing task at a specific proficiency level.

Copyright © 2024 Olena Rossi. All rights reserved. This worksheet was downloaded from [Link]
Recommendations for producing writing prompts
Writing prompts set the scene and provide the background information necessary for producing a
written response. A writing prompt might include some source information (e.g., a reading passage or
visual stimulus) or can simply give a topic to write about. Writing prompts that include extensive
reading passages are often used in integrated reading-to-write tasks which are not discussed here.
For those who are interested in integrated reading-to-write tasks, I included a reading suggestion in
the Further Reading section at the bottom of this page.
• Writing prompts should be unambiguous, clearly laid-out and easy to read, to ensure that a
misunderstanding does not prevent test-takers from producing a high-quality response. As much
as possible, the language of the prompt should be one proficiency level lower than the test level.
Test-takers who are not used to this specific task format might find the
prompt ambiguous: 1) not all test-takers will know what kind of
“Travel broadens the mind”. (J.
response is expected because ‘discuss’ might be insufficient to explain
Smith). Discuss. the required genre; 2) it might be unclear why ‘J. Smith’ is referred to
in the prompt and whether it is expected from text-takers to mention
J. Smith in the response.

• Unless the prompt is for a reading-to-write task, it is important to reduce dependence on test-
takers’ reading ability. This can be achieved by using visuals. For example, a story can be elicited
with a set of pictures; a graph/chart/table can be used as a stimulus for a formal report. However,
care should be taken that visuals are clear and that test-takers are able to interpret them. For
example, if a prompt includes a map, map-reading ability might be called for to produce a
response, while map-reading is not a part of writing ability.
• Avoid so-called ‘misfires’ (I borrowed this term from Ruth & Murphy, 1984) - writing prompts that
can be interpreted in an unintended way.
Ruth and Murphy (1984) discuss this prompt as an example of ‘a
Many different suggestions for misfire’. The prompt was created for high-school students. The
improvement of Central High teacher who wrote the prompt assumed that the information about
School have recently been potential school improvements, widely circulated and discussed in
made. Describe one problem or the school, was common shared knowledge. But when students were
situation which you feel needs interviewed about their interpretations of the topic, it became clear
correction or improvement, that not all students shared this background information about the
suggestions. It was also assumed that the request to ‘describe one
giving reasons for your choice,
problem’ would lead students to produce an essay about a single
and suggesting one or more
problem in the school. However, several students interpreted the task
solutions. as having to argue that one problem was more important than others,
so they discussed more than one problem.

To avoid the situation discussed in the above example, examine the prompt for possible
misinterpretations, check for ambiguous wording and, if possible, trial the task with several test-takers
who are similar to the target test-takers. However, if a ‘misfire’ still occurs, it might be advisable to
approach the scoring with an open mind and to accept unintended interpretations if they make sense
as a written response.
• Give enough background information to provide a level-playing field for all test-takers. Background
information will particularly help test-takers with less knowledge about the topic or with a less
developed imagination/argumentation ability.

Copyright © 2024 Olena Rossi. All rights reserved. This worksheet was downloaded from [Link]
 [Link] an essay on environment protection.
[Link] an essay on environment protection in Compare the following four prompts. They give
your town/city. progressively more information to test-takers.
Prompt 4 is the most informative and can be
[Link] an essay suggesting measures to protect
particularly helpful to those test-takers who are not
the environment in your town/city.
very familiar with environmental protection and
[Link] the following measures intended to would otherwise struggle to think of measures to
protect the environment in your town/city: discuss in their response. At the same time, the
a) Encourage recycling prompt encourages test-takers to include their own
b) Reduce the use of plastic ideas.
c) (your own idea)

• Providing background information will also reduce variation in responses. The responses will be
more comparable and, as a result, easier to mark. At the same time, a prompt should not be so
restrictive as to stifle more capable test-takers: “… a good prompt should allow weaker writers to
write at their own level while allowing better writers to demonstrate their best writing” (Weigle,
2002, p.90).
Weigle (2002) discusses the following prompt example.
Some people believe that life offers them When the prompt was trialled, it was found that the
an endless choice of opportunities. Others resulting essays lacked focus because there were too
think that life is a series of one problem many different approaches to the topic so the raters
after another. Compare these two ways of found it difficult to decide whether a response was on
looking at life. Which idea do you agree topic or not.
with? Give reasons to support your choice.

Recommendations for producing writing task instructions

• Instructions should be brief but informative, ensuring that test-takers know exactly what they have
to do.
• Instructions should include information about the audience (i.e. the potential readers of the
written response), the situation and purpose of writing, and the required genre.
This writing prompt gives no information about the purpose of
writing (to explain? to describe? to persuade?), the situation and
Write about a memorable event
the audience (A penfriend in an email exchange? Fellow-students
from your childhood.
reading a school newspaper?) and the expected genre, which
largely depend on the situation of writing (an email, a newspaper
article, etc.)

• Instructions should specify the expected length of the writing response, e.g. ‘write at least 150
words’ or ‘write between 150 and 200 words’.
• Instructions should specify how much time test-takers have to produce a written response. The
time should be sufficient to allow for planning and drafting a response. This can be established by
trialling the task with several test-takers who are similar to the ones the task is intended for.

Copyright © 2024 Olena Rossi. All rights reserved. This worksheet was downloaded from [Link]
 Write an article for a school
This is a revised version of the writing prompt discussed above.
newspaper, describing a
The revised prompt specifies the genre (an article), the audience
memorable event from your
(readers of a school newspaper), the expected length of the
childhood. Write between 150 response (150-200 words) and the time allocated for writing a
and 200 words. You have 30 response (30 minutes).
minutes.

• The language of instructions should be simple, ideally one level lower than the level of the test.
For example, if the test is at CEFR B2 level, the instructions should be accessible to B1 level test-
takers.

Further reading
Hughes, A., & Hughes, J. (2020). Testing for language teachers. Cambridge University Press. (Chapter
9 ‘Testing writing’ provides practical recommendations for producing writing test tasks)

Plakans, L. (2021). Writing integrated tasks. In G. Fulcher and L. Harding (Eds.), The Routledge
Handbook of Language Testing (pp. 357-371). Taylor & Frances. (This book chapter discusses the
production of integrated writing and speaking tasks, including reading-to-write tasks).

Ruth, L., & Murphy, S. (1984). Designing topics for writing assessment: Problems of meaning. College
composition and communication, 35(4), 410-422. [Link]

Weigle, S. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge University Press.

Copyright © 2024 Olena Rossi. All rights reserved. This worksheet was downloaded from [Link]