Linguistic Discrimination in Writing Assessment: How Raters React to African American “Errors,” ESL Errors, and Standard English Errors on a State-Mandated Writing Exam

Authors

David M. Johnson, Kennesaw State UniversityFollow
Lewis VanBrackle, Kennesaw State UniversityFollow

Department

English

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2012

Abstract

Raters of Georgia''s (USA) state-mandated college-level writing exam, which is intended to ensure a minimal university-level writing competency, are trained to grade holistically when assessing these exams. A guiding principle in holistic grading is to not focus exclusively on any one aspect of writing but rather to give equal weight to style, vocabulary, mechanics, content, and development. This study details how raters react to “errors” typical of African American English writers, of ESL writers, and of standard American English writers. Using a log-linear model to generate odds ratios for comparison of essays with these error types, results indicate linguistic discrimination against African American “errors” and a leniency for ESL errors in writing assessment.

Comments

This is the accepted version of the following article:
Boynton, T. O., McMurry, J. L., & Shimkets, L. J. (2013). Characterization of Myxococcus xanthus MazF and implications for a new point of regulation.Molecular microbiology, 87(6), 1267-1276.
Which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mmi.12165