Discursive Assessment in Contrastive Rhetoric-oriented Pedagogy: Integrating Multiple Levels of Assessment in a WritingClass

Regarding lack of belief in contrastive rhetoric as a useful pedagogical construct and the claim that principles ofcontrastive rhetoric can not be applied directly to classroom writing instruction (Casanave, 2004, p. 43), this studydetails an innovative approach to coordinating and enhancing multiple levels of assessment and discursive feedback asan aid to teaching and learning of rhetorical features. As part of a broader design-based research programme, thestudy analyzed small group interactions in feedback activities across three stages corresponding to close, proximal anddistal levels of assessing students’ expository writing through discursive activities and discursive feedback. The goalof this study is to develop an understanding of the ways that a situative approach to assessment and practice supportslearning of a ‘descriptive process’. The findings obtained in this study suggest design principles for integrating theformative functions of discursive feedback with the summative functions of traditional assessment, through participationin different forms of rhetoric based discourse(s).

Keywords:

comparative rhetoric , discourse practices , discursive feedback , formative assessment , situative approach , summative assessment