WRITING NEATNESS, COMPOSITION ERRORS, AND ESSAY GRADES

Abstract

Twelve forms of an essay exam, identical in content but differing in writing neatness and types of composition errors, were graded by 420 prospective teachers. The results indicate that: ( a ) an essay response containing either 18 spelling errors or 18 grammar errors will be assigned significantly lower grades than the same response containing no gross composition errors; and ( b ) a good handwritten essay response will be assigned significantly higher grades than a fair handwritten response. Of particular interest was this latter result and the lack of significance between the mean grades assigned to the poor handwritten and typewritten forms and the mean grades assigned to the other writing forms. Furthermore, there was not a significant interaction effect between composition errors and writing neatness.