PC’s 3Cs (Content, Complexity, & Control) - A Writing Rubric

Abstract

One goal of any academic language program is for students to be able to write essays that practice and demonstrate their ability to generate, organize and develop ideas using increasingly complex and accurate language. One way of encouraging and assessing this, and the subject of this paper, is the use of a grading rubric. Without a rubric, students are graded holistically according to each grader's personal values and criteria, which often leads to poor inter-rater reliability across different classes within a particular level, and little feedback as what the students do well, or, perhaps more importantly, what they need to improve. Conversely, the use of an overly complex rubric can also lead to poor inter-rater reliability, although the feedback for students is potentially much more useful. This paper will discuss a new grading rubric based on just three criteria: content, complexity, and control. This rubric is designed to increase inter-rater reliability and the ease with which grades are assigned and understood, but it also makes an extremely valuable teaching tool as it gives students a better idea of what to aim for and which skills they need to improve. One final benefit is that it encourages students to use more advanced language rather than rely on simplistic language in an attempt to reduce grammatical errors. This rubric is extremely flexible and can be adapted for use as an instructional and assessment tool across a broad range of English ability levels.