Appendices
Appendix A: Idea Generation Process
What thought processes did you engage in while forming/generating ideas for this essay? / Not at all (1) / Very Little (2) / Somewhat(3) / To a great extent (4)1. I generated ideas based on my goal.
2. I recalled my prior knowledge regarding the structure of essays that are similar to this essay that I just wrote.
3. I recalled what I have read about the topic in order to generate ideas.
4. I recalled the news and conversations I had heard about the topic.
5. I stopped to read the previous sentences I had written.
6. I recalled what I had experienced about the topic.
7. I created a mental picture of the ideas I wanted to write.
8. My ideas seem to unfold as I tried to get the whole organization of my essay.
9. I visualized the reaction of my audience to my paper.
10 I kept in mind the topic of my essay when retrieving ideas.
11 I got more ideas when I generated ideas using my First language (Bisaya, Ilonggo, Tagalog, etc).
12. I got more ideas when I generated ideas in English.
Appendix B: Writing Background
Instructions: This part of the survey will ask about your background in writing prior to your college education. Please give an honest and careful answer that describes who you really are and not ideally you should be. Encircle the number representing your answer.
How likely or true are the following statements regarding writing situations that you do in school? / Not at all (1) / Very Little (2) / Somewhat (3) / To a great extent (4)1 / I outline before I write my essays. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
2 / I develop thesis statements in my essays. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
3 / I develop topic sentences in each paragraph. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
4 / I develop my paragraph around a main idea. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
5 / I organize a paragraph that is easily understood with enough supporting details. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
6 / I write different types of essays such as persuasive, narrative, etc. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
How familiar and trained were you for extra-curricular activities? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
7 / I write journalistic articles such as news, editorial, feature articles, etc. because of my involvement in our school paper. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
8 / I am trained to compete in writing competitions. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
How likely or true are the following statements regarding writing situations that you do on your own? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
9 / I write regularly using online forum such as blog or online journal. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
10 / I write a lot in my diary. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
11 / I write emails and letters in English regularly. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
12 / Writing English literary works such as poems, short stories, or novel is one my hobbies. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
How do you assess your ability and confidence in writing school-related writing tasks?
13 / I believe that I am equipped to handle college writing because of my training in high school. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
14 / I was a good writer when I was in high school. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
15 / I am confident in writing academic essays. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Appendix C: Sample Grammar Test
- Verb forms: Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in parentheses. Add the necessary helping verbs.
- Some of the students (speak, never)______English before they came here in the Philippines.
- I wish I (come, not) ______here last year.
- It is essential that you (be) ______here tomorrow.
- Had I known Dan wouldn’t be here, I (come , not)______.
- My passport (stamp)______at the airport when I arrived.
Appendix D. Sample Vocabulary Test
1. cultured (adj)
a. well educated
b. cumbersome
c. well understood
2 recklessness (n)
a. fearlessness
b. carelessness
c. bravery
3. remorse (n)
a. thankfulness
b. repentance
c. holiness
4. replicate (v)
a. gratify
b. repent
c. duplicate
5. repressed (adj)
a. expressed
b. suppressed
c. depressed
Appendix E. Sample Spelling Test
Encircle the word that has a correct spelling.
1 / absence / absince / absens2 / abundans / abundanse / abundance
3 / acessible / accessible / acesible
4 / accidentally / acidentally / accidentaly
5 / acclaim / aclaim / acclame
Appendix F: Holistic Scoring Guide (Modified from Gustilo, 2011)
SCORE OF 6: A writer in this level shows highly-advanced proficiency, producing excellent quality in both content, organization, and surface-level items. The essay- addresses the prompt specifically and effectively, resulting in an outstandingly well-argued/elaborated message content
- provides appropriate and sufficient details to support a thesis or illustrate points in all parts of the task (shows a great deal of prior knowledge about the topic)
- displays consistently efficient use of language—using effective and varied syntactic structures (e.g. subordination and coordination; simple and complex sentences; etc) and appropriate word choice/word form (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs are appropriately used).
- exhibits clear organization and skilfully arranged ideas--(intro, body, and conclusion are effectively developed; no irrelevant ideas/deviations from the topic, use of transitions)
- contains no errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and mechanics.
SCORE OF 5: A writer in this level shows reasonably advanced proficiency, producing an output with good message content and organization but may contain minor lapses in surface-level items. The essay
- addresses the prompt specifically, resulting in a reasonably argued/elaborated message content.
- provides appropriate and sufficient details to support a thesis or illustrate points in all parts of the task (shows a great deal of knowledge about the topic).
- displays facility in the use of language: using varied syntactic structures and appropriate word choice/word form
- exhibits clear organization and smooth flow of ideas--( fully developed paragraphs, no irrelevant ideas/deviations from the topic)
- contains very minimal lapses in grammar, punctuation, spelling and mechanics.
SCORE OF 4: A writer in this level shows adequate proficiency in spite of minor lapses in organization and surface-level items; some points of the message may appear weak and unconvincing. The essay
- addresses the prompt adequately but fails to fully develop some parts of the prompt (some points are not fully explained or elaborated).
- provides adequate details to support or illustrate its claims (shows considerable amount of prior knowledge about the topic)
- shows inconsistent skill in the use of language in sentence structure and word choice.
- exhibits adequate organization and some degree of coherence.
- contains some grammar, punctuation, spelling and mechanics errors.
SCORE OF 3: A writer in this level shows a developing proficiency and produces an output with problems in content, organization, and surface-level items. The output has one or more of the following problematic items:
- inadequate details (due to little prior knowledge about the topic)
- obviously weak vocabulary or inappropriate word choice/word form
- monotonous or problematic sentence structures
- limited organization and development of ideas (paragraphs are not fully developed)
- contains quite a number of grammar, punctuation, spelling and mechanics errors ; but the message/content is still comprehensible
Score of 2: A writer in this level shows little proficiency and produces an output with one or more of the following serious problems:
- inappropriate or insufficient details; shows very little topic familiarity (the essay is very short).
- limited vocabulary or inaccurate word forms
- ineffective sentence structures
- poor organization and serious problems in the development of ideas
- somewhat unclear message due to serious problems in grammar, punctuation, spelling and mechanics
Score of 1: A writer in this level shows very little proficiency and produces an output with one of more of the following severe problems:
- little or no point of view on the task
- grave errors in vocabulary/word usage
- persistent errors in sentence structures
- incomprehensible due to persistent errors in grammar, punctuations, or mechanics
- highly disorganized and incoherent