Grade 7

Argumentative

Writing Extended Response

Compose Full Texts

Second Language Learning

Conventions

Evidence/Elaboration

Organization/Purpose

Although there are several awkward sentences (e.g., the first and last sentences of the letter), arguably the only sentence formation error per se comes in the second paragraph, which is one long, run-on sentence (despite the random period between “kid” and “because”).

There are many punctuation errors with commas including unnecessary commas (“&#8230;language learning, is that&#8230;&#8221;; &#8220;&#8230;person who knows multiple languages, and when they start&#8230;”), missing commas after introductory elements (“&#8230;when you start growing up you will start&#8230;.&#8221;; &#8220;if you know that language you can be talking&#8230;.&#8221;; &#8220;&#8230;when they start going to school they would know&#8230;”); and a missing comma between compound clauses (“&#8230;they would know more languages then [sic] their friends and they can be&#8230;”).

There are several grammar usage errors including with frequently confused words (&#8220;your&#8221; instead of &#8220;you’re&#8221;; &#8220;its&#8221; instead of &#8220;it’s&#8221;; &#8220;then&#8221; instead of &#8220;than&#8221;; &#8220;Bored&#8221; instead of &#8220;Board&#8221;).
Note regarding pronoun/antecedent agreement: The use of &#8220;they&#8221; and &#8220;their&#8221; to refer to &#8220;person&#8221; is not an error as there is no clear gender identification and the use of the plural pronoun is consistent.

There are spelling errors including &#8220;diffirent,&#8221; &#8220;languge,&#8221; and &#8220;smater.&#8221;

There are below-grade level errors with capital letters (“i” and “H” and “S” in “High School”).

The response provides minimal evidence from the source material that is vague (“you will start learning more languages than other kids, if you have a friend&#8230;you can be talking to him, Source 1&#8243;).

Use of elaborative techniques is minimal: a single reason is presented with one statement of causal elaboration (“when or if you have a friend&#8230;you can be talking to him”).

There is some attribution to source material (“I would have to agree with the author E.B. Perkins”).

Vocabulary is limited (“I think it, I would have, I hope”) for audience and purpose. Vague language (e.g., “okay to learn”) is used repetitively. There is little evidence of appropriate style.

The first sentence introduces a weak claim (&#8220;I think it is okay to&#8230;&#8221;). The “first reason” (e.g., &#8220;One reason&#8230;&#8221;) is also awkwardly incorporated into the introduction.  The conclusion is off task (&#8220;allow kids to learn multiple languages in high school&#8221;), or at least it does not follow from the rest of the letter, which minimally lobbies for teaching foreign languages at a young age, not high school.

Other than mechanical phrases (&#8220;One reason,&#8221; &#8220;Another reason,&#8221; &#8220;I hope these paragraphs will…&#8221;) there are few transitions.

Perhaps because the claim is weak, the progression of ideas is weak, failing to advance an argument. For example, the 3rd paragraph mostly repeats the second sentence (&#8220;want kids to know more language when they grow up&#8221; = &#8220;when you start growing you will learn more languages than other kids&#8221;) rather than developing support. The letter makes no reference to the opposing point of view (a new-to-grade CCSS requirement).

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An annotation is the educator’s explanation of how a portion of the student’s response relates to the rubric and contributes to that trait’s score. For example, the educator might explain how the response meets the expectations of a specific score point. An annotation can also describe aspects of a student response that relate to multiple score points on the rubric to demonstrate nuance when determining a score.

Annotation

One of three traits scored for the ELA performance task full write, this trait measures a student’s ability to demonstrate command of grade-level conventions of standard English: grammar usage (including sentence formation), capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

This trait measures students’ ability to select and integrate details that support, explain, illustrate, or develop ideas. Students should elaborate these details—that is, explain and connect them, guided by the writing purpose and audience needs.
For informative/explanatory and opinion/argumentative writing purposes, these details come from source materials.
For narrative writing, this trait is called Development/Elaboration, and students are expected to integrate and develop grade-appropriate story elements such as descriptive details and dialogue. For these tasks, events and experiences are inspired by source materials.

This trait measures students’ ability to establish and sustain a focus for the writing. This focus should be consistent with the task’s designated purpose and the intended audience. Strong introductions and conclusions (or, for narrative writing, beginnings and endings) and transitions help to create coherence.

Performance tasks measure a student’s ability to demonstrate critical-thinking and problem-solving skills by challenging students to apply their knowledge and skills to complex, real-world problems. In the performance task, students are presented with a collection of questions and activities connected to a single theme or scenario. These activities ask students to demonstrate capacities such as depth of understanding, writing and research skills, and complex analysis, which cannot be adequately assessed with traditional assessment questions. Performance tasks are taken on a computer (but are not computer adaptive) and take students one to two class periods to complete.

Performance Task

The prompt is the text provided to the student that requests their response. It includes some contextual information, but also includes a specific task that students complete in their writing response.

Prompt

For a deeper dive into the content behind this student response, navigate to the Sample Items Website to access the writing prompt or visit the Content Explorer to learn more about this content area.

Prompt & Target

“Purpose” is the context for a piece of writing, or what the writer intends to accomplish. Students write texts with the following purposes:
<ul>
<li>Narrative (grades 3–8): tell a story</li>
<li>Informational (grades 3–5): present facts or data using source material</li>
<li>Explanatory (grades 6–11): explain a topic or concept by analyzing source materials</li>
<li>Opinion (grades 3–5): present and defend a position</li>
<li>Argumentative (grades 6–11): present an argument using research to form and support claims</li>
</ul>
Purposes have subtle differences depending on grade, and each writing purpose has its own scoring rubric.

Purpose

This text was written by a student in response to a Performance Task writing prompt.

Response

A rubric is a set framework for scorers to reference when determining the quality of student writing. Each trait has its own rubric, and every point value is defined in detail with examples of what to expect from student writing at each level.

Rubric

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Sample Term One

Sample Term Two

Traits are different dimensions of a student response that educators evaluate when scoring. For example, an educator will assess grammar and spelling as part of the Conventions trait (maximum of two score points) but not take grammar or spelling into account when assessing the other traits. This approach ensures that scorers evaluate student writing from multiple angles.

Example for Grade 7: Argumentative – Second Language Learning - ID: 999

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