An investigation into the use of rubrics in efl speaking classrooms a case study at bau bang hight school

BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE
THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

HO VAN NGHIA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE
OF RUBRICS IN EFL SPEAKING CLASSROOMS:
A CASE STUDY AT BAU BANG HIGH SCHOOL

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

BINH DUONG PROVINCE, 2022


BINH DUONG PROVINCIAL PEOPLE’S COMMITTEE
THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

HO VAN NGHIA

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE
OF RUBRICS IN EFL SPEAKING CLASSROOMS:
A CASE STUDY AT BAU BANG HIGH SCHOOL

MAJOR: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
MAJOR CODE: 8 22 02 01

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

SUPERVISED BY
TRAN THANH DU, Ph.D.

BINH DUONG PROVINCE, 2022


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
To complete this thesis, I received substantial assistance and support from
my supervisors, faculty, colleagues, students, and family.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor,
Tran Thanh Du, Ph.D, for his tremendous knowledge, guidance, advice and
patience, which constantly inspired me throughout the research.
My special thanks for my lecturers at Thu Dau Mot University for their
endless enthusiasm and undeniable helpful lectures. I would be very grateful to the
staff of the Post-Graduate Department for their support during the time of studying.
Next, I would like to extend my special thanks to the participants (including
eighty eleventh graders at Bau Bang High School) for their willingness to be parts
of

the

study

and

provide

me

valuable

data

for

my

thesis.

In addition, I would like to thank all my lecturers who gave me insightful
knowledge, motivation and recommendations during my studies at Thu Dau Mot
University.
I would also like to express heartfelt thanks to my colleagues and friends
whose support and encouragement helped me accomplish this thesis.
Finally, I would like to embrace huge thanks to my family for their infinite love,
support and encouragement which motivated me to successfully carry out this
thesis.

i


STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that I myself write this thesis entitled “An
investigation into the use of rubrics in EFL speaking classrooms: A case
study at Bau Bang high school”. It is not a plagiarism or made by others.
Anything related to others’ works is written in quotation, the sources of
which are listed on the list of references.

Binh Duong, August 2022
Signature

Ho Van Nghia

ii


RETENTION OF USE
I hereby state that I, Ho Van Nghia, being a candidate for the degree of
Master of English Language accept the requirements of the University relating to
the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library. In this regard, I
agree that the original of my Master’s thesis deposited in the Library should be
accessible for purposes of study and research.

iii


TABLE OF CONTENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................... i
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ....................................................................... ii
RETENTION OF USE .......................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................ iv
LIST OF APPENDICES ..................................................................................... viii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................. viii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................ ix
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... x
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1
1.1. Background to the study.............................................................................. 1
1.2. Statement of the problem ............................................................................ 2
1.3. Aims of the study ........................................................................................ 3

1.4. Research questions ...................................................................................... 4
1.5. Scope of the study ....................................................................................... 4
1.6. Significance of the study ............................................................................. 4
1.7. Organization of the study ............................................................................ 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 6
2.1. Overview of speaking ................................................................................. 6
2.1.1. Definitions of speaking ........................................................................ 6
2.1.2. The importance of speaking ................................................................. 7
2.1.3. Characteristics of successful speaking ................................................. 7
2.1.4. Assessing speaking skills ..................................................................... 9
iv


2.2. Overview of rubrics................................................................................... 11
2.2.1. Definitions of rubrics ......................................................................... 11
2.2.2. Types of rubrics.................................................................................. 12
2.2.3. Features of rubrics: Validity and Reliability ...................................... 13
2.2.4. Advantages of rubrics ........................................................................ 14
2.2.5. Limitations of rubrics: ........................................................................ 17
2.2.6. Teaching speaking with rubrics ......................................................... 17
2.3. The roles of teachers and learners in speaking classes ............................. 23
2.4. Motivation in learning speaking ............................................................... 24
2.5. Previous studies ......................................................................................... 26
2.6. Conceptual framework .............................................................................. 29
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................... 31
3.1. Research setting ........................................................................................ 31
3.2. Research design ......................................................................................... 32
3.3. Sampling method ...................................................................................... 32
3.3.1. The researcher .................................................................................... 33
3.3.2. The teachers from English falcuty ..................................................... 33

3.3.3. The students ....................................................................................... 33
3.4. Research instruments ................................................................................ 34
3.4.1. Questionnaires .................................................................................... 34
3.4.2. English speaking tests ........................................................................ 35
3.4.3. Students’ interview............................................................................. 36
3.4.4. Teachers’ interview ............................................................................ 37
3.5. Data analysis ............................................................................................. 37

v


3.5.1. Mean ................................................................................................... 38
3.5.2. Standard deviation .............................................................................. 38
3.5.3. T-test .................................................................................................. 38
3.5.4. Percentage .......................................................................................... 38
3.6. Research procedure ................................................................................... 39
3.7. Reliability and validity .............................................................................. 39
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................... 41
4.1. Analysis of the speaking tests ................................................................... 41
4.2. Results from questionnaire ........................................................................ 43
4.3. Results from students’ interview ............................................................... 48
4.4. Results from teachers’ interview ............................................................... 50
4.5. Discussion ................................................................................................. 52
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ...... 57
5.1. Conclusions ............................................................................................... 57
5.2. Implications ............................................................................................... 59
5.3. Suggestions ............................................................................................... 60
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 63

vi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1 - PRE-TEST ................................................................................ 69
APPENDIX 2 - POST-TEST ............................................................................... 70
APPENDIX 3 - QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................... 71
APPENDIX 4 - INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS ........................ 74
APPENDIX 5 - INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS ....................... 75
APPENDIX 6 - A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN .................................................... 76
APPENDIX 7 - RUBRICS FOR PRE AND POST TESTS ................................ 80
APPENDIX 8 - RUBRICS FOR SPEAKING ASSIGNMENTS ........................ 83
APPENDIX 9 – POST TEST RESUTLS OF CONTROL CLASS .................... 85
APPENDIX 10 – POST TEST RESUTLS OF EXPERIMENTAL CLASS ....... 87
APPENDIX 11 - SPEAKING RUBRICS ............................................................ 89
APPENDIX 12 - BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF DIFFERENT TYPES
OF RUBRICS....................................................................................................... 93

vii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations
EFL
ESL
IELTS
SPSS
Std

Description
English as a Foreign Language
English as a Second Language
International English Language Testing System
Statistics Package for the Social Sciences
Standard

viii


LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. Students' oral evaluation criteria (Ur. 1996) ....................................... 10
Table 2.2. Speaking rubrics (OMalley and Pierce, 1990) .................................... 20
Table 4.1. Paired samples Test after the impact .................................................. 40
Table 4.2. The score criteria of the questionnaire result ...................................... 44
Table 4.3. Descriptive statistics of Bau Bang high school students’ attitude
toward the use of rubrics ...................................................................................... 44
Table 4.4. Students’ evaluation of their achievement of speaking skills ............. 46
Table 4.5. Students’ evaluation of their achievement on their other English skills
.............................................................................................................................. 47
Table 4.6. Students’ self-evaluation on their unexpected development in learning
.............................................................................................................................. 47

ix


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.8. Conceptual framework ...................................................................... 30
Figure 4.1. A comparison of mean scores on the pre-test and the post-test ........ 41

Figure 4.2. The mean score of Bau Bang high school students’ feelings about
rubrics ................................................................................................................... 45

x


ABSTRACT
“An investigation into the use of rubrics in EFL speaking classrooms: A case
study at Bau Bang high school” is an experimental study on the eleventh grade
students of Bau Bang high school in the academic year 2021-2022.
The primary objectives of the research are to determine (1) whether rubrics
can improve the speaking skill of the students in teaching speaking for Bau Bang
high school students in the academic year 2021-2022; and (2) what the attitude of
students towards rubrics is.
The research method was experimental. The subject of the research is the
students of two eleventh grades. Each of them consists of 40 students. 11A4 is as
an experimental class taught with rubrics and 11A1 is as a control class taught with
a modeling technique. The data were in the form of quantitative data and they were
taken from a test. They are the scores of students’ speaking test after having nine
times treatment for each class.
Based on the result of data analysis, the research findings are: (1) Rubrics can
improve students’ speaking performance; and (2) Students have a positive outlook
and highly appreciate being shared rubrics before doing the speaking. Based on
these research findings, it can be concluded that using rubrics is an effective
technique to improve the speaking skill of the Bau Bang high school students.
Keywords: Speaking skills, rubrics, motivation, assessment

xi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The current chapter presents the introduction, which introduces the
background to the study, the statement of the problem, the research questions, aims
and objectives of the study, the significance of the study, the scope of the study,
and the organization of the thesis.
1.1. Background to the study
For centuries, English has served as an international language. Several
researchers, including Dewi (2015), Mukminin, Ali, and Ashari (2015), and
Jackson & Stockwell (1996), acknowledge that English is used in a variety of fields
worldwide by people of various cultures, nationalities, and social traditions.
Because of the widespread and global use of English, it has created doors and
broadened horizons for career opportunities; thus, learning language has become
a universal trend.
English proficiency is obviously crucial for everybody who wishes to further
their education both in the country and abroad, or to obtain a good position in a
multinational corporation. A world of opportunities is available to people who are
competent in speaking English; however, speaking English clearly enough to
understand during communication between speakers and foreigners is all English
learners strive for, but find it difficult to achieve due to their own problems.
To students, the most significant aspect of learning a foreign language is the
ability to communicate in that language. In the market economy in Vietnam,
communication between employees and foreign investors has become more and
more necessary. Kayi (2006) states that speaking skills are so beneficial for
students to flourish their strength to communicate precisely and proficiently.
In reality, there are four basic English skills: Reading, Writing, Listening and
Speaking; and Speaking is deservedly paid attention because of its effectiveness
in communicating with people who speak the same language. Goh (2007) claims
that the ability to communicate is one of the important skills that learners must
achieve. Thus, strengthen speaking skills is necessary because it is an effective tool

1


that learners can interact with other people. Speaking ability is heavily emphasized
in all school education systems in Vietnam, from elementary school to university.
1.2. Statement of the problem
In the current social trend, English is considered a popular language and one
of the main subjects in school; both public and private school systems provide
English classes for students, and language centers have been springing up in many
cities in Vietnam, especially in big cities. Honestly, teaching and learning English
are necessary for the Vietnamese educational system. English, especially the
speaking skill, requires students to practice more and more because it can help
them in any field of their lives and work. After being a teacher for ten years, the
researcher has found that learners cannot access speaking effectively. They tend to
ignore the speaking skill and do not make progress in this skill for a number of
specific reasons, such as a lack of visual teaching aids, a lack of parental attention,
and a lack of practice time. These are obstacles that cause the score of speaking
skill to tend to be slow, or sometimes this part is left empty because they do not
know how to speak and use their own vocabulary to produce complete sentences.
As a result, the goal of the test cannot be met.
Speaking is the best way to fall in line with the world. However, it is a
complicated process that involves a number of cognitive and metacognitive
activities such as brainstorming, planning, outlining, organizing, drafting, and
revising. Learning to speak is difficult, especially for those speaking a second or a
foreign language in academic contexts, since they do not know how to express
their ideas effectively. As effective speaking is considered a problem for EFL
learners, a need is felt to find some ways of teaching that can help learners improve
their speaking performance. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to
investigate the effectiveness of using rubrics on EFL learners’ speaking
improvement.

As an English teacher, the researcher has been aware of these difficulties.
Therefore, he tries to apply some techniques to help students overcome the
problems they encounter when deploying ideas in their speaking. Quinlan (2012,
2


p. 2) states that human beings, whether they do it consciously or unconsciously,
“create rubrics - guidelines for decisions for evaluation and assessment - in their
minds every day.” The rubrics that people create in their minds help them make
decisions based on their knowledge and current objectives. The researcher uses
rubrics with clear academic league tables along with a list of specific requirements
in the speaking to achieve that score and thinks that he can help students identify
goals and requirements. Rubrics also help them select the right ideas that are
reasonable for expressing their thoughts and feelings in speaking. More
importantly, they know how to organize ideas logically. As a result, students have
more passion for learning how to speak English more confidently in
communicative activities and examinations.
In the educational environment, rubrics often play an integral role as a
powerful, objective, and valuable assessment tool; also because of their usefulness
for formative (for learning) and summative (for learning) assessment purposes.
Rubrics’ central objective is to support students in the learning process, which is
possible by constructing students’ activities and helping them clearly understand
their own learning process and progress. Rubrics are indicators of the attainment
of learning targets; therefore, they are essential for the alignment of learning
outcomes and assessment. This promted the writer to conduct the study to find out
the effectiveness of rubrics and the attitude of the students toward rubrics in
learning speaking skills, which is titled “An investigation into the use of rubrics in
EFL speaking classrooms: A case study at Bau Bang High School.”
1.3. Aims of the study
The research seeks beneficial ways to enhance the speaking efficiency of

students at Bau Bang High School. To accomplish this aim, the researcher
attempts:
(i) To check if using rubrics can help improve students’ speaking skills in
EFL speaking classrooms.
(ii) To investigate students’ attitudes toward the use of rubrics in speaking
classrooms.
3


1.4. Research questions
The researcher carried out this study with the asked issue that whether using
rubrics in EFL speaking classroom can develop high school students’ speaking
performances in Bau Bang high school or not. He makes an attempt to deal with
the two following research questions:
Question 1: How does using rubrics help improve students’ speaking
performance?
Question 2: What are students’ attitudes towards the use of rubrics in
speaking classes?
1.5. Scope of the study
This study was conducted with two eleventh-grade classes randomly selected
at Bau Bang High School. One class is the experimental class that uses rubrics
during speaking periods. The other is the control class taught by conventional
methods. The students in the experimental classes are the subjects of research to
find out the problems that students and English teachers must face in speaking
class, and then the teacher uses rubrics to determine whether rubrics can improve
the students’ speaking performance or not, as well as assess the students’ attitudes
towards rubrics.
1.6. Significance of the study
Evaluating student speaking can be difficult, and ensuring consistent grading
from one assignment to the next and among different graders can be especially

difficult. Many factors contribute to the difficulties that teachers face when
assessing student speaking. Because each teacher listens to students’ work
differently, they each have different expectations of what a good speaking
performance looks like, they frequently have other listeners (e.g., co-assigned
faculty grading assignments), and they also have limited time to listen and provide
feedback.
The study theoretically helps verify the significance of using rubric theories
when they are used to improve English capability, particularly speaking skills.

4


Practically, to improve teaching and learning practices, it is essential to
discover what is truly occurring in the classrooms. Fully understanding what is
occurring in classes can help teachers concentrate on aspects of teaching English
speaking skills and further offered greater chances for their students to improve
their English speaking skills. Meanwhile, it also benefits not only teachers and
students, but also school administrators in any school in Vietnam.
1.7. Organization of the study
The study consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction, provides a preliminary review of the information
related to the topic. Besides, the purpose, research questions, significance, scope
and outline of the study have been stated.
Chapter 2, Literature review, provides the definition of the key terms in this
study. This chapter also reviews some previous studies to discover theoretical
foundation involving rubrics, speaking rubrics, teaching and learning with rubrics,
and assessing speaking using rubrics.
Chapter 3, Research methodology, explains the methodology employed in
the research. This chapter clarifies the research participants, subjects, instruments,
and describes how data are collected and analyzed.

Chapter 4, Findings and discussion, present the description and
interpretation of the collected data in light of research questions.
Chapter 5, Conclusions present the summary of results and then offers some
suggestions and implications.

5


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses the appropriate research literature, including an
overview of speaking, rubrics, and the uses of rubrics in teaching and assessing
students' learning. The researcher also notes the literature gap and demonstrates
why the current research should be conducted to bridge the gap.
2.1. Overview of speaking
2.1.1. Definitions of speaking
Speaking is a process of interaction between two or more people that results
in good mutual understanding. According to Byrne (1986), oral communication
necessitates efficient speech and receptive understanding skills between speakers
and listeners. Both the speakers and the listeners serve a useful purpose. The
speakers have encoded the message to be conveyed and the appropriate language,
while the listeners (who are equally active in decoding or interpreting) must decode
the message.
There are certain definitions given by linguists regarding the concept of oral
skills, which are reviewed in this section as follows:
Rahman (2007) stated that speaking is a form of oral communication that
involves two parties: the speaker, who conveys the message, and the listener, who
hears it. Accordingly, oral communication requires both productive and receptive
speaking abilities.
Burns (2006) highlighted that speaking is a way to convey ideas, information,
and emotions to other people orally. The ability to communicate oneself through a

language is crucial for the speaker.
Learning to talk necessitates mastering a variety of sophisticated skills as
well as understanding various communication contexts. In other words, speaking
is how one interacts with others. From the preceding idea, the researcher may
conclude that speech is the sound and symbol created by the speaker in order to
interact with the listener and convey meaning.

6


2.1.2. The importance of speaking
Speaking is one of four English skills (speaking, listening, writing, and
reading) that play an important role in helping learners learn a language
effectively. According to Patton (2012), when people believe they know or are
learning a language, they mean they can speak the language. Likewise, Flohr and
Paesler (2010, p. 10) agreed that “speaking is the most important skill to master
when learning a foreign language”. “The goal of learning a foreign language is to
become a fluent speaker by focusing on communication activities and expressive
abilities.” “It is questioned whether teaching and learning speaking skills merit as
much or more attention than the others.”
2.1.3. Characteristics of successful speaking
To facilitate the teaching and learning process of speaking skills, teachers
must be aware of the characteristics of students as well as the characteristics of
successful speaking activity. If the teacher is aware of the characteristics of each
student, he or she can easily provide learning material to the students.
Underhill (1987, p. 120) defines successful speaking activity as having the
following characteristics:
(1) Students talk a lot: Allocate as much time as possible to the studentoccupied talking activity. This is obvious, but most of the time the teacher speaks
or pauses, it is taken up. This means that students must engage in as much
conversation with their peers as possible. The students are obviously busy, but they

rarely spend time talking to their teacher.
(2) Participation is equitable: Class discussions are not dominated by
talkative students; everyone has an equal opportunity to speak and contribute their
ideas. It means that the classroom discussion is not dominated by a single speaker,
but that all participants have an equal opportunity to participate.
(3) Motivation is high: Students are excited to speak because they are
interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they
want to contribute to an objective task being achieved. It means students are highly
motivated to speak English. Being highly motivated, students are especially
7


interested in learning English. They often strive to be confident in delivering their
own ideas.
(4) Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in easily
understandable and relevant utterances, and their language accuracy is of an
acceptable level.
Meanwhile, according to Brown (2004, p.141-142), one can be considered to
have speaking competence if he or she can:
(1) Imitate a word, phrase, or even a sentence (imitative)
(2) Produce short stretches of oral language designed to demonstrate
competence in a specific grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological
relationship, such as prosodic elements-intonation, stress, rhythm, juncture,
intensive ability (intensive).
(3) Respond to a brief conversation, standard greetings and small talk, simple
requests and comments, and similar situations (responsive).
(4) Consider the two types of language: transactional language, which is used
to exchange specific information, and interpersonal exchanges, which are used to
maintain social relationships (interactive).
(5) Maintain social relationships by communicating facts and information

(interpersonal).
(6) Develop (monologue) oral productions, such as speeches, oral
presentations, and storytelling, in which the opportunity for oral interaction from
the listener is either severely limited or completely eliminated (extensive).
From the above-description, it can be inferred that successful speaking
basically depends on students’ ability. It means that students must be positive and
confident in communicative activities. Beside having knowledge of language
structures, they must regularly communicate in English, usually sharing ideas,
thoughts, and opinions in different contexts. The definition of Brown (2004) is
considered to be more suitable for the study. It clearly identifies elements of
successful speaking that are taught in high schools. Therefore, it is more
convenient to use this definition in this study.
8


2.1.4. Assessing speaking skills
2.1.4.1. Oral test
The teacher is concerned about how to assess students' speaking ability in a
foreign language. In some ways, testing speaking is more difficult than testing
vocabulary or grammar. According to Sárosdy (2006, p. 146), “testing speaking
ability is an important aspect of language testing, but it is very difficult to test
because it is a complex skill, and speaking skills cannot be separated from listening
skills in many oral production tests”. “Because speaking and listening skills are
interdependent, it is difficult to analyze precisely and reliably what is tested at any
given time.”
According to Nakamura (2001), there are three types of oral tests: monologue
speaking, dialog speaking, and multilogue speaking.
A monolog (monolog) is performed when the speaker expresses his or her
thoughts aloud, either directly to another person or to the audience, particularly the
former.

The author also mentions that dialog speaking is the most common type of
oral test used to assess students' ability to produce dialog material. In this type of
speaking, hearing the recitation of memorized dialogs was most commonly used.
The final type of oral test is multilogue speaking. Any topic in this category should
have a visual description or discussion.
2.1.4.2. Speaking proficiency testing criteria
The criteria for the students' level of performance could be considered in
order to test their oral proficiency. The researcher would mention the scale of the
oral test criteria written by some other researchers in this study. According to Ur
(1996), students’ oral speaking abilities should be evaluated using two criteria:
fluency and accuracy.

9


Table 2.1. Students' oral evaluation criteria (Ur, 1996)
Accuracy
Little or no language produced

Level

Fluency

Level

1

Little or no communication

1

Poor vocabulary, mistakes in
basic grammar, may have very

Very hesitant and brief
2

strong foreign accent

obvious

grammar

3

mistakes, slight foreign accent
Good

range

of

vocabulary,

occasional grammar slips, slight

4

foreign accent
Wide vocabulary appropriately

used,

virtually

no

sometimes

2

difficult to understand

Adequate but not rich vocabulary,
mistaking

utterances,

grammar

mistakes, native-like or slight

Gets

ideas

but

hesitantly and briefly

Effective communication in

short turns

Easy
5

across,

and

3

4

effective

communication, using long

5

turns

foreign accent

Kent (2001) also emphasized the importance of oral evaluation criteria such
as fluency of speech, grammar use, listening comprehension, pronunciation, and
vocabulary appropriateness and complexity. He also stated that students are graded
on a Likert scale for each assessment level (1: being poor, 2: below average, 3:
average, 4: above average, and 5: excellent). Students’ English speaking
proficiency should be assessed using four criteria in the IELTS speaking band
descriptors (published version): fluency and coherence, lexical resource,

grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.
In short, there are many criteria to evaluate students’ speaking proficiency.
Nonetheless, one of the issues is the selection of an effective technique for
assessing speaking proficiency. Students are evaluated using IELTS speaking
band descriptors (public versions), but they have been modified to be suitable for
teaching and learning English speaking. It has four criteria in particular: fluency
10


and coherence, vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Each criterion is worth
2.5 points. In accordance with the school’s marking scale, the maximum score for
the test is thus 10.0 points.
2. 2. Overview of rubrics
2.2.1. Definition of rubrics
The term “rubric” is derived from the Latin word for red. According to the
online Merriam-Webster dictionary, the first definition of “rubric” is “an
authoritative rule,” and the fourth definition is “a guide listing specific criteria for
grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or tests.” How did a color's name
come to mean a rule or guideline? The rules for the conduct of liturgical services,
as opposed to the actual spoken words of the liturgy, were often printed in red in
the Middle Ages, so the rules were “the red things” on the page.
Rubrics are brilliant because they are descriptive rather than evaluative.
Rubrics can, of course, be used to evaluate, but the operating principle is to match
the performance to the description rather than “judge” it. As a result, rubrics are
only as good as the criteria chosen and the descriptions of the levels of performance
under each. Effective rubrics include appropriate criteria and well-written
performance descriptions.
A rubric can be used to evaluate student products and performance in a
variety of ways. The term on the other hand, is used in a variety of contexts:
perhaps no term is more ambiguous than “rubric.” The term “rubric” is generally

understood in the educational literature and among teaching and learning
practitioners to mean a simple assessment tool that defines levels of performance
on a specific task and is used to assess outcomes in a variety of performance-based
contexts (Hafner & Hafner, 2003). Many experts believe that rubrics improve
students’ final products and, as a result, their learning. Rubrics will provide the
framework needed to develop the quality of their work and expand their
knowledge.
There are two kinds of rubrics: Analytic and holistic rubrics and general and
task-specific rubrics.
11


2.2.2. Types of rubrics
2.2.1.1. Analytic and holistic rubrics
Analytic rubrics separate work on each criterion. Holistic rubrics describe the
work by applying all of the criteria at the same time, allowing for an overall
assessment of the work's quality. Appendix 12 defines analytic and holistic rubrics
and lists their benefits and drawbacks.
Analytic rubrics are the best for most classroom purposes. Concentrating on
the criteria one at a time is better for instruction and formative assessment because
students can see which aspects of their work require what kind of attention.
Focusing on the criteria one at a time is beneficial for any summative assessment
(grading) that will also be used to make future decisions, such as how to follow up
on a unit or how to teach something next year.
One situation in which holistic rubrics outperform analytic rubrics in the
classroom is when students will not see the results of a final summative assessment
and you will not use the information for anything other than a grade. This category
includes some high school final exams. Grading with rubrics is more efficient
when there is only one decision to make rather than one for each criterion.
2.2.1.2. General and task-specific rubrics

General rubrics employ performance criteria and descriptions that generalize
across (hence the name “general rubrics”) or can be applied to a variety of tasks.
The tasks must all be instances of the same learning outcome, such as writing or
solving math problem. The criteria refer to aspects of the learning outcome rather
than specific tasks (for example, the criteria list characteristics of good problem
solving and not features of the solution to a specific problem). Because the
performance descriptions are general, students learn general qualities rather than
isolated, task-specific features (for example, the description might say all relevant
information was used to handle the problem, not that the numbers of knives, forks,
spoons, and guests were used to solve the problem). Task-specific rubrics are
exactly what their name implies: they are rubrics that are tailored to the
performance task for which they are used. Task-specific rubrics contain the
12