Rubrics: The Answer, My Friend, Is Middle of the Road

The rubrics is a grading tool made up of “criteria” for evaluation, “levels” as values scales to rate the criteria, and “descriptors” that define the performance for the levels. When asked if teachers should use rubrics, most of us agree that we should. We may even have an illusion that every teacher uses them. But it is not so; the use of rubrics actually started fairly recently, and many teachers are intimidated by the insecurity of not knowing which rubrics would be right for their classes. This paper makes an overview of the different types of rubrics, from narrow (“analytic” and “task-specific”) to broad (“holistic” and “general”). It is my hands-on experiences that rubrics would best function if they did not lean either too narrow or too broad. When they are not too broad, they not only help the teachers in grading but also assist students to learn the points that they should pay attention to in performing the tasks. This paper also explains the construction of my rubrics, presents actual examples both for speaking and writing activities, and shows how they can be recycled from one task to another, due to their being not too narrow.