State Writing Assessment: Inclusion of Motivational Factors in Writing Tasks

This study evaluated large-scale state writing assessments for the inclusion of motivational characteristics in the writing task and written prompt. We identified 6 motivational variables from the authentic activity literature: time allocation, audience specification, audience intimacy, definition of task, allowance for multiple perspectives, and real-world relevance and purpose. We analyzed 222 prompts from 44 states. We present descriptive results for each variable. Chi-square analyses indicated whether there were education-level (e.g., elementary school, middle school, high school) differences for inclusion of each motivational variable with writing tasks and prompts. We discuss suggestions for future research.