To What Extent Do Non-teacher Raters Differ from Teacher Raters on Assessing Story-retelling

The present study aims to explore to what extent non-teacher raters differ from teachers’ raters on assessing story-retelling in China’s National Matriculation English Test, Guangdong version. Facets analysis suggests that the two rater groups are comparable in terms of internal consistency and severity. Results from raters’ written comments show that both rater groups followed a similar pattern in focusing on different criteria categories when making assessments. Difference occurs only in how they commented: teacher raters’ comments tended to be more specific while non-teacher raters’ comments were more general. Based on the findings, we conclude that in rating high stakes tests like Story-retelling in NMET GD, non-teachers (college/graduate students) are qualified to be raters.