Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

This exploratory study made use of quantitative and qualitative analyses to investigate university instructors{u2019} perceptions and scoring behavior of Reading-Based-Writing-Tasks (RBWTs) in Egypt. To that end, 105 university instructors in Egypt were requested to fill out a questionnaire, while four instructor raters were requested to score 15 RBWTs using an analytic rubric following the Think Aloud Protocol (TAP). After scoring, the four raters filled out the questionnaire and were interviewed. Results showed that there was major confusion as to what RBWTs measured and what role the source played, especially on the levels of content and vocabulary. Results also suggested that instructors had common trust in RBWTs as a measure of writing ability with strong conviction that advanced reading skills and high language proficiency were assets. When scoring, instructors paid much attention to judgment strategies, and most specifically to rhetorical/ ideational aspects with much attention placed on 2source use3 and little attention on 2language focus3.The central tendency in scoring was mostly observed throughout. Raters also had an image representation of scores once they started scoring, which was either confirmed or changed when the reading was completed. Instructors did not follow the order of the analytic rubric used and instead assigned scores to the features that stood out the most while following a 2Reflective-Evaluative-Interactive3 technique. A compensatory strategy was also observed when assigning scores to content and integration. No clear pattern of severity or leniency was observed due to the limited number of participants although the raters{u2019} positive or negative comments on the papers were mostly reflected in the scores assigned

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