Writing-to-Learn : Designing a Grading Rubric for Writing Assessments for 5th Grade Students in Qatar

Over the course of many years, it has been proven that enhancing students’ writing skills has been greatly linked to enhancing the students learning process. Writing-to-learn is considered one of the most crucial strategies that enhances students’ science literacy. This strategy has been applied within one of the primary public schools for girls here in Qatar, specifically with students of the 5th grade. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of writing-to-learn strategies on grade five student’s science literacy. In order to achieve this aim, a qualitative data collection procedure was utilized. More specifically, a science teacher observed fifty-six students’ responses to the writing assessment given to the students after explaining the lesson based on a specific set of learning objectives. The strategy was implemented inside the classroom in accordance with the curriculum standards defined by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, where the students were asked to answer questions of varying depths of knowledge. Students were assessed based on a rubric designed by the teacher, in order to evaluate the students’ levels of understanding, and rounds of feedback were offered to the students in order to aid in enhancing their responses, which in return would enhance the students’ writing skills, and scientific literacy. The result suggests that students have developed their scientific writing strategies, thus, enhancing their science literacy. This was also achieved by the constant feedback provided by teachers after observing students’ writings. According to the answers noticed by the teacher and scores given based on that, the students understanding level was divided into above-average, average and below average students. Furthermore, the results revealed that students faced some writing challenges as it was their first attempt to answering a writing question without the aid of the teacher or the textbook.

Over the course of the study, the students benefiting most were the above average and average students as their science literacy was improving. But below average students benefited least due to their less well-developed reading and writing levels. The principal conclusion of this study is that the best way to deal with the challenge of developing the writing skill for primary school students is by applying more of the writing-to-learn strategy, a strategy that involves scheduling a variety of in class writing assignments. Science teachers should be advocating for this type of strategy and focusing on the advantages of providing regular feedback to students on their writing in the schools. The tools and methods researched and discussed throughout this paper will be put to good use and will be tested and implemented in the near future. It was not conducted due to COVID-19 restrictions during the past two years.