Scaffolding Students’ Writing Processes Through Dialogic Assessment

With dialogic writing assessment, teachers can scaffold students’ writing processes in ways that are flexible and responsive to students’ individual needs. Examples of teachers using this conference-based method of classroom writing assessment illustrate how to practice assessment that is dynamic and relational rather than static and standardized, by allowing teachers to vary their support for student writers based on students’ unique needs. These examples also suggest that teachers’ epistemologies for writing instruction can influence how they practice dialogic writing assessment. The authors conclude with a discussion of how dynamic and responsive scaffolding can support an equity-focused model for teaching academic writing and how teachers’ expertise may be a factor in how they apply dialogic writing assessment.