Graduation Semester and Year

2009

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Kevin J Porter

Abstract

A State-mandated assessment of high school English composition skills can be a trying experience for sophomore basic writers. Because students must construct a text-supported argument around the State's choice of theme, it is of the utmost importance that the assessors present for thematic considerations a properly identified subject that is universally accessible to all sophomores. Through the analysis of an essay prompt used in a benchmark exam from the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills--a sentence in which I discern both ambiguity and inaccessibility--this thesis hopefully sheds light on considerations that should be made in the construction of an effective writing prompt. The TAKS paradigm is examined as argument, speech act, and utterance--each of which coalesces around and is completed by a performative prompting sentence--in an effort to make a contribution to the rhetorical content validity of the testing procedures that give shape to State-mandated English composition assessments.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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