Listening to the Voices of Rating Scale Developers: Identifying Salient Features for Second Language Performance Assessment

Describes the process and discourse stances of a team of teachers involved in deriving a rating scale for writing ability. Focuses on instances during the process where actions of the participants or their use of the data sample could be shown to influence the criteria potential for variation within the two test method characteristics of "scale development team" and "sample" used. (Author/VWL)