BOOK REVIEW: Assessing Change in English Second Language Writing Performance

Interfacing the domains of second language (L2) writing and assessment, Assessing Change in English Second Language Writing Performance authored by Khaled Barkaoui and Ali Hadidi purports to advance our understanding of the nature and outcome of instruction on L2 learners’ writing development over an extended period of time. In this succinct volume, the authors present a writing assessment model and then describe a study that set out to validate the proposed model. As L2 writing teachers and researchers, we are constantly faced with the choice of how best to assess learners’ writing development.  As such we were keen to review a book which provides a model that identifies and evaluates a number of different measures of writing dimensions.