How to assess writing?

Review of instruments from national surveys

Abstract

Writing is a complex and essential skill for social inclusion. From the theoretical framework of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology, we highlight three writing components, namely, spelling, handwriting and text production. So there is an appropriate assessment process, it is necessary to understand the construct and its key components, as well as know the assessment tools available. This study aimed to review the literature on the writing assessment tools from national surveys (2009-2014), identifying which components such instruments assess. We used the BVS-Psi, Pepsic and Scielo bases. According to established criteria, we selected 95 articles. There was a predominance of publications in speech therapy journals, psychopedagogy, education and psychology. Most of the research included typically developing populations, focusing on children, especially in elementary school. The articles were described 37 assessment tools, of which 23 have been identified as available. Of these, there was a predominance of tests that measure spelling aspects, while handwriting and textual production aspects were less addressed. One of the identified gaps refers to the availability of assessment tools for adolescents and adults. The survey serves professionals, informing them about available assessment tools at the national level, and the researchers in the field, to the extent that summarizes the current situation and points out areas of assessment tools lack. It is necessary to broaden the discussion raised by this review and evaluate the psychometric quality of the assessment tools available.