Effectiveness of formative assessment in teaching academic writing in English in a university setting

Abstract

The article is devoted to evaluating the effectiveness of implementing formative assessment in teaching academic writing in English in a university setting amid the internationalization of scientific communication and increasing requirements for publication activity. Academic writing is considered as a complex competence that includes mastery of lexicogrammatical norms, discourse organization of the text, rhetorical strategies, and argumentation, while emphasizing the critical cognitive load and the role of affective factors, primarily anxiety and fear of error. Two educational models are compared: the traditional one, oriented toward the final product and the final grade, and the formative one, based on multi-stage feedback, criterion-based rubrics, portfolios, reflective analysis, and peer review. The research design includes a comparative analysis of 1392 written works (essays, annotations, fragments of student articles), assessed on an analytical scale with four parameters (fulfillment of the communicative task, coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy) through independent blind evaluation, as well as surveys and interviews supplemented by statistical processing (t tests, correlations). The obtained data indicate comparable starting levels of the groups and a pronounced increase in final performance under the formative model (average score increase to 78.37 versus 66.18 in the traditional model), accompanied by reduced variability in results, suggesting equalization of preparedness. The most significant changes are observed in components of discourse competence: coherence and task fulfillment indicators demonstrate statistically significant growth, whereas lexical and grammatical improvements are less pronounced. Concurrently, a substantial reduction in writing anxiety and an increase in self-efficacy for self checking and perceived value of feedback are identified, with self-regulation closely associated with final achievements. Frequency analysis of errors confirms a decrease in lexical, grammatical, and especially stylistic errors under multi-draft work, interpreted as the formation of a stable sense of academic register and internalization of norms of English-language scientific discourse.