| This dissertation argues that writing assessment technologies are central to the disciplinarity of Composition Studies. The introduction of composition into the postsecondary curriculum depended on writing examinations and was sustained through them. By tracing the historical development of writing assessment, I illustrate how it is rooted in educational measurement theory and practice and the psychometric paradigm that privileges objectivity, quantification, and efficiency. Through close examination of the language used in Composition's assessment literature and the technologies employed in its assessment practices, I argue that within Composition, writing assessment has not been considered a legitimate, knowledge-making endeavor; rather, it has been cast as a bureaucratic, administrative nuisance answering to external demands of policymakers and administrators. Consequently, assessment has been used for bureaucratic ends such as placement and proficiency rather than as a means for answering questions about writing and writers.; Because Composition scholarship has not embraced assessment as a legitimate, knowledge-making activity, recent assessment trends, such as portfolios, have not undergone rigorous validation inquiry meaning that the benefits claimed by portfolio advocates are not necessarily realized. In making this argument, I look closely at current writing assessment practices including state-mandated examinations and university portfolio systems. I extend the analysis of portfolios through two analogies--portfolio as panopticon and reflection as confession--to extend our understanding of how portfolios may function as surveillance technologies. In arguing for a reconsideration of assessment as a technology that has the potential to make knowledge about writing, writers, and writing pedagogy, I use Foucault's notion of discipline and the significance of the examination as a disciplinary technology that produces knowledge. This aspect of disciplinarity is missing from the current debates about Composition's disciplinary status and position in the academy. By including assessment in these discussions, Composition can access the power and knowledge inherent in assessment to realize the traditional use of assessment to maintain Composition's lowly status and then to change the conventional perceptions of Composition as well as writing assessment because assessment leads to real-world consequences for teachers, students, and Composition. |
