Assessing Creative Writing Formatively and Summatively with E-Portfolios: A Case Study in Hong Kong

Teaching creative writing is challenging. Assessing creative writing is equally taxing, because constructing a comprehensive scoring rubric and applying it demand proficient knowledge and skills. What makes this assessment game even more complicated is how teachers conduct formative and summative assessment proficiently, if not concomitantly. To fill this conceptual gap, I intend to identify the potentials and caveats when teachers utilize e-Portfolios to support and judge learners' creative writings. This chapter has six sections. First, I set the scene by introducing what creative writing is and explaining the aim of the paper. Second, I present the creative writing instruction and assessment scholarship as well as the relationship between second language (L2) writing assessment and e-Portfolios. Third, adopting the learning-oriented paradigm as a theoretical framework, I unpack how e-Portfolios are applied to achieve assessment of learning (AOL) and assessment for learning (AFL) purposes. Fourth, I review the Literature in English of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education1 Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) is an internationally recognized exit exam for all twelfth-graders studying in Hong Kong. Curriculum and assessment guide, instructional materials, past papers, and assessment rubrics to examine the extent to which this high-stakes exam facilitates or impedes AFL implementation. Fifth, based upon the review, I propose pedagogical suggestions to enable teachers to assess creative writing and/or literary works effectively. Finally, I discuss the implications of aligning process-oriented and product-oriented approaches to assessing creative writing.