The Practice of Short Essay Instruction in the Written Expression Class at a Medical Junior College: A Study Based on Rubric Evaluation

Abstract

In this study, first-year nursing students in a Written Expression class at a medical junior college were asked to write three short essays based on three different topics: (1) a theme-oriented essay, (2) a data-oriented essay, and (3) an essay based on writing task prompts. The submitted essays were evaluated using a rubric from four perspectives: description of the issue, logical organization, appearance of sentences, and polishing of expression. The results were statistically analyzed from each perspective. It was found that the students showed significant progress in technical skills, but seemed to have trouble expressing their thoughts or feelings, especially in the case of the essay based on writing task prompts, which had a higher level of abstraction.