Writing Scoring Guide - for Email & Academic Discussion

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Kurz

Writing scoring guides for two TOEFL-style tasks—writing an email and writing for an academic discussion—define performance levels from 5 to 0. Each level specifies what makes a response fully successful versus generally or partially successful, including clarity, relevance, syntactic variety, precise and idiomatic word choice, appropriate social conventions, and the frequency of lexical or grammatical errors. Lower scores describe ineffective attempts, limited elaboration, disconnected language, and, at 0, blank, off-topic, non-English, or copied/arbitrary responses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Writing Scoring Guide: Write an Email

Score 5

Score 4

Score 3

Score 2

Score 1

Score 0

Writing Scoring Guide: Write for an Academic Discussion

Score 5

Score 4

Score 3

Score 2

Score 1

Score 0

Writing Scoring Guide Write an Email | SCORE | GENERAL DESCRIPTION | | --- | --- | | 5 | A fully successful response
The response is effective, is clearly expressed, and shows consistent facility in the use of language.
Atypical response displays the following:
• Elaboration that effectively supports the communicative purpose
• Effective syntactic variety and precise, idiomatic word choice
• Consistent use of appropriate social conventions (e.g., politeness, register, organization of information and formulation of actions such as requests, refusals, criticisms, etc.)
• Almost no lexical or grammatical errors other than those expected from a competent writer writing under timed conditions (e.g., common typos or common misspellings or substitutions like there/their) | | 4 | A generally successful response
The response is mostly effective and easily understood. Language facility is adequate to the task. Atypical response displays the following:
• Adequate elaboration to support the communicative purpose
• Syntactic variety and appropriate word choice
• Mostly appropriate social conventions
• Few lexical or grammatical errors | | 3 | A partially successful response
The response generally accomplishes the task. Limitations in language facility may prevent parts of the message from being fully clear and effective.
Atypical response displays the following:
• Elaboration that partially supports the communicative purpose
• A moderate range of syntax and vocabulary
• Some noticeable errors in structure, word forms, use of idiomatic language and/or social conventions | | 2 | A mostly unsuccessful response
The response reflects an attempt to address the task, but it is mostly ineffective. The message may be limited or difficult to interpret. Atypical response exhibits one or more of the following:
• Limited or irrelevant elaboration
• Some connected sentence-level language, with a limited range of syntax and vocabulary
• An accumulation of errors in sentence structure and/or language use | | 1 | An unsuccessful response
The response reflects an ineffective attempt to address the task. The message may be limited to the point of being unintelligible. Atypical response exhibits one or more of the following:
• Very little elaboration, if any
• Telegraphic language (i.e., short and/or disconnected phrases and sentences) with a very limited range of vocabulary
• Serious and frequent errors in the use of language
• Minimal original language; any coherent language is mostly borrowed from the stimulus | | 0 | The response is blank, rejects the topic, is not in English, is entirely copied from the prompt, is entirely unconnected to the prompt or consists of arbitrary keystrokes. | Writing Scoring Guide Write for an Academic Discussion | SCORE | DESCRIPTION | | --- | --- | | 5 | A fully successful response
The response is a relevant and very clearly expressed contribution to the online discussion, and it demonstrates consistent facility in the use of language.
Atypical response displays the following:
• Relevant and well-elaborated explanations, exemplifications and/or details
• Effective use of a variety of syntactic structures and precise, idiomatic word choice
• Almost no lexical or grammatical errors other than those expected from a competent writer writing under timed conditions (e.g., common typos or common misspellings or substitutions like there/their) | | 4 | A generally successful response
The response is a relevant contribution to the online discussion, and facility in the use of language allows the writer’s ideas to be easily understood.
Atypical response displays the following:
• Relevant and adequately elaborated explanations, exemplifications and/or details
• A variety of syntactic structures and appropriate word choice
• Few lexical or grammatical errors | | 3 | A partially successful response
The response is a mostly rele

FAQs

How does the guide define a score of 5 for writing an email?

A score of 5 indicates a fully successful response that is effective, clearly expressed, and shows consistent language facility. It includes elaboration that supports the communicative purpose, strong syntactic variety, precise idiomatic word choice, and almost no lexical or grammatical errors beyond common timed-condition mistakes.

What distinguishes a score of 3 from a score of 4 in the email task?

A 4 is generally successful and easily understood, with adequate elaboration and few lexical or grammatical errors. A 3 is partially successful: the response accomplishes the task overall, but limitations may make parts unclear, and there are some noticeable errors in structure, word forms, idiomatic language, and/or social conventions.

What qualifies for a score of 0 in both tasks?

A score of 0 applies when the response is blank, rejects the topic, is not in English, is entirely copied from the prompt, is entirely unconnected to the prompt, or consists of arbitrary keystrokes.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Kurz