Righting Writing Practices?

Linking national language syllabi to proficiency frameworks like the Common European Framework of Reference impacts on school-leaving examinations. This study tracks how the political decision to reform the national school-leaving exam in Austria instigated changes in classroom teaching and assessment practices of writing. Analyzing teacher-designed classroom writing tasks developed pre- and post-introduction of standardized tasks, and survey data from teachers affected by the reform, it will demonstrate that there has been an observable change in classroom practices after the exam reform, but that changing teachers’ attitudes remains challenging for test developers in their communication with practitioners at the chalkface.