Wikipedia:School and university projects/Kentucky portfolio transactive writing

Overview of Transactive Writing

Transactive writing, or what may be more commonly known as real-world or authentic writing, is one of four types of writing that must be included in the K-12 Kentucky Writing Portfolio for Assessment. It is characteristic of writing for publication, not writing to learn or writing to demonstrate learning. Although it may incorporate content knowledge, its main function is to achieve an authentic purpose for an authentic audience, using an authentic form. As a type of writing for publication, transactive writing incorporates academic writing, technical writing, workplace writing, and persuasive writing and requires the writer to engage in analysis and critical thinking skills.¹

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Authentic Purpose

The Kentucky Department of Education defines transactive writing as “writing from an informed writer to a less informed reader.”² The emphasis, then, is on the writer accomplishing a meaningful purpose for the benefit of the reader. For this reason, transactive writing is not confined to the classroom; it needs to fulfill more than just the requirements of a class assignment.¹ When composing a transactive piece, students may do any one of the following actions in order to achieve an authentic purpose:

Evaluate
Analyze
Interpret
Defend an idea
Solve a problem
Propose a change
Explain a procedure
Draw conclusions from inquiry
Support an idea
Clear up a misconception
Provide/explain needed information
Persuade readers
Present a needed plan
Convey emotions and ideas about human experiences
Create artistic expressions
Reflect on experiences
Entertain¹

Authentic Audience

The audiences for transactive pieces must also be authentic. They almost always should include someone or some people other than the class teacher. Yet, in order for an audience to be authentic, it has to be capable of actually reading the transactive writing. Prompts that ask for students to pretend they were living at some other time writing to some other people do not elicit transactive writing.¹ Following are some examples of authentic audiences:

An individual
A group
Classmates
Readers of a publication
People concerned about a problem
People interested in a hobby
Citizens, members of the community
Parents
People who requested a report (e.g., supervisor/boss)
People with a certain view or position on an issue
People interested in literature
Readers of literary magazines
Readers of academic journals
People interested in ideas about human experience
School leaders (principal, teachers, site-based council)
Participants in a conference, meeting or seminar
Learners in the study area or discipline
People serving in workplace roles
Public officials
People who can act on a proposal
Scholarship committees¹

Authentic Form

The final component of transactive writing is the authentic form which it is supposed to take. Several examples of authentic forms are listed below.

Articles (Various publications [academic, technical, general, special interest, workplace, etc.])
Editorials
Written speeches
Letters
Proposals
Reviews (movie, book, theater, art, music, etc.)
Personal essays
Personal narratives
Memoirs
Short stories
Plays/scripts¹

NOTE: Brochures are not included on this list since they are not considered appropriate for the Kentucky Writing Portfolio, though they do constitute transactive writing. The reason for this is because the portfolio requires a “depth of idea development;” brochures, by definition, are intended to demonstrate breadth, not depth, of knowledge.¹ The Kentucky Writing Handbook, published by the Kentucky Department of Education, states, “form alone does not make a piece a good choice for the assessment portfolio”.¹ When writing transactively, students must be aware that form is dependent upon both purpose and audience.

Scoring Transactive Writing for the Kentucky Writing Portfolio

In the second semester of the school year, 12^th graders in the state of Kentucky finish the compilation of their writing portfolios. Once submitted, transactive writing, as all other included pieces of writing, is scored according to content, structure, and conventions. The scoring is analytical, double-blind, and results in the determination of one of the following performance levels: novice (non-performance), novice, high novice, low apprentice, mid apprentice, high apprentice, proficient, or distinguished.¹

See:

Wikipedia:School and university Kentucky portfolio scoring

References

¹Kentucky Department of Education. (2007). Kentucky Writing Handbook. Retrieved December 5, 2007, from

http://education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional+Resources/High+School/English+Language+Arts/Writing/Kentucky+Writing+Handbook.htm

²Kentucky Department of Education. (2007). Transactive Writing. Retrieved December 5, 2007, from

http://education.ky.gov/KDE/Instructional+Resources/High+School/English+Language+Arts/Writing/Transactive+Writing.htm