Co-Constructing Rubrics with Multilingual Writers: Inclusive Approaches to Formative Assessment in L2 Classrooms

Although rubric co-construction has been associated with positive outcomes in L2 writing classrooms, relatively little is known about how multilingual learners experience participation in rubric development or how collaborative interactions contribute to learning. This qualitative case study examined rubric co-construction in an undergraduate ESL writing course to investigate (1) students’ perceptions of participating in rubric development and (2) the interactional processes through which assessment criteria were negotiated. Data included classroom recordings, collaborative worksheets, rubric drafts, student reflections, semi-structured interviews, and researcher field notes, and were analyzed thematically through the lenses of democratic assessment, assessment for learning, and sociocultural theory. Findings indicate that rubric co-construction clarified expectations, strengthened students’ engagement with assessment, and increased confidence in evaluating both their own writing and that of their peers. Collaborative dialogue, negotiation of meaning, consensus building, instructor scaffolding, and the development of shared assessment criteria emerged as key mechanisms supporting assessment literacy. The findings suggest that the educational value of rubric co-construction lies not only in the resulting rubric but also in the participatory processes through which multilingual learners develop shared understandings of writing quality.