Table 1.

Chinese composition rubric for Hong Kong third grade children.

	Score
	1	2	3	4
Content
1. Depth	No elaboration of ideas	An attempt to elaborate on one main idea	Occasional rich elaboration on idea(s)	Most ideas are adequately Elaborated
Organization
2. Sentence- level organization	Many note-like phrases/ incomplete sentences.	Mainly short sentences. Inadequate use of connective/ sequencers. OR Ideas are linked in a confusing way in a sentence.	Occasional good attempt to link isolated ideas more smoothly with connective/ sequencers.	Good use of connective/ sequencers to link ideas effectively.
3. Paragraph- level organization	No evidence of organizational structure according to ideas. OR Essay too short. No basis to judge.	Relevant sentences are partially grouped, but overall, the flow of ideas in not logical enough to be followed with ease.	Relevant sentences are mostly grouped. Minor reordering might still be needed for ideas to flow naturally.	Sentences are organized effectively to convey meaning naturally and logically.
4. Prominence Of Organizational (“key”) elements	Topic sentence and conclusion are not present. OR Either topic sentence or conclusion is present but not standing out.	Topic sentence of conclusion is present and easy to identify.	Topic sentence and conclusion are present but either or both do not stand out.	Topic sentence and conclusion are present and easy to identify.
5. Intelligibility	(Almost) impossible to understand. Purpose of writing not accomplished.	Need some effort to understand.	Fairly easy to understand despite problems in organization/ language mechanics.	Easy to understand and pleasant to read.