The Effect of Repetitive Essay Writing Tasks with Rubric-Guided Assessment on Students’ Performance

This quasi-experimental study determined the effectiveness of repetitive essay-writing tasks with rubric-guided assessment in improving the essay-writing performance of first-year Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English students at Trinidad Municipal College during Academic Year 2025–2026. The study examined five writing components—Content, Organization, Vocabulary, Grammar, and Mechanics—using an analytic rubric aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest comparison-group approach with two intact blocks was used. Participants completed one pretest and four successive posttests, while three English teacher-experts rated the essays. The intervention involved structured cycles of drafting, rubric-guided self-assessment, revision, and rewriting. Descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, and two-way repeated-measures analysis were used to examine changes across testing periods. Results showed substantial improvement in writing proficiency. At pretest, Block 1 was predominantly at B2, whereas Block 2 included learners at B1, A2, and A1 levels. By Posttest 4, A2 and A1 classifications had disappeared in both blocks, while the proportion of proficient writers increased, particularly in Block 2. Grammar demonstrated the greatest improvement, with both blocks moving from A2 at pretest to C2/C1 at the later posttests. Organization and Vocabulary improved from B1 to B2, while Content showed moderate improvement, especially in Block 2. Mechanics showed the least consistent gains. The Block × Test interaction was statistically significant, F(4, 252) = 82.77, p < .001, indicating different patterns of change across the testing periods. The findings support repetitive, rubric-guided writing as an effective process-oriented strategy for strengthening students’ essay-writing proficiency.