The Effects of Different Rater Training Procedures on ESL Essay Raters’ Rating Accuracy

The study investigated the effects of three commonly employed rater training procedures on rating accuracy novice ESL essay raters. first procedure involved going through a set benchmarked scripts with scores, second assessing before viewing scores. third was combination former and latter. A pre, post delayed post-experimental research design employed. Data were collected before, immediately after one month training. Actual IELTS scores determined by subjecting expert raters’ Multi-Faceted Rasch (MFR) analysis used for data collection purposes. Sixty-three TESL trainees selected based their pre-training to form equally matched experimental groups. trainees’ essays assigned compared official operational essays. Although findings indicate that generally, improves narrowing gap between different seem have effects. significantly improved but showed decreasing effect time. immediate as well positive accuracy. did not lead significant improvement, some This paper discusses implications in planning efficient effective programmes.