Dear Caroline,
Its not an issue we have addressed here although there are other issues
that are connected that we're trying to address i.e. home students
sometimes reticent to work jointly on projects with international
students.
I do think we could learn from our experience of the support we give to
disabled students to enable them achieve their potential where there are
communication issues in thinking about this issue. Any English speaker
who attempts to communicate in French, German, Manderin etc knows that
they would probably need to study English at a degree level or even a
higher level to be as fluent as indigenous speakers if at all. If the
English students studying abroad were told they were less able(note this
has various connotations i.e. less intelligent) they would vigorously
challenge such an assumption and argue that they should be assessed
primarily on the key outcomes set in advance rather than their written
fluency in a particular language.
Whilst I agree that international students should be aware they will be
assessed in English and should be supported to attain a certain level of
fluency, I do not believe they should be marked down because they are
not as fluent as home students as this is unlikely to happen for the
majority of international students. The concept of reasonable
accommodation or adjustment would certainly help. This does not mean
lowering of technical standards or other assessment criteria, it just
means recognising there are differences in the way different students
will articulate their ideas if English is their second or third
language. This does not mean they are less able or less intelligent.
Regards
Anne
-----Original Message-----
From: HE Administrators equal opportunities list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Caroline Old
Sent: 02 October 2008 09:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: English as a second language - assessment methods
Dear Colleagues,
I wonder whether you may provide any guidance on a query I have received
from one of our academics.
'We had a cohort of students who were given a 1000 word assignment. Some
of the students who do not have English as a first language struggled to
write the assignment as well as those who have English as a first
language. Obviously this has implications on the marks given to the
work,
as in this instance some students simply couldn't put together a
coherent
argument. This then led to a situation where a group of predominantly
international students felt that it was unfair that they had lower marks
than the predominantly UK students. Conversely, we also had UK students
who felt that it was unfair that they should receive the same marks as a
group of students who they perceived to be less able than themselves at
writing an essay!
In summary, where do we stand on marking down students who don't have
English as a first language, if their English is poor enough that they
find it difficult to write a coherent essay?'
Many thanks, any experience would be greatly appreciated,
Caroline
Caroline Old
Equalities Officer
Human Resources
Southampton Solent University
East Park Terrace
Southampton
SO14 0YN
Tel: 02380 319631
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please note that my usual office hours are 08:15-17:15 Monday- Thursday.
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