 |
 |
Dear all, I suspect that if those responsible for exams gave consideration to plain English, then much of this problem would disappear. Accessible English in exams benefits many (if not all) students, including those who are dyslexic, are speakers of English as a second language, have Asperger's Syndrome etc. So in order to maximise equality all exams should be written in plain/straightforward English...allowing for the fact that the language must be appropriate for the subject. Exams should be testing the specified leaning outcomes so unnecessarily complex or obtuse language should only be used if one of the learning outcomes is to be able to decipher or decode such language! ATB Claire Claire Wickham Senior Disability Officer Disability Resource Centre University of the West of England Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QY Tel: 0117 328 3737 Textphone: 0117 32 83644 Fax: 0117 32 82935 Please note that this e-mail was written using speech input and may contain some small voice recognition errors. -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sheenagh Hull Sent: 01 April 2008 17:18 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Reader for exams Hi Sam, There are two ways I think I have been involved in this kind of arrangement (after a number of years in FE & HE with D/deaf students). 1. In FE, for BSL users (or other deaf students with restricted English access) using CSWs (communication support workers) or ToDs (teachers of deaf children) to communicate questions in sign language or 'plain English'. This might include 'rephrasing' where the first rendition was not understood. There used to be some limited guidance available through the exam boards - JCQ (for Edexcel, RSA exams, etc.). For example, the CSW was only able to 'interpret' the carrier language, keeping all technical terms and those subject to that assessment in their original form. It needed very experienced staff (and preparation time) to recognise what would reflect the intent of the question, neither advantage nor disadvantage the student, and not impact on any other question in the same paper. You tended to need the tutor on hand too, for queries. 2. In FE & HE, I have experience where the role is provided by the module tutor or exam author - they are expert on what they can or cannot convey in terms of not compromising their own assessment performance criteria. I agree with what Claire's saying that if the student is an English user (rather than, eg BSL) then modification of the written text would be more usual arrangement (by the exam author or someone with expertise in modifying text for D/deaf students). Maybe you need the DSA assessor/ToD to draft a protocol first so you can see exactly what they are saying is needed and not needed and why! Best wishes, Sheenagh Sheenagh Hull Co-ordinator: Deaf&Hard of Hearing Students The Equality Service Grd Floor Social Sciences Building University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT 0113 343 3927 (telephone) 0113 343 2616 (minicom textphone only) 0113 343 3944 (fax) www.equality.leeds.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Claire Wickham Sent: 01 April 2008 14:45 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Reader for exams Sam, Well, personally I think this is very uncontrolled: The reader would have to be a teacher of the deaf or someone else who would be able to decide if the questions being asked were for clarification that was related to language use as opposed to clarification for lack of understanding. This would be extremely difficult to do and there might also be issues if the invigilator felt that the reader had reached the wrong decision. Readers are there in exams to simply read text. They are not allowed to make comments or add explanations. Guidelines for readers explicitly states that all they can do is to read text as requested. Ideally, exam questions should reflect the level of understanding that the student is expected to have reached. For students whose first language is BSL, it may be reasonable to have the exam paper translated but the concepts and questions would remain unchanged. If the exam question is so badly worded that the student cannot see where the question is, then I think there is an argument for rewording and restructuring the question for all of the students. I am not quite sure what a reader would be able to add that would be legitimate practice. They could not, for example, define words or suggest how long an answer should be, or what the key points in the question are. If the exam questions are well structured and written in accessible but appropriate English then I am unclear as to how a reader would be providing greater access for the deaf student. I'm sorry that this response is not terribly helpful but perhaps it illustrates the difficulty of defining this role and hence issuing any guidelines for the person concerned. As a start, I think you would have to devise a different job title from that of reader as the constraints attached to the role of reader would not allow the person any flexibility on leeway to explain or clarify any text. (I may have got hold of the wrong end of the stick and misunderstood the role of the "reader" but perhaps this lack of comprehension of the task also illustrates how difficult it would be to write any guidelines.) I await others' responses with interest. ATB Claire Claire Wickham Senior Disability Officer Disability Resource Centre University of the West of England Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane Bristol BS16 1QY Tel: 0117 328 3737 Textphone: 0117 32 83644 Fax: 0117 32 82935 Please note that this e-mail was written using speech input and may contain some small voice recognition errors. -----Original Message----- From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Samantha King Sent: 01 April 2008 14:24 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Reader for exams In answer to Claire's question, the idea is that the student will be able to ask the reader questions to help with clarification, e.g. when the exam question is embedded in the text. I hasten to add that this idea was suggested by the student's DSA assessor and discussed with a Teacher of the Deaf. Thanks in anticipation of some helpful replies! Sam King University of Birmingham This incoming email to UWE has been independently scanned for viruses by McAfee anti-virus software and none were detected This email was independently scanned for viruses by McAfee anti-virus software and none were found This incoming email to UWE has been independently scanned for viruses by McAfee anti-virus software and none were detected This email was independently scanned for viruses by McAfee anti-virus software and none were found