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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