Marking

[Dragonsaver]

I have to mark a million essays. My doing as I think they are important. However, I don't know what is 'good' or 'bad' for the level I am teaching. I have no examples, I have no assistance with this. What I think is good may be much more than they are capable of doing or maybe I am too lenient. I have asked other teachers and I get either " I don't know" or " mark to the average level of the class".

I am teaching Low Intermediate first year university students. I have given them a 3 paragraph essay. I expect an Introduction, Body and a Conclusion. Some students give me 4 or 5 paragraphs some only 2. Only a few give me a conclusion. I have corrected an essay, told them it is a 'draft' and made them rewrite it. Most have made the corrections. I also expect the essay to be neat, with their name, class and date at the top. The essay title next, then the essay with margins on both sides of the page.

Am I asking too much for this level or not enough.

Grades: An 'A' is 90 - 100, etc. Can this be broken down into A+, A, A-, etc??? For my college, they require 80% to pass the course. I don't think these students deserve an 'A' yet but maybe they do. HELP!!!

[Newbs]

Am I asking too much for this level

Don't think so for a minute, DS. I reckon that you want to set a damn high standard at the start, to show the kids you're fair dinkum and expect good work. Maybe modify later if experience shows that you were unrealistic in your expectations. So far my comments apply to the education system in any country. Now, I'm going China-specific. Also, realise that whatever grade you give them, come the end of semester the powers that be can change it into anything the damn well want. I don't fight that one. TIFC.

So, it's marking essays this weekend, instead of shopping in Suzhou?

[Edges]

I'm not talking from experience, since I'm not there yet. But my advice is to reward the students who made the efort to conform to your demands. Some may have better vocabularies etc, the quality of the essays are no doubt varied. But there's no excuse not to follow the required format.

[Dragonsaver]

They are following the rules I set out. Because my University is a joint venture with Lambton College in Canada, Canada dictates the final marks as far as English is concerned. If the students pass, they do their final university year in Canada and get their degree from Canada.

My concern is that I don't know what a Low Intermediate is truly capable of doing.

I also realize that some of my students are more advanced and some should be in a lower level class. The placement tests are not well thought out so some students are in a higher level than they should be.

[Ruth]

DS, given the students you are teaching - those headed for university in Canada - your standards are not too high. In fact, if you can teach them to conform to your standards, you will be doing them a huge favour. Your job is to prepare them for life as a student in Canada. You are doing that. It's a huge amount of work for you, over and above what the school is asking (if I read your post correctly), but I think it is admirable.

You can definitely break the grades down into A-, A, A+. C was always average when I was in school. They should be at least 'average' (in written English ability) if they want to study in Canada.

As for passing the course, what Newbs said. Those with guanxi will pass whether they qualify or not. Just do what you believe is right. Your coworkers who advised you to mark to the average level of the class were probably right, but don't lower the standard of the three paragraph essay. I wouldn't ask that of my high school English students, but they aren't headed for study in an English-speaking country. Your kids need to know how to do this.

[Ruth]

woops! Your post above got in while I was writing mine. Given that the pass/fail decision is made in Canada, you have even more leverage with your students while giving them assignments of this sort. If you have varying abilities in your class (and who doesn't), aim for the average when grading - but expect more from the top students, if they are truly capable of more.

[Mr Nobody]

I'm work on the general idea that if they hand it in at all they get 50%, if they answer the question they get another 10%. 60% is the pass mark.

I then give extras for each thing they do right. If it is short, I mark it out of 90% that kind of thing. These guys, though, aren't english majors and don't really like English even if they like my classes, which some of them don't. Mostly smart kids, but not really talented or motivated for this.

Of course, I haven't done much yet - my first 150 papers are sitting there waiting for me to do today, and I haven't got any guidelines from the college. Going to ask Mrs N to guide me later today.

One SOB doesn't come often (only once or twice so far - compulsory failure if he isn't there for at least half), doesn't bring his text book, doesn't contribute, no homework, and tries to read kung fu books under the table, and generally is a waste of time and space. He only got into the college because his father bribed some people, and apparently does this for other subjects too - even the other students seem contemptuous of him, and some even apologize to me for him.

I figure him for a future head of some corporation or university somewhere.

[Dragonsaver]

I only have one non-contributer in my two classes. They all know that I hold 10% of the final mark for participation. When they answer a question they get a check mark beside their name. I have actually had all the students with their hands up and yelling 'me, me' so I would choose them to answer. This was especially gratifying the day I was monitored by the director from Canada. She was amazed. She said even my 'bad boy' answered a question.

In that class on the first exam, out of 21 students all but 4 got over 80%, and I had 2 with 90+%. The other class isn't as good only 9 out of 23 passed (over 80%). The top three marks in each class received an English-English dictionary as a prize.

[Ruth]

Sounds like you are off to a great start, DS.

[con's fly is open]

What Ruth said. Plus, what Ruth said: if they're going to Canada, they'll get creamed if they can't understand and execute a simple essay format. I'd be tough in your shoes.

[Wolf]

Two years ago I had to mark hundreds of essays from Chinese students.

And this year I finally studied language testing.

Now, I could pull a Bertie (don't ask ) and whinge on about how, in comparison with how testing/evaluation should be done we all (myself included) suck. ;D

But that's not useful.

I could also just flatly state that without support, it really cannot be done properly (go ahead and ask your FAO what a "reliability coeficient" is.)

But that's not useful either. ;D

Think of it this way.

Make a list of exactly what it is that you had tried to teach them. Did you spend a lot of classtime on how to formulate an opening paragraph? Did you teach about organizing thoughts into one thought per paragraph? Did you make it known that empty Cultural Revolution- era emotional statements with no backing are not considered "essays" even by Chinese standards; and then spend time practicing alternatives in class?

You could try marking primarily in terms of how well the students learned these things.

Students whose writing you can hardly understand at all, or have obviously made no effort do not deserve to pass.

Until China reforges the EFL sword that was broken, so to speak, that ought to hold you.

The first semester is always the worst. Once you have an idea of what is typical writing for your students, marking them becomes easier.

I'm afraid that's as helpful as I can be.

[con's fly is open]

And more helpful than I can be.

Have you given them a speech on what it's really like in a Western university? If you could find an article that describes the difficulties underprepared Chinese students have when they hit sunny California and can't meet the standard, then read it with them in class, maybe a few of them will get the message. Sure, many twits will think "Hey, once I'm in America, I'll just work hard and it will be fine". But some will clue in.

[Mr Nobody]

You know, Wolf, that you just vocalized what is inside my tiny head when I try to do my stuff. Like all great statements, it is bloody obvious once some genius points it out.

Thanks.

Why the hell didn't I see that?

[Ruth]

daoding said:

Why the hell didn't I see that?

'cause he's the one with an almost-Masters in ESL teaching. You're the one who wants to buy one online and I'm the one too afraid to get started.

Education is good. You get to sound educated. It just takes a lot of hard work to get there.

[con's fly is open]

[Lotus Eater]

With my post-grads and 4th years for Literature, I have them write a journal. this is supposed to be their responses to each piece of literature we study - love/hate/ great/boring etc with THEIR reasons. I have given them a structure to use for analyisis - language, rythmn, characterisation etc.

The 4th years were Ok (just!), the post-grads were on the whole ABYSMAL!!!!! They zapped out and researched each piece and each author. Wrote what they had researched - only 2 of them managed to add anything about their own perspective.

So they have to start again.

[Wolf]

I'm not an authority on testing. I did one unit on it (focusing mostly on ethics in testing rather than the nuts and bolts of evaluation.)

Here is the ILTA; the international language testing association. They're the big guns in the field.

Their code of ethics can be downloaded on that page. What they think testing should be is a far cry from what testing really us for us in-the-trench EFL teachers of East Asia.

Being able to ensure things like reliability (how accurate is the test's ability to test; mathematcially calculable) and validity (how useful is the test in testing what was taught) is something supposed to be handled by school admin and testing experts (the UK alone has more than a dozen large examples such organizations) working in co-operation with the teachers. The only EFL teachers who could guarantee such things on their own would be independantly wealthy, have no life, and be insane.

Lotus; your idea is a great one (and one I wish I had done with my lit students.) When you re-introduce the topic, maybe you should review (preview) in class the sorts of journal entries you would like.

ie follow the list of 1) brief outline of story 2) emotional/personal impressions and 3) evidence/support from the text in review for 2. Make sure the students get examples and practice doing both.

[Mr Nobody]

Keep talking. I am learning here.