Table Of Contents
Language in assessment tasks
Writing assignment tasks and exam questions which aim to be culturally and linguistically inclusive involves acknowledging that:
- students working in their second (or third, etc) language may not process written material as quickly as local native speakers of English
- there are different varieties of English (a number of which may be unfamiliar to us, but are accepted as standard in some other countries). Likewise, the variety/ies we accept as standard may not be immediately meaningful to someone from a different culture.
Note: The assessment tasks quoted as examples below have been drawn from several faculties. Some were assignment topics, others were exam questions, but in general the same principles apply to both. No disrespect is intended to their authors.
Question design
- Be concise
- (Try to) avoid cultural bias
- Highlight key words
- Define terms if necessary
(Try to) avoid cultural bias
Ask yourself whether the students will understand the cultural "frame" within which a question is set; eg a question involving knowledge of the Melbourne Cup to answer fully will everyone know it's the first Tuesday in November, that it's a horse race, that it goes for more than three minutes, that Australia "stops" for it, etc.
Highlight key words to help students dealing with time constraints
For example:
- Question:
Q 2. Explain in detail the tourism planning process. List all stages of the tourism planning process and discuss each stage separately.
(10 marks)Q 3. Comprehensively discuss the basic planning principles for urban and other forms of tourism.
(10 marks)Please note that Q2 and Q3 are not the same question.
The student then does not have to waste precious time picking their way through distinctions which may be a blur under the pressure of an exam.
Define terms if necessary
– Better to gloss a word at the foot of the page than to have students not understand.
Phrasing the task(s)
- Set out your questions clearly
- Consider the complexity of the reponse from the student
- Be sure you do actually give an instruction
- Prepare your students
Set out your questions clearly
Decide exactly what you want students to do. Make it clear what are the different tasks required within one question don't have a plethora of instruction words in one question ( identify, outline, highlight).
Break up into parts for preference, with clearly ascribed marks for each part.
In phrasing each instruction, ensure you understand the shades of difference between say, analyse and discuss, so you can be sure you are selecting the appropriate verb.
- Question:
Write an essay explaining, analysing and discussing the topics raised in the following quotation...
- Is the examiner really going to be considering how the student carries out each of these three functions?
Try to have the meaning of the direction word as clear as possible: eg. Do not give 10 lines of text and then put "Discuss" – the student will be unsure exactly what he/she is expected to focus on.
Consider the complexity of the reponse from the student
(1)
Try not to ask an exam question which requires too complex a structure in the response:
- Question:
Compare and contrast the strengths and weakness of A with those of B.
- Possible re-write:
Compare A and B, indicating their strengths and weaknesses.
(2)
Be careful of questions about "extent" or "how far" unless these distinctions have been well-covered in the curriculum.
On the other hand, do not go to the other extreme, and require that the student blithely ignore shades of grey in complex issues, as in the following:
- Question:
Your assignment is to consider the following statement and either support or refute it:
"A competitive market approach to health care will ensure the development of the highest possible standards of quality".
Be sure you do actually give an instruction
- Question:
"Is X the case? Wouldn't it be better to do p and q?"
With a question like this, the student has no guidance as to whether they should say "yes" or "no" and then back up that line of argument, or put both sides and then come to a conclusion.
Prepare your students
To attempt to minimise the potential for language to be a disadvantage in the exam, especially for essay/case study type exams, you might consider giving students a short-list of task-types from which those on the exam paper will be selected, and discussing with them the wording and what it means.
General points on language use
- Avoid unfamiliar expressions
- Avoid imprecision and ambiguity
- Avoid double negatives
- Be careful with fine shades of meaning
Avoid unfamiliar expressions
Try to avoid irony, double meanings, tongue-in-cheek comments, metaphorical language:
- to get amongst the motorcycle fraternity
- collections slowed to a trickle
- It is blindingly obvious that while tighter monetary policy...
Avoid culturally-based language – jargon, colloquialisms, slang, idioms:
- rub-off effect
- high and dry
- assist further inroads.
Especially avoid defining jargon/idiom with more unfamiliar language:
- Question:
"Some cynics have said that Decision Support Systems are 'flavour of month' (just a passing fad)." Discuss.
- Possible re-write:
Decision Support Systems are very popular at the moment, but some people have said this popularity will not last. Discuss.
Avoid imprecision and ambiguity
- Question:
In your essay, assume a reasonable level of knowledge on the topic area from the examiner...
How reasonable is 'reasonable'?
- Question:
a) Make some suggestions on how to improve X...
b) Can you explain why X failed to work?
In order to answer this question, you must...
Which question? Is the student meant to combine a) and b)?
- Question:
"No two models of the systems development lifecycle are identical. Does this mean the concept is not worthwhile?"
Which concept?
Avoid double negatives
- It's not an unappealing notion that...
- It's not unheard of that...
- It's not impossible that...
Be careful with fine shades of meaning
– in the use of words such as must, need to, should, ought, will, would, can , could, may, might, may
If we use English as our first language, we have a shared understanding of the degrees of certainty, likelihood, compulsion these words denote. We should not assume everyone has this shared understanding.
- Question:
"In your response, you could do X or Y... or focus on..."
- How great a latitude does this provide: "can" the student do other things as well?
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Be concise
(1)
Consider the following:
(2)
Use case studies with care – particularly in exams. Case studies are often unnecessarily long, and could be shortened for an exam with no loss of vital information. American case studies are replete with situations, language and assumptions which may be very familiar to many Australians; but which can cause difficulties.