- this is a writing class -
- grammar isn't graded separately -
Haven't seen much specific reflection by students. I've given some specific feedback on grammar and mechanics (including: s-v agreement, sentence boundary issues, unclear antecedents (pronouns) and misplaced modifiers, word choice, style, etc.). The microlab gives similarly specific feedback, but I have seen little specific grammar discussion in the reflections so far. It's as though we aren't reading our instructor's comments or looking beyond an arbitrary number on the microlab assessment.
Many in our classes - myself included - have expressed concern that this assessment is not fair for non-native English speaking (NNS) students. 3 of the top 5 scores in our classes came from NNS.
Some note that the school and the teacher needs this assessment information. I'd been thinking it was to the students' benefit and I'd ignored the institutional role. The WC does collect a copy of the sheets tho don't they? And the information is reported to the instructor. The former is likely because student's lose things, and if the WC keeps a copy you won't have to retake the assessment. The latter is because if the info weren't reported to the instructor - no one would do it.
Parting thoughts...
- Grammar can not be divorced from language and composition.
- The institution doesn't care about your individual results - or shouldn't.
- Teachers need to do a better job helping individual students need to learn better how to use the feedback. It's a tool - not a means of validation or personal criticism.
J. from class notes that "Someone can get a 0% in a topic [section of the microlab] because they missed 1 question." So maybe if one skips a question (intentionally or not) they are given a 0% for the entire section.
ReplyDeleteB said the part of the test he liked least was the who/whom distinction. If you want to sound high-brow or snooty go with whom. If you want to sound down-to-earth and friendly say "who."
ReplyDeleteIt used to be a question of objective or subjective case - but everyone seems to be less than 100% in using whom. You now have the right and privilege to strike "whom" from your vocabulary completely
several students write that a the assessment needs to be framed - discussed in more length prior to taking the assessment. My thinking was it is a snap shot - and that test prep wouldn't make a difference. This needs more thought.
ReplyDeleteMany resented the repetition - asking the same question many different ways. That was to control for inadvertent clicks or misunderstandings and increase validity; however several said the monotony caused them to zone out and start clicking at random.
ReplyDeleteMany aske what the hll does "orderly sentences" mean on the Microlab assessment?
ReplyDelete