UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
#151
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
At the University where I work, international students are not heavily marked on there ability to use English, if you can understand the paper, then its acceptable.
This ruling has been handed down due to the high population of international students and by 2015 they will out number native students. There was a situation in 2011, international students were constantly marked down for poor English and grammar, this translated into less international students applying for 2012 and as such the ruling was introduced.
Most of the students I've noticed moving up, generally suffer from pretty huge shock when they hit University level education, they have been helped and hand held so much during there previous education that when they have to do things for them selves, they really struggle and are constantly asking for "exam questions" and/or help that I can not provide them.
This ruling has been handed down due to the high population of international students and by 2015 they will out number native students. There was a situation in 2011, international students were constantly marked down for poor English and grammar, this translated into less international students applying for 2012 and as such the ruling was introduced.
Most of the students I've noticed moving up, generally suffer from pretty huge shock when they hit University level education, they have been helped and hand held so much during there previous education that when they have to do things for them selves, they really struggle and are constantly asking for "exam questions" and/or help that I can not provide them.
#152
Banned
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: The REAL Utopia.
Posts: 9,910
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
Im intrigued by the classes of 40-50 kids to be honest. There are 20 odd in our boys classes. I cant imagine 40 or 50 in a class would be common would it?
#158
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 401
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
At the University where I work, international students are not heavily marked on there ability to use English, if you can understand the paper, then its acceptable.
This ruling has been handed down due to the high population of international students and by 2015 they will out number native students. There was a situation in 2011, international students were constantly marked down for poor English and grammar, this translated into less international students applying for 2012 and as such the ruling was introduced.
We are also asked to not strictly enforce English spelling and grammar during marking of 1st-3rd year degree students, so most of the time we end up with an essay that in my opinion is terrible English, but we can't mark them down for it.
For example I had a young girl who had just completed her 2nd year experiment. When I was marking it, she had spelled the title wrong, couldn't spell Psychology (Among others), was in a completely awful format and suggested that a flaw in her experiment was people were sat on swivel chairs and it could have distracted them during the experiment.
Most of the students I've noticed moving up, generally suffer from pretty huge shock when they hit University level education, they have been helped and hand held so much during there previous education that when they have to do things for them selves, they really struggle and are constantly asking for "exam questions" and/or help that I can not provide them.
This is a University that requires 4 A's at A-Level and in the top 15 UK wide.
Again this is my observation of the past 3 years of teaching and marking.
This ruling has been handed down due to the high population of international students and by 2015 they will out number native students. There was a situation in 2011, international students were constantly marked down for poor English and grammar, this translated into less international students applying for 2012 and as such the ruling was introduced.
We are also asked to not strictly enforce English spelling and grammar during marking of 1st-3rd year degree students, so most of the time we end up with an essay that in my opinion is terrible English, but we can't mark them down for it.
For example I had a young girl who had just completed her 2nd year experiment. When I was marking it, she had spelled the title wrong, couldn't spell Psychology (Among others), was in a completely awful format and suggested that a flaw in her experiment was people were sat on swivel chairs and it could have distracted them during the experiment.
Most of the students I've noticed moving up, generally suffer from pretty huge shock when they hit University level education, they have been helped and hand held so much during there previous education that when they have to do things for them selves, they really struggle and are constantly asking for "exam questions" and/or help that I can not provide them.
This is a University that requires 4 A's at A-Level and in the top 15 UK wide.
Again this is my observation of the past 3 years of teaching and marking.
I wouldn't usually pick someone up about it on an internet forum, but if you're lamenting the standard of English at your university...
#159
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 15
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
I often write carelessly on the internet; I don't pay too much attention to structuring sentences as carefully as I might in a more formal setting. To me, though, there's a big difference between choosing to write more elegantly in a particular register and mixing up 'there' and 'their'.
I wouldn't usually pick someone up about it on an internet forum, but if you're lamenting the standard of English at your university...
I wouldn't usually pick someone up about it on an internet forum, but if you're lamenting the standard of English at your university...
Next time I'll make sure I'm double spacing and correctly formatting my sentences.
The pedantry going on is ludicrous. Correcting peoples grammar and spelling is generally a sign that you have nothing left to contribute to a discussion.
#160
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
Christ, I had no idea this was a grammar and spelling test.
Next time I'll make sure I'm double spacing and correctly formatting my sentences.
The pedantry going on is ludicrous. Correcting peoples grammar and spelling is generally a sign that you have nothing left to contribute to a discussion.
Next time I'll make sure I'm double spacing and correctly formatting my sentences.
The pedantry going on is ludicrous. Correcting peoples grammar and spelling is generally a sign that you have nothing left to contribute to a discussion.
#161
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 401
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
Christ, I had no idea this was a grammar and spelling test.
Next time I'll make sure I'm double spacing and correctly formatting my sentences.
The pedantry going on is ludicrous. Correcting peoples grammar and spelling is generally a sign that you have nothing left to contribute to a discussion.
Next time I'll make sure I'm double spacing and correctly formatting my sentences.
The pedantry going on is ludicrous. Correcting peoples grammar and spelling is generally a sign that you have nothing left to contribute to a discussion.
#162
Banned
Joined: Jan 2011
Location: The REAL Utopia.
Posts: 9,910
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
Well I have no doubt they exist, our boys were in a class of close to 50 in Brisbane, they had 2 teachers in the class but it was often chaos because of the numbers and having 2 teachers talking over eachother with the 2 groups. I much prefer the small classes.
#163
Banned
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,300
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
When I was at school in England it was common to have class sizes of about 35 to 40. IIRC the overall school size was about 700.
#164
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
I think it's a bit sh*t to be too pedantic about spelling on an internet forum.
I would look at the overall text to gauge someone's literacy. I think it's clear that university standards are in decline.
In any case, angry people on the internet tend to have worn keyboards and space bars...
I would look at the overall text to gauge someone's literacy. I think it's clear that university standards are in decline.
In any case, angry people on the internet tend to have worn keyboards and space bars...
#165
Home and Happy
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,787
Re: UK vs Australia for childrens' futures
I think it's a bit sh*t to be too pedantic about spelling on an internet forum.
I would look at the overall text to gauge someone's literacy. I think it's clear that university standards are in decline.
In any case, angry people on the internet tend to have worn keyboards and space bars...
I would look at the overall text to gauge someone's literacy. I think it's clear that university standards are in decline.
In any case, angry people on the internet tend to have worn keyboards and space bars...
It can be beneficial at times - some of the non-native English speakers in particular do appreciate hints on language improvement, but its probably best done in a softer way rather than as a lecture!
Then you've got all the basic reasons for bad typing - my own is being too lazy to put my glasses on when typing on the iphone! We have dodgy keyboards, sticky keys, typing in a hurry, and simply not proof-reading before posting. Its not an English exam after all, and lets be honest if the majority of us were actually writing reports etc at work then we would be producing something in a very different style and manner from that which comes up when on a social media outlet
Having said that - its clear from browsing other forums that the standard on BE overall is oretty high in comparison!