David Wasieleski asks:
> it seems to me
>that when conferring a degree we are charged, in part, with making sure
>such students are reasonably proficient in expressing themselves (and not
>all students having such difficulty have English as a SECOND language). I
>am giving him extra time on this exam, but reluctantly, and I am,
>conflicted about it. I allow such students to use a translation dictionary
>(what help that is in 3000-level psych classes, I'm not sure), and in the
>past, I've had Asian, Latino, and German-speaking students complete exams
>within the allotted time. What have you folks done?
>
My first question would be to ask if your college screens international
students with the TOEFL. Usually students with poor scores are asked to
take English as a Second Language courses until their skills in English are
good enough to survive in a college classroom.
I have also allowed students to use English-whatever dictionaries to help
with vocabulary problems and will give additional time for exams if their
reading is that slow during exams. I've had students whose written
expression in English was not good. I found that they improved
considerably across the term if they paid attention to my editorial
comments (this was in a class that required several papers). Based on
this, I think the student has much to gain by struggling with writing the
paper in English. After all, one of the educational goals of any course
that requires a paper is to learn to express oneself clearly in English
(whether your first language is English or some other language).
I've never had a student whose writing in English was so poor that he/she
wanted to write in his/her first language. I would not accept a paper
submitted in a different language. The idea of having the paper translated
and retyped stikes me as being more complicated than the problem faced by a
blind student who must write a paper in Braille and have that transcribed.
You could still evaluate the blind student's paper on issues of grammar,
spelling, and clarity of expression. With a paper written originally in a
different language, this task would be difficult. Should problems with
grammar, spelling, and clarity be attributed to the author or the
translator? Perhaps you could just hold the student accountable for these
aspects of the paper, which would mean that the student would have to
review the translation and understand it well enough to determine whether
or not his/her thoughts were expressed accurately and in clear English.
This would also serve the purpose of advancing the student's competence in
English.
Claudia
________________________________________________________
Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Psychology Phone: (850) 474 - 3163
University of West Florida FAX: (850) 857 - 6060
Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751
Web: http://www.uwf.edu/psych/stanny.html
