Monday, September 8, 2008

direct translations + idiotic answers = migrain

I was marking my students' mid-term exam over the weekend. Needless to say, i end up with migrain -from trying to dechiper what they were trying to express - and to read really terrible handwritings. But when push comes to shove, I don't mind bad handwriting. Trying to understand what they are writing about is harder - especially when their command of the language is not up to the standard. Personally, I think the University is already quite lenient that they are allowed to write their answers either in BM or English. What really made me cranky is that they can't even write in ONE language properly...i remembered a time when we were not given any choice in this matter when it comes to answering exam questions. And one would try the hardest to improve on that particular language!

This is, in my opinion, the problem of today's student population - they are always mixing up their languages, and consequently, fall under the trap of "direct translation". I hated this type of thing..And another common occurrence in those exam scripts are the use of short-form. This is the influence of technological advancement and globalization. (Who says technology always bring out the best in every situation???? helloooooooo have you tried to read student's essay filled with short forms, direct translation and mixed languages????) They texted so much that when it comes to exams, they did the same (perhaps not deliberately or not realizing that they are doing so)!

I only finished marking a set of 44 papers over the weekend...and tonight I am going to start on my other set. This one has 156 students.....i can feel the migrain coming already!

2 comments:

fendifid said...

if you wan to skip the migrain...next time prepare objective questions...ha ha ha

Ejin said...

unfortunately, it is against the faculty's ruling....did we have terrible handwriting when we were at uni? I know my handwriting comel2 belaka ....hahahaha