- Sixth formers are increasingly using slang and "soap
opera descriptions" in English A-level examinations, a report by examiners
shows.
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- The study, based on an analysis of students' responses
in this summer's English literature papers, shows that inappropriate language
is being used in coursework and exams.
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- Examples include shortening the name Cleopatra in Antony
and Cleopatra to "Cleo" and referring to her as "high maintenance".
One teenager wrote: "It's like, yea, Cleo is a player." Orsino
from Twelfth Night was described as "always spouting off".
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- Some students described Hamlet as being "laid back",
a "mummy's boy" and needing to "move on", while others
used phrases such as "seeking closure" and "being comfortable
around".
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- "All mouth and no action", "big-headed"
and "Shakespeare pulls out all the stops here" were other phrases
that attracted criticism.
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- Despite the tendency for students to lapse into the vernacular,
the pass rate for English A-level rose slightly this year to almost 99
per cent. One in five pupils received "A" grades, up one percentage
point from 2002.
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- The report from the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance,
the biggest exam board in the country, found that although many candidates
gave good responses, some lost marks for being too conversational. Even
in coursework, where essays are checked by the teacher, less able sixth
formers peppered their work with colloquialisms.
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- In the AS-level taken by 17-year-olds - which counts
towards the overall A-level grade - some candidates "used conversational
language with ugly verb contractions, slang expressions, poor spelling
and empty adjectives". Students also used phrases such as "over
the moon", "coming on to him" and "he winds her up".
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- Examiners said that some answers "relied mainly
on soap opera descriptions" or "lapsed inappropriately into slang
and the vernacular". One candidate who attempted a question on Twelfth
Night wrote: "So anyway, Viola's had it with Olivia and is fuming
with her."
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- Examiners warned schools and students about creeping
colloquialism earlier this year after marking AS-level modules in English
literature, which were taken in January. The report for these papers said
that there were too many instances of casual language and gossipy assertion.
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- Some students produced answers which included "shockingly
inappropriate slang which barely registered on the mark scheme". Examiners
from the Edexcel exam board also criticised inappropriate language in this
summer's English literature exam. One commented that a few candidates "discussed
literature as if they are gossiping with friends".
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- A spokesman for Edexcel said: "This kind of language
is not something we like to see on scripts, which is why we mention it
in the examiners' report - to help teachers identify problems that arise
each year."
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- The report said: "There are many examples of psychobabble:
both Hamlet and Leontes need to 'move on', but they can be 'comfortable
around' Horatio and Paula who are 'always there' for them, while they seek
'closure'."
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- Dr Bernard Lamb, a lecturer at Imperial College, London,
and the chairman of the Queen's English Society, blamed teachers for failing
to impress on pupils the need for appropriate language. He claimed that
teachers "wanted to be liked" in the classroom and were letting
mistakes go unchecked.
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- "Students seem to be making these errors more and
more without being corrected. One only has to look at emails today to see
that many people use language in the most careless fashion," Dr Lamb
said.
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- "With more teaching being based on empathy, this
emotive language is common in the classroom. There may be a tendency for
children to use their own, less formal language in school work. It is terrible
that A-level students are using this kind of language in exams.
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- "Students need to be discouraged from this."
Anne Barnes, a senior examiner with the AQA exam board, insisted however
that teachers were not to blame and that the line between slang and contemporary
idiom was subjective.
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- "Teachers may use 'trendy' language in the classroom,
but this is not necessarily slang. They have to use language that grips
the child. The vast majority of teachers are very effective at ensuring
that pupils use the right language for the audience they are addressing,
which is why slang sticks out a mile."
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- Mrs Barnes added that the English language was constantly
changing and that there were some words that were acceptable now which
would have been banned 20 years ago. "Pupils might use the word 'weird',
or use the phrase 'manic depressive' in a non-medical sense to describe
a moody person. Both would have been considered unacceptable 20 years ago.
You have to remember that English teaching and marking is subjective. What
one examiner or teacher might allow another examiner might object to."
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- Mrs Barnes did concede, however, that some students use
language more akin to a chat in the classroom. "If they have not grasped
the difference by A-level, it does show an insensitivity to language."
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