A former Master's degree student emailled me with a question that is posed to me from time to time by former education students and teachers. In brief, the question is:
In a Reading Comprehension test, if students' written answers to short/long questions contain language errors, should students be penalised even if the errors do not interfere with the meaning?
MY RESPONSE:
You've brought up a tricky question which lends itself to two contrasting perspectives: (a) 'focus on meaning' vs (b) 'focus on meaning AND language form.' Adherents to (b) usually contend that this will ensure that students build up the habit of attending to correct language forms all the time.
Adherents to (a) emphasize the purpose of the language/communication event. For example, in a Reading Comprehension test, the purpose is to assess students' understanding of the reading text in question. Hence, as long as their answers to short/long questions clearly show their understanding, other language form errors that do not affect the meaning of their answers should not matter.
Both perspectives are valid, especially in the context of school education. I would like to cite, in conclusion, my experience in public exam assessments (e.g., TSA; LPAT). In the Reading Comprehension section, a student's answer to a short/long question is mainly assessed on its correctness in MEANING. Errors that do not interfere with the correct meaning will not be taken into account.
My personal opinion: for a school's internal test/exam, if teachers also want to look for 100% correct language form in the written answer, they might consider specifying that in the Reading Comprehension instruction (e.g., 'Marks will be deducted for ...'). Otherwise, just focus on the meaning.
Just my two cents.
Regards
Paul Sze
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