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Criteria for grading
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gaijinalways



Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 5:30 am    Post subject: Criteria for grading Reply with quote

What criteria do you use for grading students at your school?

It's interesting that at Japanese universities, they ask us to base our grades on progress and the effort expended by students in a term, not on the student's final level. So you could have a very low level student who finally learned to write sentences versus a returnee student who is near a native level for a slightly lower age, yet if the latter student is lazy, we' re supposed to grade him lower.
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gaijinalways



Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So in other words, effort is looked upon more highly than whether a student meets certain goals or standards in a class or not. I always find it amazing that a student may be well below a 'passing' Western standard yet you are expected to allow them to pass because he or she was trying and showed some improvement.

Luckily this same standard doesn't seem to apply to people studying engineering or medicine here. Rolling Eyes
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naturegirl321



Joined: 04 May 2003
Posts: 9041
Location: home sweet home

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I teach international exams, so it's pretty much cut and dry, except for the writing and speaking.

For writing I grade the outline and rough draft if they've completed the instructions and re-read their work. For the final, it's based on accuracy, range, task, organisation, register, spelling and punctuation.

Speaking is based on fluency, range, accuracy, organisation, pronunciation and interaction or task.
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Thu May 17, 2007 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Universities usually don't care how you grade students. I know some teachers let their students vote on what they feel they deserve!

Others grade boys on attendance and lack of sleeping, and girls on bust size.

Me, at my university I grade on performance. Sadly, I still have to follow the school's guidelines on what constitutes a 1, 2, 3, or 4. But I have flunked some kids.

How do I gauge "performance"? Depends on the type of class I have -- conversation vs. writing vs. reading/listening vs. TOEIC, etc.

Back atcha, gaijinalways... how do you grade?
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gaijinalways



Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279

PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I grade on a combination of class performance (which is partly influenced by attendance) including graded classwork, homework, and quizzes (and sometimes tests). I have some public speaking/presentation classes that also include presentations (what else?).

I take into consideration students giving their best and showing improvement, but I grade quizzes/tests on absolute scores, though I will sometimes curve if the class as a whole does poorly enough (recent class comes to mind, the highest quiz score was a 50, even though 3 other classes, pretty much identical quiz with review beforehand, suffice it to say the average score in the other classes was a 'bit' higher)
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denise



Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish

PostPosted: Fri May 18, 2007 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

At my college, the grades are based primarily on exams. The final exam is worth 50% of the total mark. There are also a few assignments. Attendance doesn't factor into the grade, but if they miss a certain number of classes they are barred from taking the final exam. There's really no room in the grade for participation, classwork, homework, etc.

d
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gaijinalways



Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 12:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some lecturers I know in Japan also don't allow students to take the final exam if they have missed too many classes already. I have as yet to enforce this policy, though I have considered it.
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jillford64



Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 397
Location: Sin City

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 2:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The school where I teach (private language school) has a fairly rigorous grading policy. Each class is one month long and there are no more than 12 students per class. We teach for 3 weeks and do presentations/exams the fourth week. Students have to get an 80% to move to the next level. The students are graded based on the following criteria:

Oral Participation - 10% (this includes attendance, punctuality, and how much they participate during class; a score from 0 to 10 is given everyday; if they miss 6 classes they cannot take the exams)

Homework - 10% (students get 1 point for completing their homework on time; half point if they are were absent but show the teacher that they did the homework the following day; generally the homework isn't graded for correctness, but since it is reviewed everyday in class you can guage if they got it correct or not and take that into account too if you need to)

Writing - 10% (a minimum of 2 writing assignments appropriate to the level are required for each class)

Oral Ability - 10% (students recieve a grade based on how well they are using the target grammar and vocabulary for each unit they cover during the class)

Oral Presentation - 10% (students are required to give a presentation appropriate for their level; grade based on knowledge of topic, fluency, grammar/vocabulary, pronunciation)

Oral Exam - 20% (based on how thoroughly they answered the questions, use of target vocab and grammar, fluency, and pronunciation)

Written Exam - 30% (includes listening comprehension and a writing section in addition to testing vocab and grammar)
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gaijinalways



Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds sweeet, the 12 per class I mean. I am looking at more like 4 sets of 40-45, 4 sets of 30-31, 4 sets of 21-24, and my light day of about 5 per class. 400 students in all. Oral exams are out of the question unless I do pairs and use maybe 3 lessons to evaluate them (though I suppose for the smaller classes 21-24, 2 lessons would be enough)
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furiousmilksheikali



Joined: 31 Jul 2006
Posts: 1660
Location: In a coffee shop, splitting a 30,000 yen tab with Sekiguchi.

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it's fine to grade the students on term performance. I had one student who was a returnee and considered himself to be near-native speaker of English. He had a high ability and could do well ion the tests but his attendance was abysmal. He rarely showed up for class and when he did he frequently slept through it. I would give him a very low class participation grade. Gradually his English level diminished as he wasn't practicing it.
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ls650



Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia

PostPosted: Sat May 19, 2007 4:34 pm    Post subject: Re: Criteria for grading Reply with quote

gaijinalways wrote:
What criteria do you use for grading students at your school?

At the university where I teach, there are five components to the exam, and they are usually given over a period of a week after classes end. Each component is worth a certain percentage: grammar 30%, reading and listening 15% each, and writing and speaking are 20% each.

Speaking is evaluated by a pair of teachers, and an average of their two scores is recorded.
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jillford64



Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 397
Location: Sin City

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 4:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, our grading policy actually takes a lot of time to implement and only works because the class size is small enough to pay good attention to each student. The students either come to class one hour a day five days a week or on Saturday for 5 hours.

Last edited by jillford64 on Sun May 20, 2007 4:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jillford64



Joined: 15 Feb 2006
Posts: 397
Location: Sin City

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2007 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like the idea of having two teachers evaluate the speaking ability and then averaging the grade the way LS650's school does, but we don't have enough teachers to do that. For me, grading speaking skills is the most subjective part and the most difficult to be consistent on.
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mondrian



Joined: 20 Mar 2005
Posts: 658
Location: "was that beautiful coastal city in the NE of China"

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2007 12:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jillford64 wrote:
I like the idea of having two teachers evaluate the speaking ability and then averaging the grade the way LS650's school does, but we don't have enough teachers to do that. For me, grading speaking skills is the most subjective part and the most difficult to be consistent on.

IMHO: use the IELTS test format and use their Band Descriptors (found on the British Council site). The tests are in four parts (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking) and each part carries 25% of the total grade. It will be a lot of work for you, but your students will get a worthwhile grade that is meaningful.
You can link this test to the other International tests (do a Google search for this). OR you can tell your students their approximate "IELTS score". They will be impressed and so will your bosses!
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denise



Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish

PostPosted: Mon May 21, 2007 4:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

jillford64 wrote:
I like the idea of having two teachers evaluate the speaking ability and then averaging the grade the way LS650's school does, but we don't have enough teachers to do that. For me, grading speaking skills is the most subjective part and the most difficult to be consistent on.


I like this format, too. In my last job in Peru, the teachers had to do the oral exams alone. It's really difficult to prompt the student to speak, listen, take notes (which sometimes just freaks the students out--I often just tried to remember), and give them fair marks. Oh, and all in a 90-minute time frame, regardless of class size. Oral exam day was my least favorite day of the term. Here in Oman, we just had the orals, and there were two teachers--one to talk with the students and give sort of a "general impression" mark and one to focus more completely on the language. It's much less stressful with a second teacher sitting next to you.

d
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