Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cdninkorea]

Every time I give an exam or quiz at my school, I look for cheating students: I walk around the room (which also means I can be more helpful if they have questions), make sure they don't have their phones within view, books or notes on their laps, anything written on their desks, look at anyone else's work, etc. I rarely catch anyone cheating (when I do it's because they do things like have notes hidden under a sweater on their lap), which means 1) no one is cheating, or 2) I'm bad at catching it. If I had to guess I'd say it's the latter. Bearing that in mind, how do students cheat? I'm not paranoid about it, but I'd like to be on the lookout just in case.

[Times30]

What level students do you have?

[YTMND]

I kind of let them cheat. They can use books, dictionaries, and cell phones.

They still have to use words or expressions in the right context. For example, there is a MSN article http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/04/19263019-watching-mandela-uk-royal-baby-world-awaits-news-at-both-ends-of-cycle-of-life?lite

In it, it has "It's a matter of life & death at hospitals in London".

However, they are playing with the normal use of the expression "life & death".

In order to get the answer right, they have to understand the difference.

If everyone gets the right answer, then it is not weighed as heavily in the end. If it is an easy question, it may or may not be worth a lot. You could weigh it high and it will hurt students who don't get it, or you could make it not worth much because everyone basically got it right. Hard questions that are answered correctly get rewarded.

Then, I give another grade based on the communication. Even if you cheat, you have to communicate correctly. If someone gives a correct answer but does not express it in coherent normal spoken English, they get graded down for grammar mistakes. If it is a sentence we would write and not say in spoken English, then in my speaking classes that sentence is graded down as well.

Count the points and then you look at the top students to see if it fits. When you spoke with them in the past, were they good students? If one student never participated I take the test to them and question them on it to see why I don't recognize them as a good student. More often than not, the student can communicate in written form but they have difficulty or lack of confidence in speaking. So, I also have to grade them based on progress. In a mixed class, a 60% student who now scores 70% has made a 16% jump actually. They should be rewarded for this. 70 to 80 14%, 80 to 90 12%, and 90 to 100 11%. The further up, the harder it is to progress, like weightlifting or losing weight.

You can start out strong and make progress, but you are competing against the other students. This is English, not math or science, so there isn't an obvious answer. There are no set formulas to get a correct answer.

If students are really cheating a lot and this destroys your grading, then you are probably not designing a proper test. One girl got a high grade because she used an online dictionary site. However, she had to go to page 13 and use the right word in the right context. Pages 1-12 used the word differently. No one else noticed this and just wrote the first sentence they saw on page 1 of whatever resource they were using.

One chapter was on fashion and they all wanted to make a sentence with "cover up". In the chapter it talked about covering up a tattoo with a long sleeve shirt. However, the sentence that was floating around not only in one class but others was, "If you tell one lie, you will have tell another to cover it up."

They all got this wrong because that was not what the chapter was about nor was it used in the right context.

Another funny one was when they tried to use "turn into". The context I was looking for was where you turn someone into the police. Someone wrote, "He turned into a cop." Close, but no cigar.

Another tactic is to put one question from each chapter together in a group. Students can then decide only one question from that group to answer. Make another group and do the same. They can't answer the same question twice, so they have to always choose a new one.

Get your seating chart out and see if 2 people who sat together chose the same questions in the same order. That is a good sign they were cheating.

I like to sit in the back instead of front when giving a test. This way I can see everyone but they can't see me unless they turn around.

[andrewchon]

For Elementary school students: multiple choice questions are quite easy. They know who are 'smart' ones and they pay attention to the smarties. Questions come in an audio form. Choices are usually two obvious wrongs and one slightly wrong and one correct answer. Smarty giggles at wrongs and chooses immediately when correct answer is heard. They look and do the same. They can also sneak a peek left and right. With that they can get about 4 out of 10 right, which satisfies the most and gives an illusion that the students are learning. Truth is to the contrary, but who cares?

There are other tests that catches them out. Spelling tests and conversation tests. Some students who average 80% on text book test because they sit next to a smarty usually halve their score when they are alone. So, giving them these tests that catches them out can make you (the teacher) very unpopular. (Not all the schools do these tests) Students have worked out a laissez faire system of getting by but you're rocking the boat. Man overboard you!

[YTMND]

[big_fella1]

I had one student who submitted 2 essays with excellent English. When I took the first sentence and put it in Google, I got the page that they essay had been copied from.

Her defence was she'd had someone else write the paper for her, so she wasn't responsible for the copying and pasting.

[young_clinton]

My experience is even when they do cheat, they usually fail the test anyway.

[le-paul]

[schwa]

A couple middle school ploys that happened in my schools:

Smart boy near the front & his buddies had worked out a foot placement system. As he answered each question, he would position his feet in predetermined locations indicating 1 through 5. Problem was, they turned in identical scorecards with the same mistakes. Doh. They fessed up under interrogation afterwards.

Some girls took to writing cheat notes on their upper legs, reasoning that male monitors would never ask them to hike their skirts. True. A couple got busted by alert female teachers, but some probably succeeded.

I'm sure they have other schemes that go uncaught but I'm also sure the vast majority submit to their tests honestly.

[andrewchon]

Linda Ronstadt did the skirt lift cheating when she was attending Catholic school.

[ajuma]

Fortunately, being female, I can check upper legs...and I do! I also check hands and arms (I make them push up their sleeves as high as they can go), inside the collars of white or light shirts, and their caps.

THEN I have everyone bring all of their stuff to the front of the room, make them stay there while I assign seats. By the time exams come around, I know which kids are friends, which are the smart ones and which ones aren't. I put the smart ones in the back and the not-so-smart ones in the front. That way, if they cheat, they're cheating from someone at the same/lower level than they are. Plus, if they've written something on their desk, someone else will benefit!

Even though I tell them that they can only bring a pen/pencil and an eraser back to their assigned seat, for sure someone will bring their whole pencil case. I check those too for little notes.

I usually catch one a semester with English writing on their hands, but I've seen a lot of Chinese and Korean writing!

[cdninkorea]

If it matters (I think it does, based on many of the replies in this thread), I teach university (mostly first and second year undergraduate). Also, I never use multiple choice anyway because I want to make sure students really know the information.

[ajuma]

Speaking of cheating:



http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworldnews%2Fasia%2Fchina%2F10132391%2FRiot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html&h=pAQFoitVJAQEPy2kXZv7XYTAf2lfKW4WimEno7x7azwfXBQ&enc=AZO16w8bpDNtUY35XkW4st3KOOv7MAS5fue5OJ1Ikjggdf1BHLkE36NDvrAbEwwTEuzXgb1tpn1H6TZonPJSmVsN&s=1


(sorry! don't know how to make it smaller!)

My favorite quote is "We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do not let us cheat."

[Beeyee]

I've caught students lending each other erasers with the answers on before.

You really have to stay one step ahead. Some of these kids can be VERY creative.

[cdninkorea]