Which is why Thai teachers don't bother. They just give the student the exact same test over again. I find this practice rather frustrating, since it tests the student's ability to memorize the correct answers on a test he has already seen rather than actually master the original content. But the teachers get fed up with having to write many versions of the same test and waste their time retesting students who fail.
This situation is coming to me at the moment, and I am struggling with it. Just a few weeks ago I gave my students an exam about basic plant structure and function. I didn't believe that it was terribly difficult, but they all complained about how impossible it was. I think that their complaints largely stem from the fact that they are accustomed to multiple choice and matching exams, and mine was fill in the blank and short answer. But I am not here to see how well my students can guess--I am here to teach them biology and teach them how to express themselves in English. With those goals in mind, I think that my test format is the only sensible way to go.
Despite all the complaints, I actually had many students score extremely well. In my M 5.1 class, there were quite a few perfect scores. In fact, out of the class of 30, only 6 scored really low (below 18/25). Most of the scores were between 22 and 25, so this class was highly successful with the exam despite all of their concerns. There was even one student who approached me after I handed back her paper concerned that I had mis-graded: I gave her a perfect score, but, as she pointed out, she wrote that the stem "transparents water and minerals to the leaves" rather than "transports." It just made me grin. Honey, if that is the biggest issue on your test, you are my golden child!
Unfortunately, for all of my successes with some of the students in M 5.1, I have many failures in M 5.3. Which is where I run into issues. Even in this lower class, there were still some perfect scores. The quality of the exams was definitely lower overall, but there are still some good ones. The issue is that there were some truly abhorrent tests. I wish I was joking when I say that one girl got 3.5/25. She left most of the test blank, and the parts she got correct were from random guesses/partial credit and from 50-50 toss up questions. And this girl is not an isolated incident. Although she had the worst score, many students in the class failed the exam.
Which leads to a couple problems. I will address the more obvious (and philosophical) one first: how on earth did the scores get so low? The answer is that these students are simply not prepared to be taking science classes in English. They are in the lowest of the "special" classes (i.e. ones with full English instruction). How do students end up in these classes? They are placed into their classes when they enter school as M1 (7th grade) students. Once they are placed in the class, there is very little movement. So a decent M1 student may be pulled along with his class even though he really doesn't have adequate skills to be there. Or a student who wasn't that advanced in M1 may be in too low of a class once they are in M5, but there isn't really a system in place for promotion to a higher level class, so they sit, bored and unchallenged, in a low level class because they didn't have those skills when they began secondary school.
The second problem is more practical. What do I do now that I have some very low-performing students? I have already written 3 versions of the tests due to several mix-ups...students who had to take the exam at different times due to excused academic absences, a proctor not telling my students that the exam was actually an exam (so they treated it as an group exercise), etc. So I am running out of ways to test a 3 page handout. Additionally, even if I do write a new test, how on earth are these students going to score a passing grade on it? It seems that unless I resort to giving them the exact test over again, or doing a matching/multiple choice test, there is no way these kids are going to pass. They don't have the English needed to succeed. It would be like trying to give me a Physics exam in Thai--a total joke.
That being said, what about the students who studied and worked hard the first time around? How is it fair to them if I employ any of these options? And I feel like I am failing the student retaking the exam even more by doing this. Giving them a matching exam, or, even worse, the same exam, teaches them nothing. Actually, it does teach them something. It teaches them that there are no consequences to their actions. Don't feel like studying this week? Ok, I'll just fail this one, and get a redo. Don't feel like studying next time either? Redo!
I know what they say about teaching, that if you can help even one student then you have made a difference. But today is one of those days that I feel like even with the ones I am helping, there are so many I am hurting more by reinforcing this mentality.
My parents told me that I might be expecting too much. And that is true. These kids have been trained to regurgitate, not to synthesize or evaluate information. This is abundantly clear when I see "photosynthesis will be discussed in detail later" in response to "What part of the plant does photosynthesis?" But what is the point of me being here if not to bring a new perspective? I desperately want to encourage critical thinking, curiosity, and creativity. Stop parroting everything, learn to think for yourselves!
So maybe the bottom line is that I need to be content with the students that I can reach. Be happy with the girl who approaches me to lower her score because she wrote "transparent" rather than "transport." Those are the students who want to learn, and who have to tools to do so. They haven't been crippled by the system, and there is still some hope for them to learn new skills. It is just a struggle to see it that way.
And on a practical note, I still need to decide what to do with the people who failed. But this is all part of the learning process, both for me and for them. Even if they don't learn everything I want them to, maybe some of it will rub off on them. It is probably time for a compromise--maybe it is best that I do a mixed exam of matching and short answer. That will give the students a higher likelihood of passing, while still showing them that I am serious about them learning to use English and not just circle random answers. I will update you with any progress.
Some Interesting Articles
- English language in Thailand: http://asiancorrespondent.com/78647/thai-education-failures-part-4-dismal-english-language-education/
- The education system: http://tdri.or.th/en/tdri-insight/education-system-ills-setting-up-future-failure/
Quote from one of the articles--
ReplyDelete' Respect for elders (which often goes hand in hand with fear of authority) means students hesitate to ask questions in class or dare to challenge the teacher when they doubt what’s being taught to them might be incorrect. To challenge the teacher would be to make the teacher lose face—an ultimate Thai classroom taboo. Also, students may not want to lose their own face by trying to speak English through trial and error. The Thais’ aversion to making mistakes on the other side of the coin is another obstacle.'
Sounds a lot like what you've talked about before
Yeah, it is something I am struggling a lot with. I am trying to show them that mistakes are not losing face--a mistake is just a way for all of us to learn.
DeleteAnd occasionally they do ask questions or even correct me. I wrote something horrendously wrong on the board, and one student pointed it out. Which was great!
Some of the students have started to realize that the name of the game in our class is speaking. Being correct is a secondary goal--getting everyone to talk is our first hurdle.