I have a grading rubric that allocates 15 points out of 100 for writing and communication. The rest of the points are for content and form. If the paper is in any way putatively written in English, it is hard for a student to receive fewer than 8 points for writing. The rest is based on what I can devine from the words that they do put down. I have a number of students who actually live in, for example, China when they are not here and I don't feel I should go any further in demanding English in psychology papers. I do supply grammatical editing throughout in order to help them, though. Sigh :-(
The requirement that students learn to be successful in the USA (or Canada or UK as it may be) seems to be headed for obsolescence in these times. Bill Scott >>> Annette Taylor 11/15/10 6:33 PM >>> No, but I do tell students before assignments are due, that this is no excuse. In fact I am an ESL person and tell students that if they are going to be successful in this country they must master the language of the country, and that I would expect the same in any other country that I would live in. In addition we have a writing center on campus with peer tutors and I do tell all students that if they are poor writers to take their papers there before handing them in. The writing center provides students with certification that they brought in their paper and what the peer tutor worked on with the student during their session. If the certification is attached I go a bit easier on the demerits because it suggests to me that at least the student did his or her best to do better. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu ________________________________________ From: FLINT, ROBERT [fli...@mail.strose.edu] Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 12:00 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] English as a second language Albany, NY is not a terribly diverse community, and thus I have not frequently been faced with students for whom English is a second language. I was shocked by a recent student request to reduce their point deductions on a term paper (resulting from excessive spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors) because the individual claimed English was her second language. Have those of you who teach at institutions with a more diverse student body received such requests? Sincerely, Rob Flint -------------------------------- Robert W. Flint, Jr., Ph.D. Professor of Psychology The College of Saint Rose fli...@strose.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: tay...@sandiego.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0&n=T&l=tips&o=6497 or send a blank email to leave-6497-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: wsc...@wooster.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb25165c&n=T&l=tips&o=6512 or send a blank email to leave-6512-13058.902daf6855267276c83a639cbb251...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6514 or send a blank email to leave-6514-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
