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New Zealand To Allow 'Text-Speak' On Exams
ScentCone writes "New Zealand's Qualification Authority (which sets testing standards for the public schools) is confident that those grading papers will understand the meaning of students' responses, even if they use phone/IM-style text-speak. From the article: 'credit will be given if the answer "clearly shows the required understanding," even if it contains text-speak.' Many teachers are not amused, and critics say that the move will devalue NZ's equivalent of a high school diploma." Not to mention that graders will need to be restrained so they don't gouge their own eyes out. While in the medium of text messages, some shorthand might be in order, but I didn't realize that world paper, pencil, and ink shortages were so severe so that text-speak is necessary everywhere.
How are kids supposed to learn proper spelling & grammar?
Anyone remember "Ebonics"?
Willie...
what about l33t sp33k?
t3h kn33 b0n3 15 c0nn3ct3d t0 teh th1g|-| b0n3!
liqbase
I 4 1 wlcm our txtg ovrlrds ...and let the stupid texting jokes begin!
Given your views on the matter, CowboyNeal, have you suggested to Rob Malda that spelling matters and aids effective communication? He'll probably fire you on the spot.
that frst pst is worth +5, insightful in New Zealand?
Religion is the opiate of the masses. The wealthy smoke the real stuff.
Sometimes "text-speak" (surprised it's not "txt-spk") appears in odd places. Like 90% of the offshore folks from India I've interacted with, even in e-mail that was otherwise very professional and well written. Now some of these guys were bozos, but even for the ones that I knew were solid, smart workers...I just couldn't be sure if they even knew that "you" is not spelled "u"
Is "The Artist Formerly Know As" popular over there? I blame him for all this in general.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
The nature of language is that you must maintain it in order to prevent it from devolving. You must be carefull to separate the jargon from the main language. If we say LOL out loud, it would definitely mean some sort of devolvation.
// You may rejoice.
One thing that would give me hope though is that textspeak is really only required right now because with so many modern phones, text input is still cumbersome, so it is a necessity. Seemingly when new technologies come into place which would make text entry more efficient (maybe better predictive text input, speech-to-text built into phones, etc.) textspeak won't even be needed.
At least that's what I hope for.
In illiterate New Zealand, exm brd mipsells U!
To summarise the summary of the summary: people are a problem. ~ h2g2
Bali Haque, deputy chief executive of the authority, said there had been no change to guidelines and there was no specific policy about text language. However, he warned: "If people are expecting they can come up with an exam script full of text and pass, then they're dreaming. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1 &ObjectID=10410066
.. to let teachers set assigments and mark in text speak too. Let's see parents try doing their homework for their kids when they can't understand a damn word of it. In other words 'U FL GO STR8 2 MACCYDS'
ORLY WTF?
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
That could hide many things. After all, understanding the subject isn't the whole of the mark. Communicating it also carries a non-trivial mark.
If the examiner can't correctly work out what the writer is trying to say, then marks will be lost. Presentation also carries a portion of the mark in most subjects, and using txt spk will almost certainly lose that.
So, it's basically allowing people to use txt spk, and actually have a non-zero mark (credit given for the understanding of the subject where it's communicated successfully), but in all probability, they won't be garnering the kind of mark they would otherwise be achieving if they used correct English.
It's possibly the kind of discrepancy that would make the difference between a fail and an average pass mark (depending on how obfuscated the text was by using txt spk).
I looked at that sentence a few times and even looked some things up in "A Writer's Reference", Third Edition, by Diana Hacker. I don't see what the problem is with his grammar or spelling.
What is it?
And no, I'm not trying to slam you or anything; I am always trying to learn how to write and speak better.
Text speak in an English exam of course should result in failing it. On the other hand, I think bad grammar and spelling should be ignored on a math or a chemistry exam, so long the answer is understandable.
Doubleplusgood..
I can see algebraic equations getting very confusing!
3 = mc^2 anyone?
kids will be allowed to use calculators in Science class!
J00 h4V3 4 Pr0bl3m W17 l337? my h19h 5cH00L 1n5717u73d l337 7w0 y34rZ B3f0r3 3V3Ry0N3 3lZ3, 4nd 17 h45N'7 h4Mp3r3D MY 4B1L17Y 70 C0MMUn1C473 1n 4ny W4Y. 5Ur3, 17 w4Z d3B473d 0N 73h L0c4l n3WZ, 4nD 73H d3p4R7M3n7 0F 3DuC4710n H3Ld 155U3 W17 17, bU7 1 7ruly B3l13v3 7h47 4lL W3 l3375P33K3Rz r M0r3 5U173D pH0R 73H j0b M4Rk37 4Z 4 R35Ul7.
Him pa ellenrof andswarode!
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Thanks to my Handspring Visor (a major outlet for me for hand writing) I have to stop and think about how to form a K when writing on paper. I automatically make the Graffiti version.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I still read exams as emacs.
Fry: I tell you, bein' here really brings me back to my college days. (Flashback to Coney Island Community College.) Good old Coney Island College. Go Whitefish!
Leela: Don't take this the wrong way, Fry, but you don't seem like the educated type.
Fry: Oh yeah? (Produces Notice of Failure to Graduated from CICC.) Read it and weep. I'm a certified college drop-out.
Leela: Please. Everyone knows twentieth century colleges were basically expensive day care centers.
Professor: That's true. By current academic standards, you're merely a high school dropout.
Fry: What? That's not fair. I deserve the same respect any other college dropout gets. By God, I'm going to enroll here at Mars University and drop out all over again!
If only there were some sort of common, standardized symbolism New Zealanders could use to convey their thoughts! They could call it a "language" or something like that.
text speak? Such as "u r an 1d10t" or "u fail it"
Monstar L
I have spent WAY to much time playing FPS games, I can read that all fluently.
And he sin't even making it all that hard
j00 |-|4\/3 4 |*r0|3|_3m5 \/\/17 |33+?
I am not going any further.
Admitedly, learning leet does have a good purpose, you can make very secure passwords.
1) Take a word you will remember
2) Write it backwards/ROT13 or what ever you want
3) Leet it ussing substitutions you personaly use, if they alow non alphanumeric chars, all the better
4) ?????
5) Profit?
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
Shepherd's pie for lunch!
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
u fl dk
g, su me
i dr
I too share your concern as a person who read that far easier than I would have hoped I could...
Your idea for passwords in l33t doesn't seem that great, sure it might be moderately secure but it might be harder to remember than just having something like "-85,/" before a simple word as a password, the word is really easy to remember and that stuff before it shouldn't be too difficult. This makes it at least as hard to brute force (ie. nearly impossible) and saves a little on the remembering.
Also, as a side note, "txt" speak is so much harder to read than l33t... at least l33t makes gramatical sense. Damn young 'uns
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
the triangle is standard, w.r.t I THINK is also standard, b/c I am not so sure of, though it might be. (b/c is common for proffs who are putting something up on a blackboard).
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
I am an english major.
In some poor parts of the world an English degree means studying how to spell and speak properly.
This is exceedingly unfortunate because the true value of an appreciation of English comes from the ability to understand the nuances of a persons expressions, and in turn to control ones own nuances.
As a Comp Sci major I think the best way to explain this would be to say that it adds bandwidth to people's ability to communicate, before I became an English major I thought it would add bandwidth in the way facial expressions do. Now I understand that a true understanding of English adds more bandwidth than anything short of the original use of language.
This is difficult to explain to people who are so used to people using casual expressions and syntax and choosing topics without enough thought.
When an author puts a word on a page that is the word he has chosen and he has chosen it for a reason, he chose it instead of every other word there is.
Anyway, I'm disgusted with New Zealanders, fortunately in my country approx 50-60% of people end up going to university, and they call it university because your forced to take English.
Cheers!
So using large words would be out as well . . . since that limits who may understand in a different fashion.
That, I think, is the key thing: we're talking about communication here. Abbreviations that require the reader to think twice about the meaning of the writing are an impairment to efficient communication. Depending on the context, they may also be an indication that you consider your time spent writing to be more valuable than the reader's time, which tells the reader how little you value their consideration.
Certainly on on-line forums for students where I've helped out in the past, contributors would be far more willing to reply to a question that was carefully written to explain the problem clearly and concisely than to try to interpret vague L337sp33k or txt tlk because someone couldn't be bothered to write in proper English.
In other words, conventional shorthands are fine if they're used in an appropriate context. IMHO, few people reading this on Slashdot won't immediately understand this sentence. However, those who write poorly out of laziness should not be surprised to find that they come across as such, and are treated accordingly by those whose opinions of them might matter. I wouldn't write "IMHO" in a business report for an audience who might not be familiar with the shorthand.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Wrong ! it is B4 instead of B3f0r3.
The Emporor's new clothes: The king is dead - Long live the king ! leet sp33k will |-|4v3 gr4m4
I 4 1 wlcm our new overlords: The leet sp33k Grammar Nazis
The predictive text input on LG phones is fast and complete enough that I can send proper English texts faster than abbreviating with conventional ABC input. It's different for different manufacturers, I know Motorola's is next to unusable and I hear Samsung's is iffy, but mine is great.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
Sure, require your stupids to write "properly." Sure, hit them over the head if they don't. But having it effect their math grade doesn't make any sense.
Property is theft.
Wouldn't the actual time saved by writing in txt spk be negligible? What are the actual benefits of being able to write like this? If you're too stupid to know the real spelling of a word, then you should probably not be sitting the exams :P
One reason why txt spk is so prevalent among texters is that people try to cram as much info into an SMS as possible without going over the 160 character limit (1 message). It's simple, its cheaper. I don't think the problem lies in the quality of T9 or whatever recognition system you're using, but the fact that 160 characters is often not enough to contain your whole message if you typed it out using the correct spelling. I have an unlimited in-country texting package and I would rarely, if ever, use abbreviations, except that my mobile (Nokia 6225) doesn't automatically extend the message. Once you fill up the 160 chars, you can't type anymore.
Those are only a couple reasons why someone might use it, but it still doesn't give you an excuse to use it for any academic or exam writing purpose (unless of course you were writing a paper on the phenomenon itself). It's just scandalous that it would even be considered in the first place...
Well leetspeek isn't really that hard to understand when it's written that way, as the letter/number generally looks pretty close to what it's replacing. It's when you start with the phonetics and dropping vowels (ie, txtspk) that it actually gets hard to read - you can't just slightly cross your eyes and blur it back into what it was.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Hey, jackass, why don't you come back to Slashdot when you've outgrown your white sheet hood? That kinda ignorance isn't welcome here.
In theory, I don't really have a problem with it. Obviously, it wouldn't be appropriate in English class (since non-fucked-up composition is the very thing that the student is supposed to demonstrate) but if someone can communicate a math problem solution, it doesn't matter how they do it.
The catch is that "text speak" (wtf? is that really what it's called now?!) does not clearly communicate. Some people can read it, and others have trouble. I know for a fact that I read it and decipher it much more slowly, and every once in a while, it totally stumps me. Puedo leer Espanol mas rapido que "text speak." If I were a math teacher and a student handed in an assignment in "text speak" there's a good change I'd grade it an F, because it's not my responsibility to go to extra trouble to understand your weirdo language. To put it another way, your assignment may be written in flawless Russian, but if the teacher doesn't know Russian, you're screwed.
What's funny is that after I gave out half a semester of Fs for this, I would probably be exposed to it enough that I would have picked up some of it, and then I'd start to hand out Ds. So the question is: who wants to be the guinea pig who fails some classes for the sake of teaching the teachers, so they don't fail people later? ;-)
And yes, in case anyone's wondering: in the rare event that I actually send text messages from my phone, I always spell out words. It's just habit, not language-nazism. I learned English long before I learned "text speak," and I suspect it will always be my native and most "automatic" language.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Most of the people living on this planet do not have English as mother tongue, and I did not said my English was perfect, nor that it was my language. So I do esteem I can give my opinion about an issue that is not only about the "English" language use, but is valid for all languages used on this planet.
But i do feel sorry for your short-sightedness
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Nitshiz to da byotchiz, dog.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
40cCdrn1g 70 r5ch334rch 47 Cm4br1gd3 U1n3rv715y, 17 d305n'7 m7T43r 1n w4h7 0r3dr 7h3 l7T33r5 1n 4 wr0d 4r3, 7h3 0lny 1prm037n7 71hng 15 74h7 7h3 fr157 4nd l547 l7T33r b3 47 7h3 rgh17 pcl43. 7h3 r537 c4n b3 4 7047l m535 4nd y0u c4n 517ll r43d 17 w0u7h17 4 p0rb3lm. 71h5 15 bcu5343 7h3 hu4mn mn1d d305 n07 r43d 3rv3y l7373r 6y 157l3f, bu7 7h3 wr0d 45 4 wl0h3. :-D
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
New Zealand has made the right decision. Penalizing a student for non-standard English on an exam for a subject that is not English amounts to standard English mastery being counted as part of the grade for that subject. Why should the student's level of English be a factor in determining his or her grade in, for example, chemistry? This would diminish the accuracy of the grade, contradicting the very point of the test.
Others have asked how students can learn "proper" English with these newly loosened regulations. I'd like to point out that one of the main objectives of English class is to teach the use of standard English! The students' mastery of English can be tested with their English exams; doing so with those of any other subject would be ridiculous.
Note: I am an American high school student.
Le français vous intéresse?
Anyone remember "Ebonics"?
I took a text sample and ran it through both a ebonics translator and a leet traslator...
Wh3n 1n d4 k0uR23 0' hUm4n 3v3n72, D4 7H4n9 83C0m32 n3C3554rY pH0' 0N3 n1920r2 74 D1550LV3 d4 p0l171C4l 84nd2 wh1Ch h42 k0NN3c73D D3M w1Ff 4N07h3r, 4N' 74 422uM3 4M0N9 d4 p0w3r2 0' d4 34R7h, d4 53p4r473 4n' 3kw4l 574710n 74 WH1CH d4 L4w2 0' n47uR3 4n' 0' N47UR3'2 90d 3n717l3 D3M, Uh D3C3N7 R35P3c7 74 D4 0P1N10N2 0' M4nk1ND R3kw1R32 D47 d4 n1920r2 5H0Uld D3cL4r3 d4 K4U532 wH1cH 1Mp3L D3M 74 D4 53p4R4710N. 1N 7h3 H00d
--
Does that seem like a good idea?
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
While in the medium of text messages, some shorthand might be in order, but I didn't realize that world paper, pencil, and ink shortages were so severe...
Yeah, and if it weren't for that crippling electron shortage we'd never abbreviate at all! Face it, "text-speak" is lazy no matter what medium you're using.
± 29 dB
Must use restrictive "that": "Proper spelling and grammar are unnatural constructs that were foisted upon the world by upper class tits who needed another way to make themselves feel special." Unless all unnatural constructs were foisted by these people for this reason. No, 95% doesn't count as all.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Math is full of cryptic abbreviatons, and every Student has to learn them in college, if not allready in highschool
EOF
Dear Christ, I find myself greatly disturbed that I understood scrambled l337. I need to go outside more.
Here, I'll fix that for you. It doesn't make any sense otherwise:
Sure, require your stupids to write "properly." Sure, hit them over the head if they don't. But having it affect their math grade doesn't make any sense.
I've never understood why there isn't some kind of auto-completion feature in chat programs. For example, if I typed brb follwed by tab, the output would be I'll be right back. That way, the chat program wouldn't be making people far too comfortable reading weird abbreviations.
I, an American, am currently studying as a foreign exchange student in a French high school. I can tell you right now that you are clearly an imbecile. French people have an almost religious zeal for the presentation, correctness, and organization of their schoolwork. I would be immensely surprised if anyone in France were even thinking about something like this.
Le français vous intéresse?
Perhaps it would be more productive to encourage the use of Gregg shorthand instead of texting. Text-speak is little more than teenager fad, whereas shorthand can actually be a valuable skill in many real world occupations.
While I accept that languages evolve over time, giving academic legitimacy to a shorthand form that still hasn't achieved a clear consensus is idiotic. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a text message abbreviation that was new to me and made little or no sense.
Before I'm accused of dating myself with that comment, I'm certainly younger than the majority of high school teachers so you can imagine the problems they'll encounter grading these papers accurately.
Now, the thing to look at is how language is instinctive. This means you don't learn language in school, but from hearing and participating in it when your growing up. I suggest reading Steven's Pinker's The Language Instinct. What the book is about should be fairly obvious.
There are reasons to believe that Pinker is correct. There are Children who grow up with only a pidgin language to learn from, and they end up "filling in the gaps" so to speak, and come up with a full language just as powerful as English or any other.
What IS learned in school, however, is reading and writing. These are not things that people will learn naturally, as there are an infinite number of ways to represent any word. So, by allowing the New Zealender's (If thats what they are called) to use text speak, its allowing another way to represent the language they speak. This does not mean it will change their langauge, or how they speak.
One thing to note about text speak, is its an offshoot of another written representation. Indeed, I know no better way to learn text speak then to first learn the langauge its based off. So fears of it changing standard english writting forever seem to be ridiciulous, as text speak is based off of it.
Oh fuck no.
One more country to add to the list of 'demonstrations of the might of the Giant Pachinko Machine of Doom' when I begin my reign of terror.
This is really damned stupid, and whoever came up with the idea should be shot, hung, drown, drawn, quartered, poisoned, stabbed, beheaded, and SET THE HELL ON FIRE.
I think New Zealand has lost their right to use the English language. When you make 'you' a one letter word, you've gone and done it. Lewis Black is right, if you're going to fly 18 hours to some place, they should have the common courtesy to speak a different language when you get there, and if not... They should all jump off their island and push it a little closer to one of the other English-speaking nations.
If this shit continues, the term 'Grammar Nazi' is going to take on new meaning, and we're not going to like it.
Friend: "The NIC is misconfigured..." Me: "No prob, I'll just telnet in and fix it." *Silence*
On a whim, I looked up the history of English (as a language), and was facinated the by the change in the language over the years, I suspect what we are going through is something simliar (but at a much faster rate of change). All cultures evolve, and there will always be some who doesn't want it too. Consider American (meaning the United States) English versus England's English, there are pointed differences and they invented the language (I have more than enough English friends who joke about the way we speak, and vice verser.)
Stagnation kills, and change IS inevitable.
Regards,
MBC1977,
(US Marine, College Student, and Proud Parent!)
Regards,
MBC1977,
Leetspeak is easier to read if you just sweep your eyes across the text... instead of picking the individual numbers and symbols, you'll see something similar to a letter. You'll probably miss omething, but you can guess by context.
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
this is actualy almost pure bull!
The proof
It is actualy a realyl interesting page to read, it is mostly just one person who came across the meme (as it really is just an internet meme) and did a little bit of rscreeah (research) into it.
sad aint it....
Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
Could you explain why you think having it affect their math grade doesn't make any sense? If an exam takes longer to be graded than its peers because it is written in poor natural language, that indicates that the student has a problem, which is affecting his ability to do math exams to a level equivalent to his peers. Why should this poor ability to communicate on the subject being tested for be overlooked in math? Do you expect this "affirmative action" principle for poor communicators to apply in other subjects also, or is it just math for some reason?
I haven't read the article yet, I will when I get to work.
For short fill in the blank questions, I see no problem with this. If if only takes a sentence or two to fully answer the question, grammar and spelling really aren't that important.
For essay questions, where you have to fully justify and explain your answer, hell no. These generally don't simply test "do you know this" but also "can you explain this", and the latter can't really be satisfied with textspeak.
The key is whether you are simply answering a question, or writing a paper(even an abbreviated one on a test).
I can understand IM speak if you never learned to type, but if you're IMing people all day, how is it you don't learn to type from that?
And T9's been out a while. With it, there's no advantage with the most common abbreviations like "u" or "4." So unless kids are using really old phones or can't figure out T9, why do they do it?
A friend of mine said his child's teacher refused to teach them cursive writing because it wasn't needed anymore, the Web, newspapers, pretty much everything is written as block text.
I've also noticed quite a few adults "write" notes and letters in block letters instead of cursive, these are business executives, professors not your average Joe they are professionals! It looks childish, it would be even worse if they also used " u r " instead of "you are".
I would expect the United States to condone poor grammar, but New Zealand? I know they've got some bizarre idioms and slang, but I thought every other country took education much more seriously than mine.
Excerpt from a top-notch paper:
People of New Zealand: if you take education seriously, you will do well. If you don't, you end up with a president (prime minister) who will get us stuck in Iraq. Also, you end up with a senator (MP) who leaves out a very important pronoun in a bad joke.
If it's not one thing it's your mother.
When I'm grading, the burden of communication is on the student. It is each student's job not just to know the answer, but to convince me that he or she knows it. No credit if this doesn't happen.
I used to be a lot more forgiving, but practical issues (stacks of quizzes a foot high) pushed me to reexamine my philosophy.
Oh that's a new "grammar" thing. They think it's bad not to be active, as if it takes away from the meaning. You don't see anyone saying Shakespeare couldn't write because he used passive voice, do you? Passive voice is just fine and makes sense in certain circumstances.
look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
There is a mis-perception here, and that is that I am grading students on their prose or the quality of their English, which simply isn't the case. I am grading them on their mathematics, and part of mathematics is writing and expressing mathematics. In the same way that a student may be graded down for failing to provide adequate working (when working is asked for of course - but demonstrating the ability to clearly express your reasoning is as important as the ability to write the correct result), students may be graded down for poorly expressed working, and that may be a result of errors in language. I'm not going to mark a student down for the odd spelling error that might have crept in, but spelling or grammatical errors that result in unclear or ambiguous reasoning is, to me, a problem. If they cannot clearly explain their ideas, how am I to know they actually understand it? Besides, being able to explain your answers is as much a part of mathematics as being able to arrive at them.
If I were to present you with the following:
Solve for x in 2x + 5 = 7;I suspect you would object, and would be willing to mark down that answer. The question is, how is the error there really any different to an error in spelling or grammar that introduces a similarly ambiguous or nonsense statement? I don't accept either, but apparently you will give a student a free ride as long as it's their English grammar that's wrong, even if the result is something that is mathematically incorrect and we're left guessing (as with the example above) as to whether they actually understood but made a typo/error, or simply didn't know.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Short Answer: Move along, nothing to see here, it's an unsubstantiated rumour.
Long Answer:
From a New Zealand Herald article, somewhat more authorative on what's going on in New Zealand than CNN.
Text language risky move in NCEA examinations
Friday November 10, 2006
By Claire Trevett
Students are being warned not to use cellphone texting abbreviations in NCEA exams after reports suggested the shorthand was to be allowed.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is dashing media reports that students could use text abbreviations in exams without penalty if their answers otherwise showed the required understanding.
...
Read the article for more. And get it while it's hot, as NZ Herald only allows access to non-subscribers for a week.
Reading the replies to this story hurts my head. Imagine having to read essays and essays written in AIMSpeak. I would not want to be a teacher in New Zealand right now.
I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
I predict that in the future, we will be able to talk into a phone and the person on the other end can read what we said. Eventually, the technology will be so advanced that we will talk into a phone, and the person on the other end will hear our voice.
now i cn sav tyme bi ritin shrtr wrdz LOOL!
10 November, 2006 The Qualifications Authority is actively discouraging candidates in NCEA exams from using abbreviations, including text-style abbreviations. Deputy Chief Executive, Qualifications, Bali Haque said there had been no change in the Authority's policy in regard to use of abbreviations in examinations. Where an examination requires candidates to demonstrate language use - i.e. sentence structure, grammar, spelling - they would be penalised for using abbreviations, Mr Haque said. Where an examination requires candidates to demonstrate understanding in an area of study other than language use, they need to clearly show the required understanding. In these cases, use of abbreviations creates a risk of answers not being understood, Mr Haque said. "The candidates' priority at all times should be to ensure their answers are clearly understandable to markers. The best way to do this is to use standard English," he said.
I must say that the nzqa website puts it in less wow omg. terms
The English language has gone to the pack. What about these additions:
bootylicious, doobry, feh, google, lesbigay, prairie-dogging, warez.
The Oxford Dictionary has become UrbanDictionary. And yes, I am aware that languages evolve.
What does George Bush's syntax have to do with anything?
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
Back in the 1980's as a graduate student TA (University of Colorado, Boulder) the faculty became increasingly annoyed at that fact and made all undergraduate exams in Molecular and Cell Biology essay exams.
Of course, the poor TA's had to grade the things and it was instantly apparent that even those students who presumably graduated in the upper 1/3 of their class could not write a simple declarative sentence in English. Off to start dating English majors to help with grading homework assignments. Always look at the bright side of things....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
They may as well allow morse code:
? input="Brevity%20is%20the%20soul%20of%20wit.%20Wil liam%20Shakespeare"
http://morsecode.scphillips.com/cgi-bin/morse.cgi
rg! wtf s rng w ths ppl?
http://outcampaign.org/
Insensitive clods! What about other encodings? Will I be able to write my exams in Morse code? How about base64?
http://outcampaign.org/
One of the tasks of a school is to teach students proper English, not devalue it.
Brillant....too bad I don't have any mod points to give. Sad thing is, I understood every word you said ;)
Ad astra per aspera (A rough road leads to the stars)
I see you've never heard of a double major, or doing two degrees separately.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Except, you know, my citation tends to show the original had no mistakes. :-)
Maybe black mariah is an upper class tit.
I didn't even notice it was scrambled until i started consciously looking at the letters.
the numeral '2' is not a word. Also two, to, too and 2 all have different meanings. Luckily those meanings are consistant whatever context you are in. When using '2' as a text-speak word the meaning depends on context.
2 me it seems 2 be more complicated as 2 what 2 means, don't you think so 2?
now does 'ur' mean you are, you're or your ? I would think it is literally "you are". any other way other way of vocalizing it seems to come out like a grunt. urururur is the sound l33t sp33kers make in the bedroom.
if people can use text-speak in exams, can I use words like unF and fapfapfapfap?
there is a time for formal writing(like resumes/CVs, exams), and a time for informal writing(like slashdot, irc, texting your friends, etc)
--
i h8 skript kiddie sp33k.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
OMG!! R U 4 real? LOLOL!!!!111!!!!!
This is not good; how is lowering the bar possibly going to help kids learn?
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
One of the classes I undertook this year for my year 12 was music solo performance. Anyway, this year they changed the course a bit. They added stuff like Algerian Minor, Gypsy Minor, Lydian Dominant, and other stuff no one has heard of, and that you will likely never use. But one of the major changes was that they added the option for guitarists to write some of their answers in Tablature form, which for those who don't know, is very different from notated music.
Basically, because most of the guitarists were having a hard time, they tried to dumb down the system for them instead of teaching them how to read and write notated music. Learning to read notated music helps a lot when learning music theory, which we also do a lot of. Unless you understand the basics, you will never understand the more complex theory, and thus will not become a competent musician.
The same goes for languages. You have to learn the alphabet and a number of words before you can begin to understand it. If you don't learn the basic grammar and spelling, you will only end up confused and misunderstood.
I teach in a school in South Auckland, New Zealand. The teenagers I teach can hardly understand the requirements of the assessments we give them as their literacy standards can be up to four years behind the national average. I wonder if they would achieve better results if the assessment papers were written in txt language also.
Never know, it might be worth an experiment. These answer scripts could be intresting research material for linguists scratching their heads about irregular verbs.
Passive voice can't be correct. It gets flagged by the Microsoft Grammar Checker.
On the face of it and without local grassroots knowledge, I'd be disgusted with New Zealanders too. As always, there's more to the story however.
Well, having said that I actually am disgusted, because sufficient numbers of New Zealand sheeple have voted twice now in continued support of this kind of madness.
Unfortunately, those of us who prefer adult debate to childish ad-hominem attacks, fiscal responsibility to blatant misappropriation of public funds, etc., are in the minority and effectively up against the wall of a deeply insidious socialist regime.
Sadly, the US does not hold a monopoly on collective stupidity as many of us sometimes like to believe. Our education system is something of a litmus test for the whole New Zealand way of life, which has been systematically de-fanged and hobbled over the years to the point where our incomprehensible stupidity manages to make it to Slashdot (to my shame, I might add).
My optimism for the future is also very shaky. I shudder when considering the human garbage rolling out of the New Zealand educational system each and every year; blank-faced dullards with little comprehension or interest in the world around them, partially literate at best and even lacking enough basic arithmatic to make a rough guess at how much change they should expect back from the shopkeeper!
Don't write this off as hyperbole either, I can personally name a dozen kids up to the age of fifteen who can't tell the time from an analogue clock! Kids without even the skills to look up an address in the phonebook!
More and more I am finding that these are the class of morons served up by recruitment agencies, leaving employers sifting through piles of cruft to find the one golden person capable of crafting a coherent e-mail without needing babysitting!
If the kids aren't being educated by their educators or parented by their parents, how can we hope to hold our own on the world stage?
..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ne ws/2005/05/15/nspell15.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/05/15 /ixhome.html
PS: Are there dictionaries for "l33t" so I know when I'm doing it correctly?
No sig today...
The education system in my country is considered to be one of the best in the world. I use perfectly correct grammar at all times but I do see that this approach is sensible. For several years now this has been in place in our schools. Unless you are specifically testing English grammar then it should not count against you. Someone who has a perfectly good understanding of History should not be penalised on their history score because their English is not good enough. Even English Literature is a measure of Literary knowledge and understanding, not grammar.
I never get used to these constant resurrections
If the US can invent its own form of english cause they couldn't handle real (british) english, then why not i say!
Maybe it'll be the new "international language". Although it is comically familiar of the "microsoft english" joke where they "own" english and transform it into a pseudo-german sounding language...
hahhaha Well, to be fair to the M$ Grammar Checker, it IS considered wrong these days, but it's a double standard. The classics which used it are just fine, but if you use it now it's bad. It doesn't make sense, and passive voice sounds right sometimes. I've had English teachers say they think there's nothing wrong with passive voice if you use it right.
look! it's a bird, it's a plane, it's....a girl? yes, a girl browsing Slashdot on Linux
..."The dog ate my homework" will be acceptable in school, provided the student provide stool samples of the animal in question with said homework fragments throughout.
FLR
To quote a friend working in IT for St. John's College in New Zealand:
It is not true. There was an announcement here to all students and teachers
that the media has gotten this very wrong. As an English teacher said, "We
try to teach them good spelling and grammar, and then the media does this.
What is the point of teaching if kids would be allowed to do that?"
Blame seems to go to the Associated Press of America.
By the logic in your own post, you don't have the proper education to make such judgements. Leave it to the professionals.
Though I believe the point the parent was making is that you're not actually reading 1337 at all, but only a couple of letters and that your brain fills in the "blanks" using context etc. As the variation of 1337 you're using still includes normal alphabetic letters this process is made easier, though other variations would also be decipherable.
The human brain sure is powerful.
Perfect is the enemy of done.
You shoulda modded me -1 uninsightful for that.
Actually, I refuse to believe that effect can't be used anywhere affect can. Taken literally, it makes just as much sense. It's just that affect can't be used everywhere effect can. I declare "affect" archaic.
Property is theft.