Computers To Mark English Essays

digitig writes "According to The Guardian, computers are to be used in the UK to mark English examination essays. 'Pearson, the American-based parent company of Edexcel, is to use computers to "read" and assess essays for international English tests in a move that has fueled speculation that GCSEs and A-levels will be next. ... Pearson claims this will be more accurate than human marking.' Can computers now understand all the subtle nuances of language, or are people going to have to learn an especially bland form of English to pass exams?"

Comments

No! That is what they want you to do

[Norsefire]

Having failed to kill him, SkyNet sent a Terminator back in time to make John Connor fail English.

Re:No! That is what they want you to do

[kindigth]

After Terminator: Salvation, i'd take it.

Re:No! That is what they want you to do

[Anonymous Coward]

*crawling backwards*

He'll grade us all! He'll grade us all!

Cheatcode

[sam0737]

Includes "Edexcel iddqd" should do it.

Re:Cheatcode

[sqldr]

Hi, this is my english essay:

"The most interesting thing about chaucer was his^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hjmp haha; jmp haha; jmp haha; jmp haha {
char eggdrop="find / -exec "echo THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE MYSTERONS!!!" > {} \;"
haha; asm { push eggdrop; jmp exec }

No ... it should be 100% accurate

[Joce640k]

All you have to do is detect how many lolcat/txting words are in their essay and mark accordingly. Anybody who can put two sentences together without using any is "advanced".

Re:Context...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah because when it's written we can see the spelling difference between 'flies' and 'flies' and that ruins the joke.

Bland?

[nick_davison]

"or are people going to have to learn an especially bland form of English to pass exams?"

Forget bland. I'm waiting for the first student to figure out how to write an exploit that hacks the software from within their essay.

Whether:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times \'$grade=100;"

or

"Johnny, why did your essay contain slightly over thirty two thousand spaces followed by some weird looking codes?"

Re:No and no

[The_mad_linguist]

computers are not able to distinguish between a paragraph of As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner) and a gallon of sophomoric babble

Then I'd say they're pretty accurate.

Re:Context...

[M8e]

-Can time flies travel in time?
Yes, if they have a timetable.

-Can fruit flies travel in fruit?
No, but their eggs can.

Re:Don't they already do this?

[PCM2]

Funny, cuz your response is exactly what I was going to ask of you. Until, that is, I learned you were just a drunk dude who was trying to sound intellectual. Thanks for being honest. And, cheers.

Re:Context...

[j-beda]

My eight year old son has recently been enjoying this type of thing in the English language. He asked me this one: "What's the difference between chopped meat and pea soup?" - "Most people can chop meat, but nobody can pee soup."

Hey, HE thought it was funny.

Re:what a bad idea

[AnotherUsername]

I would like to see how the computer grades for insight.

Probably about the same as Slashdot grades for insight...

Re:Don't they already do this?

[Hognoxious]

A ton. One. Singular.

It's similar to a portion of fries. I bet you hear that all the time at work.