Page 27 - ELG1806 June Issue 458

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challenge they face is that the students are very
highly motivated and have very high levels of
proficiency in English.
However, the students are often ‘naughty’
because the English classes are not really
challenging enough.
The teachers are worried that their own levels of
English is not keeping up with their students. The
I’ve seen the variety of
experiences sitting side-by-
side in Chinese education
and I can’t see an easy way
to reduce this diversity to a
tidy ‘we’ or ‘us’
students and their demanding parents are worried
that they need to compete against young people
from all over the world to gain places in the elite
universities they dream of.
These are just two recent examples I’ve seen
of the variety of experiences sitting side-by-side
in Chinese education and I can’t see an easy way
to reduce this diversity to a tidy ‘we’ or ‘us’. For
me, the only ‘we’ that has any useful place in the
discussion of developing ELT in China is the ‘we’
in the sentence I find myself using more frequently
than any other… ‘Don’t worry. We’ll try to work it
out together!’
n Simon Cox is a freelance teacher trainer and
consultant for ELT, and divides his time between China
and the UK.
editorial@elgazette.com
p26-27.indd 3 6/5/2018
OF THE
BOX
Are exams a
form of child
abuse?
Exams can be intrinsically unfair and do
not allow many young people to flourish
I have a brother and we both of caring that these people, a
had to sit our 0 Level exams in stable minority of the cohort,
our mid-teens. Bernard slept are automatically disadvantaged.
badly the nights before the The experts mumble eloquently
exams, he was sweating as he on about the ‘fairness’ of the
entered the examination hall exam questions.
and his writing hand was hard In many students’ exam
for him to control. He only preparation the focus is on a
passed one of his exams, English ‘mistakes avoidance’ state of
language. mind. Does it make sense to
Facing a test or examination, hobble a horse before he is
I felt ready and aggressively meant to show off his paces?
happy: I’d show ‘em! Mostly,
my confident state of body and In many
mind got me the high marks I
yearned for (Yeah, you may well students’ exam
dislike this brat…).
Our father said that of the preparation
two of us Bernard was the more the focus is
intelligent one. Pa had coached
us both and I feel he was right. on ‘mistakes
Yet the British state exams
opened my way to Oxbridge and avoidance’
levered Bernard into completely
other paths. Deep inside me I
know those exams failed to get My yucky 14-year-old arrogant
our just measure in any of the
subjects we took. state of mind would serve most
British EFL exam boards
candidates better in the test
have sometimes called in situation.
the US testing experts Lyle It is well known that there is
Bachmann and Adrian Palmer a surge in young people ringing
as consultants. Their magnum helplines like Childline and
opus, Language Testing in Samaritans at exam time in the
Practice, runs to nearly 400 early summer. The Professional
pages of which only eleven are Association of Teachers once
devoted to the situation and even asked: ‘Are exams a form
psychology of the test taker. Do of child abuse?’ Maybe they
they even deal with inevitable are and should be replaced by
biological problems of the test continuous assessment.
takers? It is clear that a quarter
of female test takers will be n Mario Rinvolucri is a Pilgrims
menstruating on any given associate and former-editor of
exam day. It is also known that Humanising Language Teaching.
periods can be painful. Lyle and He is co-author of The Confidence
Bachman and the rest of the Book: building trust in the language
testing community show no sign classroom, with Paul Davis.
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