Marking Students' Written wORK

For the last two weeks during the EFL team weekly meetings,  there have been   professional talks about marking students papers and how we teachers can assist our students to perform better in writing classes. The talks, inputs and comments given by the wonderful team have given me  insights into the writing process and inspired me to write down my thoughts on the marking students' written work on a sort of article                 It is of paramount  importance that teachers give students a meaningful feedback on their written work such as essays, reports, letters, and other guided writing genres.  Students need to be corrected as part of the learning experience, and have a meaningful feedback that assesses their performance based on clear assessment criteria and gives them suggestions for improvement. It is not enough to identify the problem, but to show students how their mistakes affect their performance and suggest ways for improvement. Correction, is often mixed with marking, needs to take place, and is expected and desired by students.                       There are three basic approaches to correcting written work: 1) Correct each mistake 2) Give a general impression marking 3) Underline mistakes and / or give clues to the type of mistakes made and then let students correct the work themselves. Each approach has its dis/advantages. Which approach to adopt totally depends on the nature, purpose and level of the writing task. In my view teachers should not stick to a certain approach but vary and modify the techniques based on students and course needs.              After spending hours correcting student compositions, we are often disappointed when we return papers to our students, only to see them glance at their grade and tuck them away in a binder or  a bag. This is what usually happens; but why? Simply because there is nothing else that would students look  at and show their satisfaction or in almost most cases dissatisfaction. however.  Research has shown that through correction codes, students can correct their own errors and teachers make writing more of a learning activity. Using the correction code does not make marking papers more efficient, but it does provide students with an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and to gain confidence in their ability to write.  The number of codes may vary based on the students level, course objectives and the writing task itself; however, they have been common codes used by teachers all over the world. The link -Correction code- leads you to a website with resources to this technique. I also pasted below the correction code we should use in our writing lessons.           For marking to operate effectively as feedback, the language, conventions and symbols used by the teacher must be clear, concise and capable of being acted on by the student. Much time and effort can be saved if a set of symbols is used: the teacher does not need to write in the correct word, form or phrase each time, and s/he can see at a glance whether a student’s errors tend to fall into particular categories. For students, the symbols serve as a prompt to think through for themselves the process of checking their work for gender, agreement, tense, and so on, instead of passively seeing the correct forms without doing anything to process them mentally.            In order to use the correction code, you need to introduce these codes to your students ; you may want to give each student a copy at the beginning of the term.  If duplicating facilities are not available, teachers can put the correction code on the class board for students to copy on the first day of class.  The teacher should allow students to help each other and should step in to offer help only when it is clear they need an explanation or assistance. An entire class period should be spent the first time or two that students rewrite a composition. It will take them time to get used to the symbols in the correction code and to get used to correcting and rewriting their compositions on their own. Later on, the teacher may wish to allow 10 minutes at the end of class to hand back originals and have students look over them and ask questions about errors the teacher has marked. Students can then complete their rewrites as homework.                Correction code is effective in improving students' writing skill, but it is not sufficient by its own.  Even though the first thing (and in some cases the only thing) they look at is the overall mark or grade, students, as a shown in many studies, welcome feedback and generally feels that it helps them. Written comments on and at the end of a piece of work are an essential part of formative assessment. Only through written comments on a piece of work can the tutor put each student’s individual needs, at this stage of the course, first. Teachers can comment on and write notes about two major elements: a)comment on content, style and organization, and b)comments on certain language points.

              Correction is not an issue. Correction needs to take place, and is expected and  as I said earlier desired by students. However, the manner in which teachers correct students plays a vital role in whether students become confident in their usage or become intimidated. Correcting students as a group, in correction sessions, at the end of activities, and letting them correct their own mistakes all help in encouraging students to use English rather than to worry about making too many mistakes.

Marking Students' Written Work with Correction Codes

Most teachers use a correction code when they mark written work so that the student can do some self-correction. You can devise your own symbols but this table shows some possibilities.

Mark	Error Indicated
/\	A word is missing
/	Start a new sentence
//	Start a new paragraph
Gr	Grammar error
Sp	Spelling error
P	Punctuation error
Art	Error with articles (a, an, the)
c/unc	Countable/uncountable error (you can use a/an before countable nouns but never before uncountable noun)
Wo	Wrong word order
Ww	Wrong word
Wt	Wrong tense
Wf	Wrong form
Irreg	Irregular verb
?	Unclear