Role cards

Prof. G. Aged 51

You are Head of the English Department and conduct a special meet­ing to discuss what form of assessment is more efficient and reliable: ex­ams or continuous assessment. You are of the opinion that exams are a well-tried system, but you do not object to abolishing exams in one of the years, possibly in the first year, and introducing continuous assess­ment as an experiment.

At the end of the discussion you sum up the arguments presented

and hold a vote.

NB: The results of the vote will be taken to the Academic secretary of the university.

Lecturer M. Aged 49

You are a senior lecturer in the English Department. You are con­vinced that exams are the best quick way of assessing a student. Their reliability has been proved again and again. The exam system may not be perfect, but it's the best we have; it may be painful, but so are many things in life. You voice your support for the exams rather cat­egorically.

Lecturer E. Aged 54

You are a senior lecturer in the English Department. You agree that the most successful students are not always the best educated, they are the best trained in the technique or working under duress/pressure. Possible faults of the exams are not the faults of the system itself but of the teacher — that is your conviction. However there are advantages in continuous assessment, as it is probably more objective, but it needs to

318

be proved/tested. So you suggest an experiment (exams abolished, con­tinuous assessment introduced) with a group of students.

Lecturer P. Aged 32

You are a junior lecturer in the English Department. You think that exams as a form of assessment must be abolished altogether. Your argu­ ments are as follows: firstly, exams are a test of memory not ability. They encourage memorising, restrict reading and induce cramming and sec­ ondly, as anxiety-makers exams are second to none, because so much depends on them. Lecturer A. . Aged 29

You are a junior lecturer in the English Department. You speak in favour of continuous assessment as it is more objective and a student has to work continuously but not rapidly under the extreme pressure of exams. It motivates a student to read widely and to seek more and more knowledge, eliminating cramming. Besides it's a pity that teachers them­ selves are often judged by examination results and instead of teaching their subjects they are reduced to training their students in exam tech­ niques which they despise. Ann/Peter Aged 22

You are a final-year student in the English Department. You are clev­ er and a bit lazy. You have a knack of concentration under pressure and are always successful at exams. You are against continuous assessment because it is sure to reveal the gaps in your knowledge. While stating your arguments you address Lecturer E., a senior lecturer, because he/ she will be your examiner this term. Lucy/Andrew Aged 23

You are a final-year student in the English Department. You think exams should be abolished. Your arguments are, firstly, no one can show his knowledge to advantage after a sleepless night or when he/she is in mortal terror (some recollections of your personal experience would serve as good proof), secondly, examiners may be subjective at times.

NB: You are an industrious student, you work hard during the term but unlike Ann/Peter you don't have a knack of working rapidly under the extreme pressure of exams.

319