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| 2009/02/14 04:32:56瀏覽2554｜回應3｜推薦20 | |
也是今天的新聞，堪薩斯州州考的寫作測驗試卷裡，出了一個錯字，把 "the emission of greenhouse gases" 中的 "emission，"拼成了 "omission，" 一個字母之差，意思天差地別，從前後文意來看，明顯是個錯誤，也經過證實是個錯誤。 台灣的讀者也許會認為，考卷印錯了，常有的事，沒什麼了不起，何況只是把e印成 o 而已。是嗎？請先不要這麼快下定論。 讓我們先看看美國州考是何等的大事。美國各州的州考是因應聯邦政府NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND法案的要求而來的，法案要求每一州每年要對該州四年級（含）及以上的中小學學生，每年要依年級，進行一次全面的學力測驗，主要是考英文和數學，後來又加上自然科學，題目和標準都由各州自訂。考試成績的結果如果不好，對各個學校來說，不僅是面子問題，還牽涉到處分。聯邦可能會撤消或減少經費的補助，而州政府可能會勒令學校停辦或接管。 再讓我們看看這個錯誤是如何發生的，根據報導，這分試卷是經過三十多位老師的合作和校稿之後做出來的。我們知道寫作測驗的題數和字數都不多，經過了三十多位老師的合作和校稿，無法發現這一個錯誤。 如果這還不夠令人覺得驚奇，那還有下文。這份試卷，已經用過二年了，對，別驚訝，同樣的試卷連用二年，他們並不認為有什麼。這兩年總共有五十個高中的學生考過這份試卷。經過了三十多位老師的合作和校稿，經過了二年，五十個高中的考生考試，沒有人發現這個錯誤。 那麼這個錯誤是怎麼發現的？終於，一個叫做傑佛瑞的高中生在考試的時候發現的，他覺得有問題，於是告訴他的英文考師，英文老師再向學區的測驗主管反映，學區的測驗主管再告訴州政府有關官員。 附帶一提，美國的州考和台灣的基測、學測、指考的方式有點像，只是更簡單一點。這個州考，在每個學校都有專人負責執行。通常在三月份左右施測，題目是一樣的，但是考試時間和日期卻是不統一的。考完以後，至少要半年才會知道結果。我沒看過有那個學校在考完以後，和學生檢討試題的。 其實台灣的基測、學測、指考等，明顯是學美國的，但是不會等到半年以後成績才出得來。 ======= http://www.kansas.com/news/v-print/story/697253.htmlPosted on Thu, Feb. 12, 2009 Error on state test slips past everyone -- except East High studentBY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita Eagle Geoffrey Stanford's teachers always tell him to read tests carefully. Every sentence. Every word. Slow down. Make sure you understand what's being asked, and then proceed. So while taking his state writing test last week, the East High junior saw something that didn't make sense: The word "emission" -- as in "the emission of greenhouse gases" -- was spelled "omission." "I thought, 'Surely they're not talking about leaving out carbon dioxide altogether.' It just didn't make sense," said Stanford, 17. "It had to be a mistake." It was. Stanford, a linebacker and International Baccalaureate student, alerted English teacher Jennifer Fry, who alerted the district test coordinator, who alerted state education officials, who were, as you might imagine, embarrassed. "You hate that sort of thing to happen, but it happens," said Karla Denny, spokeswoman for the State Department of Education, which created the test. "We're human." No one before Stanford had reported the error, Denny said. "It amazes me. This went through all the channels, and the pilot project, and nobody caught it," said Denny, a former English teacher. "I think it's one of those things where the people writing the test were so close to it, they probably just read over it. It looked right." "They're perceptive readers," she said. Stanford, who prefers math to literature and plans to study mechanical engineering or sports medicine, said he doesn't consider himself a fabulous proofreader. "But when I edit my own papers, I'm a stickler for grammar and vocabulary and the correct use of words," he said. "It annoys me when I see mistakes." He and Fry shared a laugh over the test error. It reminded them of a book the class read recently -- Thomas C. Foster's "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" -- in which Foster proclaims, "Irony trumps everything." "What is this," Stanford said, "if not ironic?" ================= |
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