Re: [Phys-L] Lab reports by non-native English speakers

[Joseph Bellina <inquirybellina@comcast.net>]

Sorry Peter but you are responsible for their physics learning so unless their writing leads to confusion about their physics thinking I would accept what they write. As language learners they have enough stress don’t add to it by grading their writing.

Best

Joe

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 22, 2021, at 10:24 AM, Peter Schoch <pschoch@fandm.edu> wrote:
>
> I am in a quandry, and need some perspective from anyone who routinely has
> non-native English speakers in their classes.   This is the first time, in
> a long time, that I have non-native English speaking foreign students in my
> Physics class (and not all from the same country).  I have all my students
> write lab reports, one every other week, rather than "papers" -- I consider
> this the science-y equivalent of writing across the curriculum.
>
> My problem is that because these students are not native speakers their
> grammar suffers.  I don't want to penalize them for not being native
> English speakers/writers, on the other hand I believe I need to deduct some
> points for failings.  For instance, awkward phrasing or poor word choice
> may just be a translation problem and I want to allow that -- with
> suggestions for improvement.  However, conjoining sentences into run-ons,
> or having poor transitions between ideas I would think are not translation
> problems and should be penalized.
>
> I would be grateful for any suggestions, etc.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Peter Schoch
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