Should foreign language learners be allowed to use cheat sheets during an exam?

Should Teachers Allow “Cheating” on Exams?

“What!“

“Are you kidding me?“

“Are you serious?“

Yes, I can hear you now. Yes I’m serious. Should students be allowed to use cheat sheets?cribs“,”chancucos“or whatever you want to call them, during tests or exams?

“For the love of God, no.“

“Absolutely not“

“No way Jose!“

“Are you crazy?“

Hey, I bet there’ll even be a couple of “No way in H —-!“answers.

But hang on there Hoss. Just a minute. Listen to me before you form a group to come find me.

The foreign language assessment experience

Most foreign language schools, institutes, and programs schedule formal assessments or exams multiple times per semester, level, or whatever their term division. For the most part, they are also not pleasant or positive experiences for teachers or students of foreign languages. Teachers, especially, can have a better experience on test day if they have their eyes in the back of their head and can be in three places at the same time. (Yeah right) Otherwise, you may want to consider some alternatives or adjustments to smooth out the test-taking process. Often times, the teacher must receive and review a wheelbarrow of assignments, texts, essays, or compositions or workbooks before an exam. Sometimes just before a scheduled exam on the same day. If the poor thing has more than one class group scheduled for a test on the same day, get the Bacardi out, guys.

Foreign language students and exams

It’s certainly not a bed of roses for your foreign language students either. After a period of cramming verb conjugations, vocabulary lists, idioms and expressions, and pronunciation into their heads and throats, the stress of an exam usually doesn’t bode well for them. This, of course, doesn’t even mention the myriad of grammar rules and exceptions that they continually had to swallow and somehow internalize for the past few weeks.

“What do you think the night before the exam was like for most foreign language learners?“

Yes me too.

Foreign language learning qualifications

If we consider for a moment, the true purposes of foreign language learning assessments in both formal and informal aspects, we find that the assessments serve to:

– Validate the level of knowledge of the students

– Provide feedback on the teaching methodology.

– Highlight areas of weakness in the student’s knowledge of the foreign language

– Establish the current level of communication skills in foreign languages.

– Show students what they really know or don’t know

The frequency and degree of detail determined will depend on the school, institute or program. To ultimately assist in this process, standards such as the Common European Framework have been established to provide internationally accepted rubrics both for institutions and for teachers in preparation of evaluations.

Open book ratings

While not typical in many school districts, the “open book” style of student assessment is valid. Students can use their notes, their textbook, or even a specially prepared set of pages as reference material while taking an exam. Thus, the responsibility of the teacher or exam preparer is to create an assessment that is challenging in the manner and type of responses required to obtain a “correct” answer to the assessment questions. If the goal is more critical thinking or a conceptual comparison of the main topics taught, allowing students to access texts or notes will not give the student any clear advantage.

There is no real “hoax” for critical thinking or comparative analytical skills. These types of evaluations help define the student’s ability to apply the knowledge they have received to practical (or theoretical) situations, providing a much more valuable view of the educational process for both the teacher and the student. Therefore, whether or not students can access reference materials during an assessment will most likely depend on the type of assessment they are taking.

In subsequent articles in this series, we’ll explore the concept further.

Until then.