Pronouns in maths exams

[OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow]

I scribe for GCSEs. Today was aqa maths, calculator paper. Now maths textbooks and exams have long done diverse names in the examples, eg, Sarah and Rashid are making cakes...Dafydd is planting a garden, Safira is buying rope. You get the drift. This year though I’ve noticed that gender neutral has been introduced. So Kai is making a cake, they use 50 grams of sugar. One could say that making the questions genderless is ok, and maybe so if it was consistent. So there was they their, he him and she her. A few of my fellow sribers said that their candidates were confused by the wording of the questions (especially the they/theirs, the kids thought there were more than one person being talked about). I was talking about it with the maths teachers later and all of them said why can’t it be Student A, student B? And especially why cant the exam board be consistent?

Additionally I have read many professionally written articles in major newspapers where 'the grammar' does not make it as clear as it could be how many people are referred to by 'they' - and it's the fact that it COULD be written more clearly, but the choice has been taken not to (or they haven't realised) that adds to the confusion as to the meaning.

Of course they do. Pronoun people are a little sect that the normal world mainly ignores.

Maths and English papers are difficult enough without making them unnecessarily confusing

i said this would cause problems wa called transphobic

getting ridiculous

I was invigilating a small group of students taking the OCR maths paper this morning. There were at least a couple of questions which used 'they' instead of he/she. It's at best unnecessary and at worst confusing.

It is confusing. We often use “they” in informal speech as a singular or general pronoun: that’s been the case for a long time. Correct grammatical use in the formal written register, however, uses singular and plural pronouns. There are good reasons for this, including clarity and precision. In informal speech “they” can often also be used as a deictic as well as a pronoun, which clarifies the referent of the pronoun (in informal speech we are also far more used to pronouns that might not always agree with their referents). But it’s important for the referent of a pronoun to be clear in formal usage, especially when readers require clear rules and instructions.

We’ve all managed to separate formal and informal usage in many different forms for centuries and centuries. It would be stupid to write a GCSE maths paper in textspeak, no? It would be distracting and confusing. We manage to recognise that with no problem. Same with informal vs formal uses of pronouns. An exam requires clear and grammatically correct language.

(Not to mention that the singular “they” has long been a marker of poor literacy in formal writing. Fine if you want to try to change that, but an exam isn’t the place for it.)

Long term readers of this board might remember this little gem from 2019.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scientists-fail-edexcel-exam-board-for-confusing-sex-and-gender-in-its-gcse-exam-28hxv9c9d

Edexcel asked students taking a GCSE paper last month to identify the “gender” shown by a set of chromosomes, then told them to show how “gender is inherited” from parents.

Ha! When both sides would say you're wrong perhaps you need to rethink!

How long before this starts infecting Biology papers?

The exam papers will have been written so that there is no possible confusion over the number of characters referred to for calculations of answers.

You will be aware of course, that it is perfectly possible to do this.

Exam papers should reflect the common present English usage.

People may want to bury their heads in the sand but maybe they should chat to some 14-16 years olds instead.

You're just making yourself look stupid now.

If a question in a maths exam could be interpreted as either singular or plural then it's a problem because there is only one correct answer to maths questions and some students will get it wrong because the language isn't clear. One mark can make a difference between grades or between a pass and a fail.

It matters.

How old are you out of interest?

Many people taking GCSEs are adult learners returning to education in later life, even attempting to gain qualifications in prison etc., so age should be irrelevant here suggestions.

Of course it matters.

And that is why the questions will be written in such a way that no confusion is possible.

People may want to bury their heads in the sand but maybe they should chat to some 14-16 years olds instead.

Lots of us have teens. Most of them aren't immersed in this weird pronoun bubble.

I remember a big fuss when I was at school because there was a maths exam question about calculating the area of the gable end of a house. The fuss was because not everyone knew exactly what was meant by the gable end. I seem to remember the advice (afterwards) being that in case of confusion, demonstrate what you thought the gable end was (ie draw the shape) then show your calculations about that. At least by showing your thinking you could be marked on your method and accuracy and hopefully not penalized for it knowing what a gable end was.

Anyway, my point is that exams need to be as clear as possible to avoid unnecessary confusion and further stress in what is already a stressful situation.

People may want to bury their heads in the sand but maybe they should chat to some 14-16 years olds instead.

You're also not listening to those of us who work with 14-16 year olds who do have difficulties with language. They might be able to pass maths with a lot of work, but it doesn't mean that the language aspects are easy for them. And it's a disability that means just explaining things to them doesn't work. The whole problem with language disabilities is that things like pronouns are confusing at the best of times. They miss out on all kind of clues about which pronoun refers to which person, what order words are in, what's the subject/object, how it all fits together, what 'each' refers to, whether something has happened or might be going to happen, whether something is a statement or a question. It's already SO easy for them to misunderstand a question, and to not even realise that they are doing so, and not to know to ask anything further. Why make things worse?!

'Petra will receive one fifth share of an inheritance of £250. How much will they receive?'

Is that confusing?

Yet more info I just found from Ofqual.
www.gov.uk/government/news/new-ofqual-guidance-on-making-assessments-accessible-for-students

Over complication of language is an issue, it does disadvantage some groups of students above others, and it is not necessary in a paper that is supposed to be testing maths.

You're keen to ask questions, suggestions, but less willing to answer them. I left you some Yes/No/Don't Know ones over at a thread the other day which you've ignored. No GCSE required: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4563778-northumbria-university-sarah-phillimore-and-harry-miller-seen-as-a-safety-and-wellbeing-risk-to-an-entire-university?page=7

That's not just me saying that, it's the Ofqual chief regulator (quote from link above)

"If an exam is intended to assess understanding of complex language, then of course the questions will use complex language. But if an exam is assessing numerical skills, it does not need to include complex language which could get in the way of some students showing those skills."

Yes. Students who don't necessariily read well or accurately might think they've missed part of the question about †he other people, and try to work out the remainder that Petra doesn't receive, for example. Or many other possibilities. The point is that they are already struggling with language and reading, and often that they don't realise that themselves, so won't seek clarification if something doesn't make sense - they're used to things being confusing and not making sense, so the fact that they don't remember who else might have received the money wouldn't be that unusual.

And of course, it's quite possible to write a single question where it's not confusing. it won't be, every time, to every child. But †hat doesn't mean it's a good principle to follow in general, because often it will be confusing.

You seem to have no understanding of the depth of language problems that children with DLD or dyslexia or other issues can face, that don't mean that they shouldn't be allowed to try for a grade 4 in maths. They might well struggle hugely - but give them all the reasonable chances they can have by not making the wording worse.

It's bizarre to me that anyone could claim there is zero chance a word that might mean one person or plural people could be misinterpreted. But I have seen the use of language and the steadfast refusal to ever clarify terms that are used frequently, so I guess it's all part of the same sort of attitude that clarity is something to shy away from.

I also find it bizarre that someone is... guessing what the question the OP describes is? Imagining it? To try and prove that a made-up question is ok?

(I would be confused by the wording of 'receive one fifth share' in that - if I came across that I would wonder why they hadn't called it 'a one-fifth share' or 'a 1/5 share' and if the different way of wording it meant they were asking for something other than a one-fifth share).

I do actually work in this area.

Students should be competent for the qualifications they are entered into.

Reasonable adjustments are of course possible but must preserve the integrity of the qualification.

The language should be reasonably accessible but of course when you get to problem solving questions after a certain level the language necessarily reflects the complexity of the maths standards the student is required to demonstrate their competence in.

It is reasonable for the present cohort of students to appreciate the use of they/their in the singular, and questions will be framed in such a way that it would not be possible for there to be confusion over singular/plural.

Going back to my earlier point, DD would have looked for the one fifth and £250. She's a fairly average student.

Lots of us have teens. Most of them aren't immersed in this weird pronoun bubble.

Neither are mine, yet the apparent use of they in the questions wasn't noticed by DD.

I stopped reading this thread after a certain point but thanks for reminding me, I will read the latest and add to it again when I get a minute.