Universities concerned over student literacy
Posted Feb 1, 2010 04:38:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Some concerning news about Canadian student literacy as the University of Waterloo says 30 per cent of its students are failing its mandatory English Language Proficiency Exam.
Simon Fraser in B-C says one in 10 students coming in from high school fails to qualify for writing-intensive courses they need to graduate.
Emotions, happy faces, the word “cuz” instead of “because” and commas sprinkled around like parmesan cheese are turning up in essays and submissions.
Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are getting part of the blame.
But just plain bad grammar instruction, or in some cases no grammar instruction at all is also being cited.
One academic disagrees, saying these complaints have been around since Socrates.
