Three Scripts, One Letter-Writing Rubric, and Eleven Identical Copies
The 5-mark writing task in the half-yearly Gujarati paper is: 'તમારી બહેનના લગ્નમાં જવા માટે બે દિવસની રજા માગતો પત્ર તમારા વર્ગશિક્ષકને લખો.' The rubric circulated to markers is format 2, content 2, language 1. Three of the 58 scripts are on the teacher's desk. Script A has the complete format - sender's address, date, receiver, subject, salutation, body, closing - but the body is two lines ('મને બે દિવસની રજા જોઈએ છે. કૃપા કરી રજા આપશો.'), and it carries nine spelling errors, including 'વિધાર્થી' for 'વિદ્યાર્થી' and 'ક્રપા' for 'કૃપા'. Script B has no sender's address and no subject line, but gives the dates, the reason, a promise to complete missed work, and correct, fluent Gujarati throughout. Script C matches, word for word, a letter printed in a market guide, and eleven other scripts in the bundle are identical to it.
1. Award marks to Script A and Script B under the stated rubric and justify each sub-mark.
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Script A: format 2, content 1, language 0 - total 3. Format is genuinely complete, so those 2 marks are earned; the rubric rewards it and consistency matters. Content gets 1 of 2: the request exists but the two dates, the occasion and the undertaking to catch up are all missing, so the letter does not do its communicative job. Language gets 0: nine spelling errors in a five-line letter, including two high-frequency words, means accuracy is not demonstrated at the expected level.
Script B: format 1, content 2, language 1 - total 4. Missing address and subject costs 1 format mark, but date, salutation and closing are present, so the second format mark stands. Content is full: occasion, dates, request, and a responsible undertaking. Language is clean.
The two profiles are the point of the exercise. A is a shell with a correct shape and no substance; B is substance with an incomplete shape. The rubric, read criterion by criterion, separates them correctly and rewards B's greater communicative competence, which is what a writing task should measure.
2. Decide what to do with Script C and the eleven identical scripts, and defend the decision against a charge of inconsistency with Script A's mark.
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Script C and its eleven twins cannot receive 5. The task tests composition; a verbatim copy from a printed guide demonstrates access to a guide, not the ability to write a letter. Marking it full would also mean the twelve students who composed their own letters are ranked alongside students who did not compose at all.
Recommended handling: first confirm the copying (identical wording, including any oddity peculiar to the guide), then check the exam rules for the paper. If printed material is prohibited, treat it under the malpractice clause and refer to the head. If it is not formally prohibited, cap the score at 2 out of 5 - the format components can be credited, the content and language cannot - and re-test those twelve orally or with a fresh prompt.
The consistency challenge is answered by the criteria, not by the totals. Script A earned its 3 through demonstrated, if weak, performance: it produced its own sentences, however thin. Script C produced none. Equal totals are not required where the evidence is of a different kind; transparency requires only that the reason be written down and applied to all twelve identically.
3. Rewrite the prompt and the rubric so that copying is difficult and the marking is finer-grained.
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Change the prompt to force personal particulars that no guide can supply: 'તમારી બહેનના લગ્ન 14 અને 15 ડિસેમ્બરે છે. તમે 13 ડિસેમ્બરે નીકળવાના છો અને 16 ડિસેમ્બરે શાળામાં પાછા આવશો. તે દિવસોમાં ગણિતની કસોટી છે. આ વિગતો સાથે બે દિવસની રજા માગતો પત્ર લખો.' A copied letter will now be missing the required dates and the test, and the marker can see it at once.
Refine the rubric to half marks: format 2 (sender's address 0.5, date 0.5, receiver and subject 0.5, salutation and closing 0.5); content 2 (occasion and dates 0.5, clear request 0.5, undertaking about the test 0.5, appropriate tone 0.5); language 1 (spelling 0.5, sentence fluency 0.5).
State the spelling policy on the rubric itself - for example, up to two spelling slips do not affect the language mark, more do - so that Script A-type cases are settled by rule rather than by marker mood. Announce the policy to the class before the exam; fairness in writing assessment depends far more on publishing the criteria than on tightening the marking.