The Past That Is Not Past
In a 1-mark grammar item, students must choose the correct form: 'ನಾನು ಊಟ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನು ಬಂದನು' (A) or 'ನಾನು ಊಟ ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನು ಬಂದನು' (B). The key lists only A. In Section B, 17 students chose A, 19 chose B, and 4 left it blank. The grammar note in the textbook says ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾಗ marks an action in progress and ಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾಗ marks a completed action before another past action. The stem has no time clue beyond 'when he came'. The teacher must finalise marks before the sheets go to scanning at 5 p.m. A parent has already complained about 'ambiguous grammar' in an earlier test. The section has 40 students.
1. Should the key be changed? Decide and justify.
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Yes. The item is ambiguous as written. A means 'while I was eating, he came'; B can mean 'when I had eaten/finished eating, he came'. Both are grammatical Kannada sentences, and the stem gives no clue whether the coming overlapped the eating or followed it. Keeping only A punishes students who read B as a completed-before-past sequence. The cleanest fix before scanning is to void the item and award 1 mark to all 40 students, or accept both A and B. Do not simply add B to the key and still call the item valid; the item is testing guesswork, not the tense contrast. Record the flaw for item review.
2. Rewrite the item so that it tests the contrast and has one defensible key.
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Put the time relation in the stem, not in the key. For example: 'ಅವನು ಬಂದಾಗ ನಾನು ಊಟ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ.' Ask: 'Which form shows that the eating was still in progress when he came?' Options: ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ / ಮಾಡಿದ್ದೆ. Key: ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆ. For the completed-before meaning, use a separate item: 'ನಾನು ಊಟ ಮುಗಿಸಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅವನು ಬಂದನು.' Ask which form shows the eating was finished first. The context must force one reading; otherwise the item repeats the same flaw.
3. How should the teacher respond to the parent's complaint about ambiguous grammar?
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Acknowledge the specific issue rather than defending the key. Explain that the stem did not disambiguate ongoing versus completed action, that the department's grammar note supports both forms in different contexts, and that the item was voided or both answers accepted. State what will change: context will be included in future items, and items will be pre-checked for a single defensible key. This is more credible than saying 'the key is always right' and it models accurate grammar rather than authority.