Grammar: Dialect form versus prescribed answer key in karok and samas
You are finalising a 10-item grammar test (1 mark each) for Class XII Santali. Item 6 asks students to fill in the correct case marker (karok) in a sentence about giving a book to a friend. The answer key gives the form used in the prescribed grammar book. One student, from a district where a different but widely used case-marker variant is normal, writes that variant. It is grammatical in his speech and is understood by every Santali speaker in the room; the question does not say "use the prescribed written standard." Item 9 asks students to expand a compound (samas) and name its type. A second student expands it correctly but gives the wrong type label. The teacher wants to mark both wrong because "the key is the key." You must decide the policy for the whole script set, not just these two papers, and record it for moderation.
1. Decide the mark for item 6 and item 9. Justify the different treatment.
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Item 6: award 1 mark. The tested skill is whether the student can select a case marker that fits the grammatical relation. The district variant does that. Santali has regional variation, and the item did not instruct students to use one prescribed written form. Marking it wrong would test the student's district, not their grammar. Record the variant in the moderation notes and, if the department wants a single written standard, say so in the question stem next time ('use the form given in the prescribed grammar').
Item 9: award 0 marks. The item tests two things: expansion and classification. The student has done the expansion but not the classification, and the classification is the named skill. There is no half mark available, so the correct policy is 0 with feedback that names the correct type and explains the difference. The contrast is principled: item 6 tests a grammatical relation for which more than one accepted form exists; item 9 tests a label for which the expansion itself supplies the evidence. One is variation, the other is an error in the tested concept.
2. Rewrite item 6 so that it is fair to all students and still tests karok. Then explain what the rewrite changes.
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A fair rewrite:
"Complete the sentence with the appropriate case marker. Use the form given in your prescribed grammar book. (Sentence: 'I gave the book ___ my friend.')"
What changes: the instruction now names the standard being tested. A student who writes the district variant has been warned that this item is about the prescribed written form, so the mark is fair; a student who writes the prescribed form is not penalised for speaking a different variety at home. The grammar point (karok selection) is unchanged.
An alternative, if the department does not want to privilege one form, is to accept both variants in the key and add a note: 'accept the district variant X; do not accept a marker that changes the grammatical relation.' That keeps the item testing case rather than dialect. What the rewrite must not do is turn the item into a vocabulary test or a spelling test.
3. The teacher says: "If I accept the variant, students will think grammar has no rules." How do you answer, and what classroom example would you use?
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Answer: accepting a documented variant does not weaken rules; it teaches the difference between a rule and a standard. A rule explains what a case marker does in a sentence; a standard says which form the examination expects. Both are real, but they are not the same kind of claim. Students who learn only 'the key is the key' cannot explain why a speaker from another district is understood; students who learn only 'anything goes' cannot edit their own writing.
A classroom example: ask two students who use different karok variants to say the same sentence. Both are understood; neither is ungrammatical. Then ask which form the prescribed book prints. The lesson is: 'Your speech has rules; the exam has a standard. In this item, we are testing the standard, so read the instruction.' That is a more honest grammar lesson than pretending the variant is an error, and it gives students a reason to code-switch in formal writing.