Integrity of online SACE exams thrown into doubt over revelation English students were officially allowed to use Grammarly

The integrity of online SACE exams has been thrown into doubt by the revelation English students were officially allowed to use software to fix spelling and grammar mistakes.

The integrity of online SACE exams has been thrown into doubt by the revelation English students were officially allowed to use software to fix spelling and grammar mistakes.

It has emerged a new computer program used for this month’s SACE exams enabled a commercial app, Grammarly, to be accessed during last week’s English Literary Studies exam.

Access to external websites or apps previously was blocked by SACE, which updated its software for this month’s 15 online year 12 exams.

English teachers have taken to social media forums to accuse the SACE Board of giving an unfair advantage to students with Grammarly installed on their devices over those without the software.

Contacted for comment, SACE acting chief executive Michaela Bensley confirmed markers had been told to take “additional consideration so that no student is advantaged or disadvantaged”.

Ms Bensley refuted claims by teachers that the integrity of the 15 online SACE exams had been compromised.

“The integrity of all electronic examinations is assured,” she said.

“No student has done anything wrong, there has been no breach of rules, and no student will be advantaged or disadvantaged.”

Ms Bensley said English Literary Studies was primarily assessed on descriptions used by students, not on their spelling, grammar or punctuation.

“Markers will focus on a student’s expression in terms of its appropriateness for purpose and audience,” she said.

“We will ensure the examination marking guidelines and marker training processes reflect this understanding.”

In an email to principals and English teachers last Wednesday, SACE said it first learnt students were using Grammarly following the English Literary Studies (ELS) exam.

“Grammarly is a tool that reviews and provides spelling, grammar and punctuation suggestions on writing,” it said.

“The ELS examination tests critical reading, not spelling or grammar.

“It tests students’ critical reading skills, ability to demonstrate understanding, analyse texts and draw on relevant sources to justify their responses.

“This is what markers assess.”

The email said SACE wanted to “reassure everyone that Grammarly does not advantage students in this situation”.

“This applies across all subjects with an electronic exam,” it said.

Year 12 student Tabitha Stephenson-Jones has just completed her English exam without using Grammarly. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The email prompted dozens of English teachers to start posting on social media forums criticising SACE for failing to acknowledge some students had been disadvantaged.

“It is absolutely unconscionable that SACE will allow this sort of inequity and unfairness in examinable subjects that contribute so heavily to ATARs,” said one teacher.

“In short, SACE are admitting that they are aware that there have been breaches of academic integrity in the exams this year and are unwilling to acknowledge that this is an issue.”

Another teacher said Grammarly’s “own website says that the software goes beyond simply checking grammar and corrects style and tone”.

“Any student in the English Literary Studies or English as an Additional Language exams are not being assessed fairly under conditions where some students are having their responses written for them by a software aid,” he said.

The online criticism by teachers prompted SACE to send another email to schools last Friday, again rejecting claims that the integrity of exams had been compromised.

“We acknowledge that there has been some concern and confusion in recent discussions regarding the use of editing tools in the electronic examination environment,” it said.

“The focus of the English Literary Studies examination is the assessment of a student’s ability to read, interpret and analyse texts and to construct a reasoned argument based on a personal point of view.

“Students must demonstrate their understanding of values, ideas and perspectives, analyse texts and contexts, think critically and select and integrate textual evidence to support and justify their ideas.”

This was disputed by the SA English Teachers Association, which said “accurate expression entails correct spelling and grammar”.

Past president Alison Robertson said the organisation was “somewhat concerned about the unfair advantage some students may have gained in this year’s English Literary Studies exam by having access to Grammarly”.

“Although SACE has claimed the ELS examination tests critical reading, not spelling or grammar, the markers are instructed to grade students on use of ‘accurate, clear, and fluent expression appropriate for purpose and audience’,” she said.

Ms Robertson said it was true there were “many other performance standards also being assessed so hopefully those students who used Grammarly will not get an overly significant advantage”.

“But it is naive to suggest that spelling and grammar are unimportant in an English exam,” she said.

Flinders University English professor Robert Phiddian said access to an online tool like Grammarly “should be either universal or forbidden for assessment purposes”.

“A case could be made for either option, but uneven access obviously risks uneven assessments,” he said.

Prof Phiddian said it was his view that in exams like English literary studies where expression was assessed, spellcheck should be available but “syntax-enhancers” such as Grammarly should be banned.

“Spellcheck is like having a calculator in a maths exam, while a grammar program is like having a program to check your answers,” he said.

The next online SACE exam is psychology on Tuesday.

Year 12 student claims Grammarly blunder an ‘unfair advantage’

An “unfair advantage” is how Year 12 student Tabitha Stephenson-Jones, 18, described the Grammarly blunder, after learning students from her cohort had access to the grammar software throughout their vital end of year exams.

The University Senior College student sat the English Literary Studies exam last week said she never had any indication that she had access to the program throughout the 1.5 hour test.

“I have heard of Grammarly before, but I definitely didn’t have access to it throughout my exam,” she said.

“It definitely serves as a huge disadvantage to me and other students who didn’t use the program.”

But as a student what can I really do about it now.”

Year 12 student Tabitha Stephenson-Jones says there should be a uniform system across all devices. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The Beulah Park resident said she would like the SACE board to have a discussion about “fairness” to ensure the mistake is not repeated in future years.

“There should be a uniform system across all devices,” she said.

“Obviously they cannot make everyone resit their exams and I would imagine the people who did have Grammarly wouldn’t want to.

“But this is a mistake that could affect a lot of people and they need to make sure it does not happen again.”