Language is the human art of creating meaning. Meaning is the outcome of the human attempt to enhance an understanding with an objective to fulfil a deliberate intent.
Language is one of the major elements of what we call communication. One lecturer told us as a class that we should not breathe heavily trying to come up with sophisticated definitions of what communication is. For full marks in defining the communication all that he wanted was for a student to tell him that this uncomplicated concept meant, ‘the creation of meaning between two or more people’. Failure to create a meaning means there hasn’t been any communication.
Creating a ‘wrong’ meaning is still communication. But who is at fault? Is it the sender or the receiver or the subject? I want to propose that the sender is the singular culprit whilst the receivers and the subjects are victims of misininformation.
LEARNERS ARE VICTIMS
I, further, want to propose that students and learners are the greatest victims of society in its failure to properly communicate its analyses of their worth. Exaggeration seems to be the law of the game when it comes to giving a view on learner and student performances.
Society suggests that students have either ‘failed’ or ‘passed’. You see dejected faces all over the place and you swear that perhaps we need the biblical Noah to come with his Ark and save the multitudes of young souls who have been categorised as failures by a society that seems inconsistent in its application of standards.
DOUBLE STANDARDS AT PLAY
Let’s look into this deeply. Is it necessary to use ‘Pass’ or ‘fail’ to describe the performance of the subject who had to undergo the examination? Do we examine with an objective of determining success as opposed to failure or is it not a journey in the development of the subject person? Why do we say a soccer club lost but with learners and students we say they failed? Why set discouraging description for students and learners whilst giving development based descriptions for admired sporting athletes?
I am of the view that describing a learner as having ‘failed should be criminalized. It is not my attempt to redefine language but I’m of the view that if it’s about building we should stop the negativity. A tennis or rugby or any sports player is allowed to make mistakes at practice and during games but is given the benefit of the doubt (if any) because it is always seen as ‘part of the game’ or ‘part of their development ‘. Why can’t learners and students be considered with such development driven approaches?
INCONSISTENCY AT PLAY
I witnessed, recently, a post by an online friend that showed some of the most famous person’s that had been termed failures in their journey success.
Who can doubt how the name ‘Oprah Winfrey’ or ‘Albert Einstein’ seem synonymous with the term success? This happened after, in their developments they were termed failures with the former struggling in the media space and the latter struggling to utter a comprehensible sentence until he was four years old.
A LEARNER FREE FROM SOCIETAL DEGRADATION
The conventional student report is often criticized for its narrow focus and regressive nature, prioritizing numerical grades over holistic evaluation. Such reports tend to emphasize quantitative measures, thereby neglecting their fundamental purpose. A more efficacious approach would be to reconceptualize these reports as performance assessments, highlighting areas of improvement and progress.
Stop Labelling
One strategy for recalibrating language is to eschew labels and instead focus on specific domains requiring enhancement. For instance, rather than declaring a student as having “failed” mathematics, educators could assert, “The student demonstrates potential for growth in mathematics; targeted support is recommended.” This paradigm shift redirects attention from the student’s persona to the subject matter.
‘Not Yet’ Does Not Mean Failure
Another approach involves substituting the phrase “not yet” for “fail”. For example, “The student has not yet mastered fractions; alternative instructional strategies are suggested.” This subtle linguistic adjustment acknowledges the student’s struggles while maintaining an optimistic trajectory for future development.
Emphasise Progress
Emphasizing progress is also crucial. Observations such as “The student has demonstrated significant improvement in reading comprehension; continued practice is encouraged” foster a growth mindset, underscoring learning as an iterative process. Celebrating incremental achievements can galvanize motivation and reinforce perseverance.à
The adoption of growth-oriented language further contributes to this paradigm shift. Phrases like “This concept presents a challenge, but with persistence and effort, mastery is attainable” reframe difficulties as opportunities for growth, rather than threats to self-efficacy. By implementing these linguistic modifications, educators can cultivate a more supportive and empowering learning environment, conducive to student flourishing.
Outlawing The Use Of ‘Pass/Failure’ Categorisation
Would it be too much if society limited its description of learner and student performances to ‘Promoted’ or ‘Repeat’ or ‘Demoted’. These words are developmental in approach and are purely based on the objective which is to grow the subject person.
Promotion is derived from the Latin word ‘promo which means move forward. Therefore getting promoted instructs one to move to a higher level with the ideal of further development.
Repeating is based on fixing your errors just as a soccer team would attempt to perform better and succeed in a new season.
Demotion is derived from a Latin word ‘Demotio’ which means move backwards which acts as a further wake up call to the subject. The term failure is destructive.
TIME FOR RESPONSIBLE GUIDANCE
Society must learn to encourage all those who partake in learning and development based analyses than to throw them with devaluing assessments. It starts with language.
It’s time to rewrite the narrative on student performance. Let’s celebrate effort, not just results. As Malala Yousafzai said, “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.” Let that child, learner or student navigate their path with the able leadership of their educators, the oasis of knowledge given by each Book, the power possessed by each pen and the patience that a supportive audience ought to have. By shifting our language, we can unlock that power and empower students to take risks, explore, and thrive.
Zikomo!