The impotence of good English: it’s a piratical issue

Knowledge... that far patrimony of humanity. Thus, new grammatical and spelling alternatives can, indeed, broaden horizons in the evolution of language and communication, but not to the extent of a practical piracy which, by the way, would enrich any language of the world.

The problem is too late to correct by the time students reach university-age. This needs to be addressed much earlier in order for students to achieve parity with their foreign counterparts. Unfortunately, the administrative burden on university staff is too great to justify the widespread practice of correcting grammar and spelling, though it's great when staff go the extra mile to do so on their own initiative.

The most worrying thing is that these students almost certainly hold the English language qualifications required to become schoolteachers. In a few years, we will be relying on them to correct the English of the next generation.

Why not just make a spelling test part of the admissions process? (we'd solve the problem of university overcrowding in a flash!)

Its not rare that forange students have a better spelling and grammar level, because they pay more attention, i mean non natives speakers dont want to be embarased because of its bad grammar, while natives speakers does not pay as much attention on spelling because they speak more than they write, its the same here in Mexico with caribean students. Ps.- sorry for my bad spelling. Lol

@Mark, what you fear has been going on for quite some time. By the time they reach us, it's very difficult to correct these basic deficiencies. In numerate subjects, a great deal of effort goes into remedial maths/science teaching, with no time to spend on correcting spelling and grammar. The results are usually disappointing, with many still making basic errors by the 3rd year. Advanced material is avoided because it obviously requires a certain fluency beyond the basics. To fill the gaps, there has been a huge growth in coursework, individual/group projects and filler material like "library skills", "research skills" and management 101. These can drag up the marks to reach the required number of 2(i)s.

A big part of the issue is the ability to assess and edit their own work. I am afraid that my writing was terrible when I was a student. I could only improve with checking, double checking, and triple checking. Typically I will spend a whole day checking a manuscript for publication. Even then the odd speelling error still slips through...even the ironic ones!

It is true that many school teachers and college lecturers don't correct spelling and many when make one just say that "I can't spell". The govt that is always looking for a way to improve schools should start by improving english (ie grammar and spelling).

I think it is a little unfair to directly compare foreign and home students' English, because for whatever reason our foreign language and English teaching does not place any emphasis on grammar, while it makes up the majority of learning for foreign students learning English. I am not excusing bad English, but to put this into some sort of context, I will admit that the first time I encountered grammar in any depth was when I took English language at A level. A number of the spelling mistakes listed are quite logical, and in other languages would be quite correct, and in that sense I agree with Juan Carlos Rico Diaz.

It is also interesting to note the variations experienced even at PhD level. I am a native English speaker, and during my viva my external examiner made explicit mention of my grammar in her report because I used phrases such as 'outside of' and split a few infinitives. In her report she acknowledged that although these might be widespread in spoken English, they were 'sloppy' in academic prose. Other colleagues in the same field, however, wrote entire theses with split infinitives throughout and sailed through the viva without such grammatical minutiae ever being mentioned. I also know of other departments with large cohorts of international doctoral students where they are told not to bother with grammar or language skills because their thesis will be proofread by student services before submission anyway.

I blame the teachers....

The situation is already very bad. My daughter has just started year 2 at school (she’s 6) and in three weeks of homework, I have had to correct the English in the instructions three times. On two occasions, the problem has been a comma splice where there should be a full stop and capital letter. What is particularly disturbing is that her target is to learn to use full stops and capital letters correctly. Sadly, it does not surprise me that foreign students' English is better. I did not learn the names for grammatical points in English until I learnt French and have had long conversations with French people asking for help with their English grammar. They cannot understand where they are going wrong unless you can tell them the name of the tenses or other grammar point because they learnt French correctly.

I lecture humanities at an institution which takes students who have achieved a minimum of ABB in A-levels. I barely get to grade first-year essays for content: grammar, spelling (despite spell-checkers!) and structure are too poor to even attempt to decipher content. There is improvement by the the time students get to their fourth year, but not enough to say they deserve to graduate with a good honours degree (and most do). Many colleagues simply say that we just have to accept that they were failed by schools, that it is too late for us to fix it and that we should focus on inferring what they are 'trying' to say however confused grammatically and regardless of poor spelling and punctuation. A number of our students go on to become teachers with predictable results for the next generation.

People who study English as a second language abroad do it the 'old fashion' way: loads of grammar, exercises, memorisation of rules, repetition, etc. That way is more effective, and therefore they make less mistakes.