'Why do students have to memorize textbooks?'

Students in Ho Chi Minh City are in the first semester exam period.

As reported by Thanh Nien Newspaper, the first semester literature test for grade 12 on December 19 of Hong Duc Secondary and High School (Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City) caused controversy when it asked students to analyze the "artistic talent" of the ferryman (in the essay The Ferryman of the Da River by Nguyen Tuan) while fighting against the three-layered stone formation, but did not provide any material.

Specifically, part 2 - Writing (5 points) of the test has the content: " There is an opinion that "The ferryman is a talented artist on the river front". Analyze the artistic talent of the ferryman in the essay "The ferryman of the Da River" by Nguyen Tuan when fighting against the three-layer stone formation. From there, present your understanding of Nguyen Tuan's concept of art before and after the August Revolution (only present the concept of human beings) ".

This question is controversial because it is considered to be too demanding for a semester test and requires students to memorize data from a prose work that is difficult in terms of style and language due to the style of the talented and erudite writer Nguyen Tuan...

From there, teachers give their views and opinions on whether or not to include language materials in the test. If so, how should they be included? Should students memorize all the language materials? What is the current trend in making test questions?...

Controversial literature topic

Text is necessary

Teacher Do Duc Anh, Bui Thi Xuan High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), expressed his opinion: "Including language materials in the exam is necessary, to avoid students having to memorize too many things. A singer who sings his hit song hundreds of times still forgets the lyrics. It is also normal for teachers to suddenly forget something in their lesson plans. It is not uncommon for actors to forget their lines. So why do we force students to memorize language materials in textbooks?"

According to Mr. Duc Anh, rhyming poems are easy to learn, but prose material is very difficult to remember. If they do remember, students will only remember particularly impressive sentences. Therefore, Mr. Duc Anh believes that semester tests or exams that do not quote material will make it difficult for candidates.

"The person who makes the test needs to quote the text to limit the scope of analysis and students do not have to memorize it. The text excerpt in the textbook must be typical, of moderate length, so that students can perceive the analysis. And most importantly, it must be suitable for the diverse levels of students," Mr. Duc Anh noted.

Regarding literary essays, Mr. Duc Anh gave advice: "Students do not necessarily have to memorize the entire textbook, but they need to memorize some typical sentences, sentences that they find interesting and impressive. Instead of memorizing, practice your perception skills, your ability to analyze the unique content and art of the work. Know how to develop an essay. Practice expressing yourself, enrich your vocabulary. Know how to put emotions into your essay. Know how to separate arguments, reasons, and find evidence through sentences and poems in the text. You should find texts on the same topic to compare and contrast."

"I don't believe that any professional critic can memorize a long passage of a writer. In high school, we don't need students to memorize a passage or a poem like a parrot, but rather the ability to perceive, analyze, and express themselves. Not all students crave literature. Old, heavy essay topics will force students to struggle to memorize, learn by heart, and try to imitate critics to write... I'm afraid they will make them more afraid of literature. Let's create open-ended essay topics that give students room to be creative, and create a sense of excitement that makes students want to write and express themselves," teacher Do Duc Anh expressed his opinion.

Students should be encouraged to memorize good and moving poems and literature.

I still remember very clearly my high school days in the 90s of the last century, the semester test or the exam for gifted students, the high school graduation exam or the university entrance exam often consisted of dozens of verses, even an entire poem. The questions required candidates to analyze or comment on the content of the excerpt or poem. Some questions even took the title of the poem and asked students to comment on the beauty of the poem without providing any material.

The same goes for the literary essay section. The exam requires students to analyze a character in a work that is completely absent or without providing any material.

If students wanted to do well on their exams and "pass" graduation and university entrance exams at that time, they had to memorize some good excerpts of poems or grasp the content of the work.

Nowadays, I think that teachers and parents may not force but should encourage students to memorize good poems and famous, representative prose works. Because literature is anthropology. That is also a way to encourage learning and reading, especially good poems and prose works, masterpieces that stand the test of time.

Nguyen Duoc

When to include and when not to include language in the exam?

In mid-term and final exams, it is not necessary to include specific materials (paragraphs, poems) in the exam like in high school graduation exams. Why? High school graduation exams do not limit review, so students must learn all the works (except for the additional reading section), so when taking the exam, the exam needs to have specific materials so that it does not make things difficult for students. As for school exams, most schools limit specific works, so it is not necessary to include materials in the exam.

Thai Hoang

Literature test trends

Teacher Nguyen Tran Hanh Nguyen, head of the literature group at Trung Vuong High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), said that studying literature and taking the assessment test after studying - the literature discussion section is to test and assess skills. That is the skill of reading, understanding, and feeling about literary works and the skill of presenting (writing skills) the students' understanding and feelings about those works, the skill of selecting typical details... to present. It is not to test the memorization of works, especially quite long prose works. Therefore, when making assessment tests, specific materials should be given.

According to the head of the literature group at Trung Vuong High School, for many years now, the illustrative literature questions and high school graduation exams have always included language materials. In the trend of using language materials outside of textbooks according to the 2018 General Education Program, including data in test and exam questions is necessary.

Grade 10 students study literature according to the 2018 General Education Program

Sharing the same view, Mr. Truong Duc, a teacher at Le Quy Don High School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), said that including language materials in exam questions has become a mandatory rule over the past time. During the training process on how to create and grade test questions, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also focuses on thinking skills rather than memorization. Therefore, forcing students to memorize data before being able to analyze them is not in line with the spirit of innovation in education, creating heavy pressure on students.

Teachers at Le Quy Don High School believe that it is necessary to include text in the essay for students to analyze, instead of memorizing text. If so, students only need to memorize a few features of the writer's writing style and basic knowledge of literary texts such as the context of writing, purpose of writing, etc.

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