Criteria for Grading Q-A Quizzes Quizzes are 5 questions, presented orally in class, repeated as necessary. Students write full- sentence answers to be scored using the following point system:
5/5: Excellent. Sentence is syntactically, morphologically, and lexically accurate and is appropriate to the question both in form and in content.
4/5: Good. Sentence is syntactically well-formed and responds completely and appropriately to the question. Errors in morphology, spelling, etc. do not interfere substantially with comprehension.
3/5: Mediocre. Sentence reflects full and accurate comprehension of the question, but errors in syntax, morphology, and lexicon are numerous and/or serious enough to impair ease of reading and/or force the reader to interpret meaning.
2/5: Weak. The answer is not fully appropriate to the question and/or sentence is incomplete or so ill-formed as to make the answer difficult to read. Errors throughout.
1/5: Very poor. The answer reflects some vague comprehension of the question (e.g., is on the same topic) and/or major errors in form and/or usage; sentences may be incomplete or syntactically unacceptable, verging on inarticulate.
About accents: Most grave and circumflex accents are very minor errors in terms of their impact on communication and in terms of the extent to which they reflect generalized patterns of spelling and/or meaning. (The most important use is the grave accent in conjugations of verbs like acheter, and this is not something you can expect students to learn when they are still struggling with more basic problems.) In first-year classes, I wouldn't take off for them, and in second-year classes consider them a very minor error.
Acute accents are much more important, especially at the end of a word, because they make the difference between one word and another (e.g. ruse, rusé) and reflect major, generalized grammatical differences -- not just in spelling, but in pronunciation too. So a missing accent aigu can change meaning and interfere with comprehension and will affect grading significantly.
Reward intelligent risk-taking: Use your judgement in rewarding students who do the big things well and who try out challenging structures without quite succeeding. One way to do this is to take off a little less for the cumulative errors or to throw in a point or so for a substantial and well-developed answer.