Twilight scores top NCEA grades

CATHERINE WOULFE

NCEA students are picking up top grades by writing about Twilight - despite warnings from markers that the bestselling vampire book should be avoided.

The young-adult novel by Stephenie Meyer follows a human girl, Bella Swan, as she falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. The 2005 book and the movie, released in 2008, were both phenomenally successful.

Now, Twilight has infiltrated NCEA, with students' essays appearing on the website of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

This comes after years of concern from officials over the material some students are learning in class: some books and movies are too easy, while others have been deemed too violent or adult.

Gavin Morgan, head of the English department at Auckland Girls Grammar, had not heard of Twilight being used for NCEA, and was surprised to see the essays online.

"I wouldn't teach it," he said, although he conceded it may lead to perceptive work in some situations, such as comparing Twilight to other books or movies.

"I think our job as teachers is to present information in front of students which perhaps they otherwise wouldn't have experienced themselves.

"I guess what is a concern is that because there's this mentality that the students struggle with [other books or movies], at what point do you meet them halfway versus going all the way? I think that perhaps with Twilight you're going all the way."

Some students may be taught Twilight in class, while others use it in their exams because they prefer it to the teacher's choice.

There is no record of how many students are doing this. But at least seven Twilight answers have ended up on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website as examples to help teachers with their marking.

One student, for an internally assessed English standard on scrutinising films and oral recordings, wrote:
"Edward is fascinated by Bella and all he does is stare at her and he has these facial expressions as though he is in immense pain. It is as though it is painful for him to be near her. By doing this the director shows how he is attracted to her."

That student received an "excellence" grade, despite spelling the director's name wrong.

Another essay, written in an English exam on making connections between texts, compares the theme of unconditional love in the Twilight book to that in Wuthering Heights, the movie Titanic and Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet.

"[Romeo and Juliet] risk their lives for their love just like Edward and Bella in Twilight," the student wrote.
That essay was deemed to be at the upper end of the "merit" grade.

Both of these examples were for Level 1 NCEA standards.

This year, markers of a Level 2 standard warned against using Twilight, saying in their report that it "tended to produce basic responses that offered minimal analysis".

And in 2008, markers of the Scholarship English paper included it in a list of books to be avoided "simply because candidates do not write well about them or reference them with perception".

The next year they did not name Twilight, but pointedly warned: "Vampires have been appearing far too frequently. They may be part of popular culture but many candidates display ignorance about how to write about them with intelligence or critical awareness of their symbolic overtones."

Despite that, last year NCEA moderators - the experts who guide teachers through the assessment process - deemed the Twilight book a good choice for Level 1 students working on a 'wide reading' standard.

There is no official reading list for this standard but a newsletter posted on the NZQA website included Twilight in a list of books "indicative of the type of texts acceptable". Harry Potter - the third book on - was also on the list.

Students cannot get credits for this standard just by reading Twilight: they must read a range of texts, including some classics or award-winners, and write a short personal response to each one.
Last year more than 25,000 students gained credits for this.

Read Catherine Woulfe's blog: Why Twilight's ok for NCEA

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