TEENAGERS made basic mistakes in grammar and littered essays with slang and text message abbreviations in this year's GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) English papers in the UK.
Examiners found "a surprising number" of spelling lapses, including "gonna, ain't, wanna and shouda" plus inappropriate use of slang and street language, including expletives.
"Many concerns were expressed by examiners about elementary errors, often appearing in the work of apparently able candidates," says a report into the work of 31,036 candidates who sat the subject with Edexcel, one of the three examining organizations in England and Wales.
Among the basic errors made by pupils taking the harder papers and aiming for the top four grades was their failure to use a capital letter for the first person pronoun.
"At this level it is almost unforgivable for a candidate to use a lower case 'i', the report said. "Yet in occasional answers this mistake was repeated throughout essays."
The language of text messaging, for example, "u", was used "all too frequently", said the annual report published on Edexcel's website.
"Some examiners felt that this year they had encountered an improvement in the overall structure of candidates' writing, while others commented on a lack of paragraphing. Many reported the commonplace confusions over homophones (their, there, they're), the use of inappropriate colloquialisms (ain't, gonna), use of capital letters and incorrect word divisions.
"Spelling in general is inconsistent and variety of vocabulary is often limited. Punctuation errors continue to be widespread, with the absence or misuse of the apostrophe a recurrent problem."
The report will add to fears that standards are falling, despite a record rise in the proportion of pupils achieving the top grades this year. Of Edexcel's candidates, 19,269, or 62 per cent, achieved a grade C or above.
The board said that examiners were concerned about the inability of some candidates to distinguish between language appropriate to informal text messages or e-mails and that required in more formal contexts.
"Examiners find it unacceptable and candidates will find that their future employers will think the same," a spokesman said.
