Cultural bias in standardized tests

What Do Students Really Know?

By Joseph Laturnau

Misunderstandings and miscommunications take place every day due to differences in people’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds. At schools with diverse student populations, teachers often have great difficulty determining what students really know and can do.

Years ago as an elementary English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, I decided to go over with my students some of the key vocabulary in a story I was about to read. I asked, “Do you know the word Spanish?” My students replied in unison, “Of course! That’s what Popeye eats!” Lucky I checked.

The next event that further opened my eyes involved an immigrant student participating in a high school math competition. The student was outstanding in math, but he stumbled over one question in particular that dealt with revolutions per minute (rpms). He explained that this question bewildered him because he only knew the word revolution in its political context.

Below is an excerpt from a story titled “The ESL Students Take a Test,” which I wrote to illustrate the cultural and linguistic biases inherent in tests. I have used the story more than 100 times in pre-service and in-service teacher trainings across Hawai‘i, throughout the Pacific, and in the continental U.S. to demonstrate that our students come to school with unique knowledge and life experiences and to remind us that it is our job as teachers to tap into and appropriately assess what students already know and are learning.

Tae Sung, from Korea, looked at question number one.

1. Her tooth came out so she put it

• on top of the refrigerator.
• under the tree.
• under her pillow.
• none of the above.

In Korea, a child throws his or her tooth up on the roof so that the next one will grow in straight, but none of the answers said that. Tae Sung knew the first answer meant up so he marked that one. Borden, from the Marshall Islands, also looked a long time at the first question. In his country, you throw your tooth in the ocean for good luck. He raised his hand and said to the teacher, “You have to throw your tooth in the ocean.” The teacher put his finger to his lips and said, “I’m sorry. I can’t help you. No talking during the test, please.” So Borden marked “none of the above.”

Lance, from Samoa, looked at question number two.

2. The three colors of a traffic light are

• red, yellow, blue.
  
• red, yellow, green.
  
• red, black, green.
  
• red, white, blue.

Lance didn’t know what a traffic light was because there are no traffic lights in Samoa. He whispered to his Samoan friend Tafaifa, “What’s a traffic light?” She said, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s that thing on top of the pole.” Lance thought to himself, “Oh! I know! That’s a flag! Flag Day was my favorite holiday in Samoa. We had a big ceremony at my school. I know that the American flag is red, white, and blue. That must be the answer!”

Sunny, from China, had a hard time answering question number three.

3. Christmas is celebrated in the month of

• January
  
• June
  
• July
  
• December

Christmas is not celebrated in China. He had no idea what the answer was, so he guessed “July.”
Gabriel, from Hong Kong, thought question number four was easy.

4. New Year’s is celebrated in the month of

• January
  
• February
  
• March
  
• April

Gabriel said to himself, “Of course, the answer is February! New Year’s is celebrated for one week in Hong Kong. My older brother used to be in the dragon dance! We also lit so many fire crackers! It was very exciting!”

Karyna, from Laos, was very excited when he read question [continued on page 13] [continued from page 11] number five, but his heart sank when he looked at the possible answers.

5. About how long is a football field?

• 100 inches
  
• 100 feet
  
• 100 yards
  
• 100 miles

In his country football meant soccer. Karyna was a very good soccer player. In fact, he once scored two goals in a game. But he didn’t know about American football with its helmets, pads, and funny-shaped ball. He also didn’t know about inches, feet, yards, and miles because in Laos you measure things in meters. He had to guess so he picked “miles” because it started with the letter m like meters.

Toichiro, a Japanese student, read question number six.

6. Which word best completes this poem?

One is a goose, and two are geese,
But one mouse plus one mouse is not two meese!
So you can have a mouse or many mice,
But one house plus one house is not two _________!

__ heese
__ hice
__ houses
__ homes

Japan is famous for its haiku poetry, which is a 3-line poem of 17 syllables, usually arranged in a 5-7-5 pattern. Toichiro loved writing haiku, and every day he wrote one in his diary. At his school in Japan he had won a contest and had his haiku published in the newspaper. But this question was very difficult for him. This poem was four lines long! He spent a lot of time counting the number of syllables but couldn’t find a pattern. Finally, he gave up and picked “heese” because it rhymed with “meese.”

This story was published in the Hawaii English Journal and reprinted in Statement: The Journal of the Colorado Language Arts Society.

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