Cultural influence on English testing and evaluation

The paper is structured into five parts as follows: the relationship among language, culture and thinking; the cultural factor in the contents of tests and examinations; the cultural factor in organizing and marking tests and exams; the cultural factor in students’ concept of testing and doing exams; what considering cultural issues in English tets and exams means.

YẾU TỐ VĂN HÓA TRONG KIỂM TRA VÀ ĐÁNH GIÁ MÔN HỌC TIẾNG ANH

Lê Phơng Giang

Trường Đại học Hà Nội

khoa học ñã cho thấy mối quan hệ khăng khít giữa

ngôn ngữ, tư duy và văn hóa Yếu tố văn hóa ñã ñược

bàn luận rất nhiều trong quá trình giảng dạy ngoại ngữ

Tuy nhiên, ở Việt Nam, chúng ta dường như chưa quan

tâm ñúng mức ñến yếu tố này trong kiểm tra ñánh giá

năng lực ngoại ngữ Việc kiểm tra ñánh giá kết quả và

năng lực của người học cũng như cách thức ra ñề của

giáo viên cũng thể hiện nét văn hóa ñặc thù của cộng

ñồng sử dụng ngôn ngữ ñó Nếu chúng ta quan tâm

ñến yếu tố văn hóa trong dạy và học tiếng thì chúng ta

cũng phải xem xét lại sự ảnh hưởng của yếu tố văn

hóa ñối với kiểm tra và ñánh giá Bài viết này không ñề

cập ñến các ñịnh nghĩa, cách phân loại kiểm tra cũng

như các tiêu chí ñánh giá mà chỉ nêu lên một số nhận

xét về sự ảnh hưởng của yếu tố văn hóa ñến chất

lượng kiểm tra ñánh giá của người dạy va người học

tiếng Bài viết bao gồm 5 phần nội dung là 1 Mối quan

hệ giữa ngôn ngữ, văn hóa và tư duy; 2 Yếu tố văn hóa

trong nội dung bài kiểm tra; 3 Yếu tố văn hóa trong

cách thức chấm bài của giáo viên; 4 Yếu tố văn hóa

trong quan niệm kiểm tra, thi cử của người học; 5 Thế

nào là xét ñến yếu tố văn hóa trong kiểm tra, thi cử

tiếng Anh

Abstract: Research done by linguists, sociologists

and methodologists has shown that language, thinking and culture are closely interrelated So far, the cultural aspect of the foreign language teaching and learning process has been greatly discussed Although testing and evaluation, an important link of the process, have cultural features of the community using the language, insufficient attention has been paid to the incorporation

of cultural factors into designing and organizing tests in Vietnam If we are interested in the cultural aspect of language learning and teaching, we need to examine how culture influences testing and evaluation In this paper, the writer does not discuss definitions, methods

of classifying tests or testing techniques for four skills

or language knowledge (grammar, phonetics or vocabulary, etc.) The paper is structured into five parts

as follows: 1 The relationship among language, culture and thinking; 2 The cultural factor in the contents of tests and examinations; 3 The cultural factor in organizing and marking tests and exams; 4 The cultural factor in students’ concept of testing and doing exams; 5 What considering cultural issues in English tets and exams means

CULTURAL INFLUENCE

ON ENGLISH TESTING AND EVALUATION Introduction

Many studies into cross-cultural issues have

raised awareness of curriculum designers, writers

and teachers to the cultural and social differences

across different countries and to how dangerous

this breeding ground of mistakes could be As a

result, more attention has been paid to the issue

and areas such as sociolinguistics have influenced

the field of TESOL (Teachers of English to

Speakers of Other Languages) However, in

Vietnam, even in universities specializing in

foreign studies, pragmatics and sociology have not gained much space in the curriculum in general and appropriate attention has not been paid to the integration of cultural factors into designing and organizing tests and exams in particular The materials and teaching styles are supposed to focus on language use Students often face lack of awareness of cultural differences between English speaking countries and Vietnam In Vietnam, all

of the materials being used for teaching and testing are imported and commercially produced

for large and non-specific international audiences

Therefore, differences in pragmatic and

sociolinguistic rules of Vietnamese speakers and

English speakers are not explicitly catered for

The seriousness of the problem reinforces the

need to share the author’s humble knowledge and

experience to persuade people to pay appropriate

attention to the cultural issues in English testing

and examinations in Vietnam This paper reviews

the current literature on the relationship between

culture and language It consists of five parts The

first part analyzes the relationship among

language, culture and thinking The second part is

on the cultural factor in the contents of tests The

third part mentions the cultural factor in test

organizing and marking The fourth part discusses

the cultural factor in students’ concept of testing

and doing exams The last part indicates what

considering cultural issues in English tests and

exams means and gives a conclusion

1 The relationship among language, culture

and thinking

Language, the product of society, has been

developed to meet the need for communication

and interaction in our human society, and is

regarded as a human tool of thinking Its

development has gone parallel with that of

mankind It is a reflection of reality and historical

changes and a means of preserving experience,

knowledge and customs belonging to mankind

from generation to generation Anyone, who was

born and grew up in his mother tongue

environment or any community with its own

language, is influenced by its lifestyles, ways of

thinking and communicating ideas It is a fact that

ways of seeing life and work and dealing with

everyday issues represent typically cultural

features of a certain community and these facts are

reflected in the way people organize thoughts and

communicate ideas in writing and speaking in the

community of the language In other words,

language, culture and thinking are closely linked

Valdes J.M (1986) viewed these three aspects as three sides of a triangle Language is not simply dry signs illustrated in the form of texts or sounds

we receive through our auditory system, but it conveys many vividly cultural and social meanings It is a living form and is no longer alive without cultural and social elements Wardhaugh (1986) asserted that any language research which does not take cultural and social factors into account is one-sided and deviated Therefore,

“when a language learner acquires a language, he also goes native and approaches a new culture.” (Brown, 1991) According to Freeman (1991), if the culture of the L1 learner has a number of similarities to that of the target language, the learner may enjoy many advantages Also, the bigger the gap between the two cultures is the more difficulties the learner will have Walscott (1999) indicated that when one has to change his language, it means that he has to change both his culture and himself It has been shown that when one succeeds in acquiring a language, his cultural identity is more or less assimilated into the culture

of the target language This can be easily understood when we compare advantages and disadvantages for the learner with or without coming into contact with the community of the target language

For this reason, an English test for Vietnamese students studying English in Vietnam has different results as compared with those of the same test applied to Vietnamese students taking English courses of the same level in the USA or Australia Accordingly, the contents of English tests and exams need to be considered in the aspects as follows

2 The cultural factor in the contents of tests and examinations

Vocabulary is said to comprise the most deeply cultural identity and often go through the most historical changes in the development history of

language It has kept pace with progress and

advances in mankind’s science, civilization and

social consciousness Comparing today’s modern

English dictionaries with the old ones in the past,

we will recognize the expansion of copious

vocabulary On the other hand, words and

expressions have changed their meanings with

time Thus, if the learner can not keep himself

up-to-date with changes in the target language or be

exposed to the culture of its community, he may

misunderstand the usage of spoken and written

words and expressions of the target language

Take the survey into the problems of foreign

students with TOEFL as an example, many

experts of testing institutions in the USA received

overseas students’ mail complaining about their

difficulties in the ways of communicating ideas

and thinking through the usage of language in

American style rather than about such problems

with language aspects as grammar and phonetics

Apparently, this is not only a language barrier but

a cultural obstacle for candidates as well

Candidates may get confused when there are too

many slangs, idioms, dialects or jargons in the

English test and there are no equivalents in their

mother tongue In addition, the organizations of

ideas and the presentation of arguments bear

clearly cultural imprints as language, culture and

thinking are inseparable If not familiar with

native ways of thinking and communicating ideas,

candidates may not be able to answer the

questions like “What is the writer’s purpose?”,

What can be inferred from the passage?” or “What

is the writer’s attitude?” In general, if we have

clear statistics, we will learn that students often

have more problems with vocabulary usage and

writing in native speakers’ style than phonetics

and grammar because these are less changeable

For instance, supposing that there are no contexts

and situations, students may not be familiar with

the informal and liberal style Americans use in

their conversations A student might not fully

understand the meaning of the expression “no way” even though he can hear it clearly in a listening American –English test Only by observing the style of American communication, especially among university students, can we discover that this expression is very common in an informal conversation and has similar meanings like “wait for it’, “come back next year”, “do not jump to conclusions”, ect Although hearing expressions clearly, students still might be too confused to choose the right answer to express the speaker’s attitude Valdes (1994) and Finguera maintained that English testing and examinations present a bias towards culture and in reality, candidates may face obstacles if they are less exposed to the native speaking environment in the process of language learning In short, language testing means testing cultural knowledge of the target language

3 The cultural factor in organizing and marking tests

Such testing criteria as reliability, practicality and validity are much spoken of; however, the application of these criteria is inevitably influenced by culture in practice At present, the methods of testing and evaluation in Vietnam are still formalistic and tend to focus on marks and scores rather than the quality

Brown (1991) mentioned the influence of cultural differences on studying, diplomas and examinations For example, in Asian society where collectivism is highly appreciated, certificates, diplomas and degrees serve as a means to gain prestige, reputation or a passport to career opportunities It is this belief that the aim of testing is to get a diploma or a degree, no matter what its true value is whereas in an individualism society, a diploma merely has a symbolic value and it is the competence that truly matters

This belief has a great impact on the quality of testing and evaluation In Vietnam, many tests and

examinations do not really reflect the quality of

teaching and learning They created extrinsic

motivation rather than intrinsic motivation for

students Nevertheless, facts have shown that it is

the intrinsic motivation that maintains students’

interests, attempts and efforts

Now, the fact that the majority of Vietnamese

teachers adopt tests with keys designed by foreign

teachers for tests and examinations at their school

may create an opportunity for their students to

cramp and swot for exams This may cause their

students to assign one another to learn tests by

heart and help one another to cheat in exams

There are also problems with marking tests As

achievement test are different from other kinds,

these tests must be acceptedly match what has

been learnt and taught so that students might be

able to overcome their weaknesses and

complement their shortcomings However, most

Vietnamese teachers lay an emphasis on marks

and often do not analyze whether their tests are

good or bad and suitable or not suitable We

should bear in mind that teachers’ feedbacks play

an important role in motivating and encouraging

students to study with enthusiasm If

inappropriately used, feedbacks may demotivate,

discourage or take away their direction and trust in

teachers’ assessments

Looking at tests with feedbacks from foreign

teachers, we can notice the differences in styles

and views, which indicates differences in culture

For example, comments and marks are often

written at the end of the exam paper to respect

students’ privacy The results of final exams can

be sent directly to students or publicly informed

without names being shown or only giving

students’ index number or the number on their

identity card in order that students may not lose

their face or avoid unfavorable and negative

comments Foreign teachers often express their

appreciation of students’ ability to think

independently and students are believed to take a test or an exam to discuss and exchange ideas with teachers but not to copy teachers’ models Therefore, in writing and speaking tests, foreign teachers often focus on the content, idea organization, logicality and the overall plan rather than grammatical and phonetic accuracy Normally, they deal with the mistakes that negatively affect students’ communication skills

As a result of this approach, students can be more relaxed and confident to express their ideas in their exam papers On the contrary, from the Asian point of view in general and Vietnamese one in particular, teachers are thought to have responsibility for providing models for students Students expect their teachers to give them speaking and writing models to swot for exams Because of this belief, it is highly unlikely that students’ creativity and critical thinking will be developed

4 The cultural factor in students’ concept of testing and doing exams

In Vietnam, the most common way of teaching pupils from an early age is listening to teachers’ explanations and hardly ever expressing their own ideas if not asked to do so Consequently, they may not get used to speaking in public or presenting their own ideas and arguments For instance, in speaking and writing tests, many students are too afraid and shy to give relevant answers to questions with clarity and they often psychologically fear that they will make mistakes and get low marks since teachers expect more accuracy than fluency

When it comes to the influence of personality factors on the language learning process, Brown (1994) observed that there are more Asian students adopting the strategy of error avoidance than their counterparts in other parts of the world They feel that they are more likely to be hurt in communication if what they present or write is not

favoured and given high marks Hence, marks and

scores might not truly show students’

communicating competence in the target language

Due to that fact that Vietnamese students have

hardly ever got accustomed to communicating

ideas in public since an early age, they tend to be

nervous, afraid and stressful in oral exams,

especially the exams organized, supervised and

judged by foreign examiners in which problems

like cheating and helping each other to cheat are

more unlikely to happen

It is crucial to stress that the English language

that both Vietnamese teachers and students speak

or write is an interlanguage, the result of our

mother tongue coming into contact with one or

more varieties of English (British-American

English, Australian-English.etc.) and to create

Vietlish This interlanguage is also the result of

cultural contacts and assimilation Schuman

(1982) believed that the creation and development

of this interlanguage is a process in which students

get adapted to aculturation in the target language

If the language learner does not live in a native

speaking environment, there is slight possibility

that the mother tongue will be assimilated

Actually, the development process of

interlanguage, which is called “enculturation”,

takes place more slowly On condition that both

teachers and learners are rarely exposed to

authentic English, it might be hard for their

language to be highly developed In practice,

Vietnamese teachers can understand what our

students say and write because we share the first

language, ways of thinking and culture, but our

assessment of the “so-called English” or

“interlanguage” mentioned above might be limited

due to the lack of objectivity

5 What considering cultural issues in tests

and examinations means

As discussed and analyzed above, English

testing assesses not only language levels of

proficiency but also cultural knowledge of the target language In the language learning process,

if the learner does not pay attention to cultural factors shown through the usage of idioms, phrases, simile, metaphors, metonymy or communicating ideas in native style, he will probably have trouble in doing tests and exams The most ideal condition to enable the learner to

be aware of cultural influence on tests and exams

is the required coordination between the teacher and the test designer to identify what language level of proficiency the learner is at and how sensitive he is to culture If a native teacher with a great deal of experience in EFL and a good understanding of the learner’s culture designs and selects tests and exams which are culturally suitable for the learner, the result will definitely be very satisfactory Because tests and exams designed by foreigners or native speakers do not mention which culture candidates belongs to, the organizer, the examiner or the judge has to anticipate candidates’ sensitivity to cultural differences when using them For example, Vietnamese candidates might be puzzled when asked to discuss the advantages of using a credit card and a traller’s cheque as they are less familiar with this concept Besides, in everyday practice, teachers should incorporate culture into lessons and discuss cultural questions relating to the cultural usage of expressions and idioms so as to make it possible for students to explore and discover the cultural characteristics in the target language and help improve their language sensation Teachers themselves should analyze mistakes in the exam in a proper way According

to Corder (1993), making errors and mistakes is a

a natural phenomenon and inevitable in the development process of acquiring interlanguage of students and it should be noted that mistakes in communication due to misusing contexts and misunderstanding cultural and social meanings are truly serious Only by trying these approaches, can

we motivate them to attempt and experience their

ability to learn a new language

In conclusion, testing and evaluation must

awaken students’ thirst and passion for knowledge

and a good command of the target language, but

not to spread fear and confusion for students by

using unfamiliar contents and vague instructions

In order to do this, test designers must be devoted

to choosing suitable materials that fit in with the

aims and candidates and assure the identified

criteria

Within the scope of this paper, the author can

not cover everything about cultural influence on

English testing and examinations Therefore, more

studies are indicated to carry out investigation into

how to deal with cultural issues when designing

and marking English tests and exams as well as

students’ concepts of tests and exams in order to

provide better insights and deeper understandings

of the cultural factors in English testing and exams

REFERENCES

1 Boas, F (1992) Language and though and Culture

2 Brown, H.G (1991) Principles of language

Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

3 Brown, H G (1992) Learning a Second Culture in

4 Corder, S.P (1996) The significance of

University Press

5 Freeman, D.L & Long, M.H (1991) An

Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research

Longman- London- New York

6 Schuman, J (1987) The Acculturation Model for

Second Language Accqusition, in Second Language

For Applied Linguistics, Arlington.s

7 Valdes, G.& Fingurera, R.A (1994) Biligualism

and Testing: A special case of Bias Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing

8 Walcott, D (1992) Language and Culture in

9 Wardhaugh, R (1992) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Black Well- Oxford UK & Cambridge USA