{"id":32310,"date":"2023-04-12T13:23:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T20:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32310"},"modified":"2023-04-12T13:23:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T20:23:04","slug":"considering-language-and-culture-in-test-accuracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/considering-language-and-culture-in-test-accuracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering Language and Culture in Test Accuracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Daniel Nettle\u2019s Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are<\/em>, he posits that there are five main measurable factors that determine who we are [1]<\/a>: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. Nettle ensures that personality, as measured by these five factors, are relatively stable through time.[2]<\/a> In the second chapter, Nettle continues by delving into the hereditary and experiential acquisition of personality. Ultimately, the author makes clear that he believes \u201ca great deal of what happens in our interests, careers, relationships, romantic lives, and health follows from where we fall along these [the big 5 personality dimensions] continua\u201d.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Understanding one\u2019s personality seems helpful. To be aware of our own tendencies, desires, and motivations gives us power to redirect negative behavioral patterns[4]<\/a> and to lean into our strengths. As part of a larger community, identifying one\u2019s personality can be helpful in delegating tasks that need to be done or roles that need to be performed. For church staff and ministry leaders, this should echo Paul\u2019s exhortation in 1 Corinthians 12 about being members of one body. Different personalities are useful when they come together. It\u2019s helpful to have different likes and dislikes when it comes to tasks. It\u2019s helpful to have different dispositions when it comes to encouraging and for accountability. The ability of a community to adapt and survive seems like it is predicated on recognizing and embracing differences.<\/p>\n

One note that I found interesting is Nettle\u2019s statement that \u201cthere is strong evidence for heritability in intelligence\u2026\u201d[5]<\/a> I do not intend to dispute Nettle or the studies he most like draws upon, but I did get to wondering about the tests that measure intelligence and personality.<\/p>\n

As a school psychologist, my partner specializes in considering cultural and linguistic differences when evaluating students for special education. This came from an understanding that the school district she works for has been disproportionately identifying certain students of color with corresponding learning disabilities. One reason for the disparity is in the inaccuracy of standardized IQ tests when administered to English language learners (ELLs).[6]<\/a> Even tests like the Woodcock-Johnson III Cognitive Culture-Language Interpretive Matrix, that have been created to take this into account, are flawed and have low accuracy.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a basic underlying conclusion that can be made: standardized tests are set up to adequately measure subjects that are of similar culture and language because language and culture influence meaning.[8]<\/a> While I\u2019m unsure if the impacts of language and culture are as profound in testing for personality as they are for identifying learning disabilities, I believe it\u2019s worth considering. If understanding one\u2019s personality is important and as helpful as we say it can be, how can we aid in accurate personality identification for a broader audience than those who identify with dominant culture and for whom English is their first and primary language?<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Daniel Nettle, Personality What Makes You the Way You Are<\/em> (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 29.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, 31<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 234<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 239<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 59<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Lee Gunderson and Linda S. Siegel, \u201cThe Evils of the Use of IQ Tests To Define Learning Disabilities in First- and Second-Language Learners,\u201d Reading Teacher<\/em> 55, no. 1 (September 2001): 48-55, https:\/\/eric.ed.gov\/?id=EJ632237<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Carlos O. Calderon, John Kranzier, Kara M Styck, and Desiree Vega, \u201cEvaluating Cultural and Linguistic Load of IQ Scores for English Language Learners,\u201d International Journal of School and Educational Psychology<\/em>, (July 2020), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/21683603.2020.1803164<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Ming-Mu Kuo and Cheng-Chieh Lai, \u201cLinguistics across Cultures: The Impact of Culture on Second Language Learning,\u201d\u00a0 Journal of Foreign Language Instruction<\/em>, no. 1 (November 2006), https:\/\/files.eric.ed.gov\/fulltext\/ED496079.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Daniel Nettle\u2019s Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are, he posits that there are five main measurable factors that determine who we are [1]: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. Nettle ensures that personality, as measured by these five factors, are relatively stable through time.[2] In the second chapter, Nettle continues by delving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2723],"class_list":["post-32310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-nettle-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32311,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32310\/revisions\/32311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}