Culturally-Biased Language Assessment

Abstract

This chapter suggests that culture and evaluation are inextricably linked. Therefore, culture should not be regarded as a phenomenon that needs to be controlled for in assessments; rather, it should be regarded as a fundamental component of assessment, beginning with its conceptualization and continuing through its design, construction, and interpretation of student performance. This study aims to discuss the relationship of culture to language assessment, teachers' awareness of cultural and linguistic bias in testing, and the negative effect of test bias on learners' motivation and performance; the ways of minimizing linguistic and cultural bias in language tests and maximizing cultural validity in classroom-based language assessment; to find out how learners and teachers from different cultures view success from a language learning perspective; and to find out how learners and teachers from different cultures view success from a cultural perspective.