Abstract
This first entry on culture and language assessment is written at a time of much reconsideration of the major constructs in language/s learning and language assessment. This is in response at least partly to the increasingly complex reality of multilinguality and multiculturality in our contemporary world. Culture is one of these constructs and is considered in its interrelationship with language and learning. It is because of this reconsideration that the discussion in this chapter is focused on scoping the conceptual landscape and signaling emerging rather than established lines of research. The discussion encompasses (a) the assessment of culture in the learning of languages, including recent interest in assessing intercultural practices and capabilities, and (b) the role of culture (and language), or its influence, on the assessment of learning where multiple languages are in play. The discussion considers the place of culture in conceptualizing the communicative competence and understandings of the role of culture in all learning. Developments related to the assessment of intercultural practices and capabilities in foreign language learning are described, as well as multilingual (and multicultural) assessment approaches. The assessment of capabilities beyond the linguistic poses major challenges to traditional conceptualizations and elicitation and judgment practices of assessment. This is because what is being assessed is the linguistic and cultural situatedness of students of language/s as they communicate and learn across linguistic and cultural systems. This challenges the traditional assessment paradigm and also raises important ethical issues. This conceptual and practical stretch can only extend thinking about educational assessment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Atkinson, D. (1999). TESOL and culture. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 625–654. doi:10.2307/3587880.
Bachman, L. F. (2007). What is the construct? The dialectic of abilities and contexts in defining constructs in language assessment. In J. Fox et al. (Eds.), Language testing reconsidered (pp. 41–71). Ottawa: Ottawa University Press.
Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (2010). Language assessment in practice: Developing language assessments and justifying their use in the real world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bennett, M. (1986). Towards ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In M. Paige (Ed.), Cross-cultural orientation: New conceptualisation and applications (pp. 27–70). New York: University Press of America.
Block, D. (2003). The social turn in second language acquisition. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Block, D. (2014). Moving beyond ‘lingualism’: Multilingual embodiment and multimodality in SLA. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 54–77). New York/London: Routledge.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Byram, M. (2014). Twenty-five years on – From cultural studies to intercultural citizenship. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 27, 209–225. doi:10.1080/07908318.2014.974329.
Byram, M., & Zarate, G. (1994). Définitions, objectifs et évaluation de la compétence socio-culturelle. Strasbourg: Report for the Council of Europe.
Byrnes, H. (2010). Revisiting the role of culture in the foreign language curriculum. Perspectives column. Modern Language Journal, 94, 315–336. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01023.x.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). A domain description for core FSL: Communication skills. In Ontario Ministry of Education (Ed.), The Ontario assessment instrument pool: French as a second language, junior and intermediate divisions (pp. 27–39). Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1981). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47.
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2011). Focus on multilingualism: A study of trilingual writing. Modern Language Journal, 95, 356–369. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01206.x.
Chalhoub–Deville, M. (2003). Second language interaction: Current perspectives and future trends. Language Testing, 20, 369–383. doi:10.1191/0265532203lt264oa.
Deardorff, D. (2009). Implementing intercultural competence assessment. In D. Deardorff (Ed.), The Sage handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 477–491). Los Angeles: Sage.
Delandshere, G. (2002). Assessment as inquiry. Teachers College Record, 104, 1461–1484.
GarcÃa, O., & Li, W. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Geertz, C. (2000). Available light: Anthropological reflections on philosophical topics. Princeton: University Press.
Gorter, D. (2015). Multilingual interaction and minority languages: Proficiency and language practices in education and society. Language Teaching, 48, 83–98. doi:10.1017/S0261444812000481.
Gumperz, J. J., & Levinson, S. C. (Eds.). (1996). Rethinking linguistic relativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gutierrez, K., & Rogoff, B. (2003). Cultural ways of learning: Individual traits or repertoires of practice. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 19–25. doi:10.3102/0013189X032005019.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1993). Towards a language-based theory of learning. Linguistics and Education, 4, 93–116.
Halliday, M. A. K. (1999). The notion of ‘context’ in language education. In M. Ghadessy (Ed.), Text and context in functional linguistics (pp. 1–24). Philadelphia: Benjamins.
Heugh, K., Benson, C., Yohannes, M. A. G., & Bogale, B. (2012). Implications for multilingual education: Student achievement in different models of education in Ethiopia. In T. Skutnabb-Kangas & K. Heugh (Eds.), Multilingual education and sustainable diversity work: From periphery to centre (pp. 239–262). New York/London: Routledge.
Heugh, K., Prinsloo, C., Makgamantha, M. M., Diedericks, G., & Winnaar, L. (2016). Multilingualism(s) in system-wide assessment: A politics of innovation and resistance. Special issue on ‘Multilingual Assessment’. Language and Education.
Heugh, K., Li, X., & Song, Y. (2016). Multilingualism and translanguaging in the teaching of and through English: Rethinking linguistic boundaries in an Australian university. In I. Walkinshaw, B. Fenton-Smith & P. Humphries (Eds.), English medium instruction in higher education in the Asia-Pacific. From policy to pedagogy. Dordrecht: Springer.
Houghton, S. A. (2013). Making intercultural communicative competence and identity-development visible for assessment purposes in foreign language education. Language Learning Journal, 41, 311–325. doi:10.1080/09571736.2013.836348.
Kramsch, C. (1986). From language proficiency to interactional competence. Modern Language Journal, 70, 366–372.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (2004). Language, thought and culture. In A. Davies & C. Elder (Eds.), Handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 235–261). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Kramsch, C. (2006). From communicative competence to symbolic competence. Modern Language Journal, 90, 249–252. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2006.00395_3.x.
Kramsch, C. (2009). Discourse, the symbolic dimension of Intercultural Competence. In A. Hu & M. Byram (Eds.), Interkulturelle Kompetenz und Fremdsprachliches Lernen. Modelle, empirie, evaluation [Intercultural competence and foreign language learning: Models, empiricism, assessment] (pp. 107–122). Tűbingen: Gunter Narra Verlag.
Kramsch, C. (Ed.) (2014). Teaching foreign languages in the era of globalization. The Modern Language Journal, 98(Special issue 1), 296.
Lee, C. D. (2008). The centrality of culture to the scientific study of learning and development: How an ecological framework in education research facilitates civic responsibility. Educational Researcher, 37, 267–279. doi:10.3102/0013189X08322683.
Leung, C., & Scarino, A. (2016). Reconceptualising the nature and outcomes in language/s education. The Modern Language Journal, 100(Suppl 2016). doi:10.111/modl.123000026-7902/16/81-95.
Liddicoat, A. J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural language teaching and learning. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lussier, D., Ivanus, D., Chavdarova-Kostova, S., Golubina, K., Skopinskaja, L., Wiesinger, S., & de la Maya Retamar, G. (2007). Guidelines for the assessment of intercultural communicative competence. In I. Lazar, M. Huber-Kriegler, D. Lussier, G. S. Matei, & C. Peck (Eds.), Developing and assessing intercultural communicative competence: A guide for language teachers and teacher educators (pp. 23–39). Strasbourg/Graz: European Centre for Modern Languages and Council of Europe Publishing. http://archive.ecml.at/mtp2/publications/B1_ICCinTE_E_internet.pdf. Accessed 15 Nov 2015.
May, S. (Ed.). (2014). The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education. New York/London: Routledge.
McNamara, T., & Roever, C. (2006). Language testing: The social dimension. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Moss, P. A. (2008). Sociocultural implications for assessment: Classroom assessment. In P. A. Moss, D. C. Pullin, P. Gee, E. H. Haertel, & L. J. Young (Eds.), Assessment, equity and opportunity to learn (pp. 222–258). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Risager, K. (2007). Language and culture pedagogy: From a national to transnational paradigm. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Sapir, E. (1962). In D. Mandelbaum (Ed.), Culture, language and personality: Selected essays. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Scarino, A. (2010). Assessing intercultural capability in learning languages: A renewed understanding of language, culture, learning and the nature of assessment. Modern Language Journal, 94(2), 324–329. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2010.01026.x.
Scarino, A. (2013). Language assessment literacy as self-awareness. Understanding the role of interpretation in assessment and in teacher learning. Language Testing, 30(Special issue 3), 309–327. doi:10.1177/0265532213480128.
Sercu, L. (2004). Assessing intercultural competence: A framework for systematic test development in foreign language education and beyond. Intercultural Education, 15, 73–89. doi:10.1080/1467598042000190004.
Shohamy, E. (2011). Assessing multilingual competences: Adopting construct valid assessment policies. Modern Language Journal, 95, 418–429. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01210.x.0026-7902/11/418–429.
Steffensen, S. V., Michiko, U., & Kramsch, C. (2014). The ecology of intercultural interaction: Timescales, temporal ranges and identity dynamics. Language Sciences, 41A, 41–59. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2013.08.006.
Wei, L. (2014). Who’s teaching whom? Co-learning in multilingual classrooms. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL and bilingual education (pp. 167–190). New York/London: Routledge.
Whorf, B. L. (1940/1956). In J. B. Carroll (Ed.), Language, thought and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Scarino, A. (2017). Culture and Language Assessment. In: Shohamy, E., Or, I., May, S. (eds) Language Testing and Assessment. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02261-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02261-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02260-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02261-1
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education