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Language And Culture Faır Intellıgence Tests
MAKALE #8657 © Yazan Psk.Bade VARDARLI | Yayın Mart 2012 | 3,559 Okuyucu
We can describe characteristics of an intelligent person or we use some adjectives which we equate with intelligence such as succesful or creative, but we can not clearly define what intelligence is. Therefore it is hard to answer the question, “how to best measure intelligence?” When we measure intelligence, we measure also a collection of skills which constitute intelligence.

However, it is known that some skills are changeable due to culture.
Ideally, an intelligence test should be able to assess intelligence regardless of the testee's culture, race and language. In recent decades, researchers have focused on how culture affects intelligence and how culture and language-free tests could be designed. Thus many culture and language- free tests have been developed. But cultural differences impact not only on verbal abilities, but also on performance (Gaylard 2005:6). The tests, which are accepted as culture and language fair, are related with western middle class culture because they are also developed by western psychologists and they are not sufficient for measuring intelligence without cultural effects. Another problem is that language fair tests cannot evaluate verbal abilities, which is an important component of intelligence. In this sense, I want to discuss about the incompetencies of some tests by giving examples which Ucar mentioned in his book.

Intelligence assessments can be used in several settings. In educational settings, they are used to predict student's success or to place children in an academic track. But are they reliable enough to predict school success of the students with immigrant background or to decide at which kind of school they should study? What kinds of problems have the tests, which are implemented at schools? How far are those tests language and culture fair?, how much importance should be attached to test scores?

What are intelligence tests?

Before discussing culture and language problems, I want to give some general informations about intelligence tests. Les defines intelligence tests as series of tasks designed to measure the capacity to make abstractions, to learn and to deal with new situations (Les 2005:249). According to Eysenck, intelligence testing is a method for measuring an individual's mental ability and comparing those measured mental abilities with others by using numerical scores (Eysenck 1981:16). Briefly, intelligence tests are standardized measuring materials which are created for evaluating an individual’s actual mental ability.

The first intelligence test was produced by Binet for the purpose of predicting children's school progress in the school system, in 1880's. After that, many different IQ tests have been developed. They are used to measure different dimensions of mental abilities and they include the functions, which constitute intelligence such as verbal abilities, concentration, abstract thinking, non-verbal judgment etc. (Davison,Neale 1998:82)
For estimating several mental abilities, intelligence tests include various items such as series problems, matrix problems, incomplete sentence problems, relation problems. There are many more types of problems, but this selection is enough to give an idea of what intelligence tests are like. Some several major rules are important in the devising of those items. The first rule is that the item should not be too long to solve. In the second place, items must have only one correct answer. Thirdly, all the elements in test items should be equally known or unknown to all people (Eysenck 1981:18-19). I think the third rule is the most important rule due to the issue of cultural affects on mental abilities. For example an item like
Carmen is to
Bohéme
as Bizet is to Verdi / Puccini / Wagner / Strauss. This knowledge would be an exreme
example and it is not suitable for the measurement of general intellectual ability (Eysenck 1998:24) Because well known things are changeable due to culture. For example a well known question about western Culture would be a difficult item for immigrant children who come from another culture.
Intelligence tests are developed by psychologists and they measure the intelligence which is defined by them. Especially in the last two decades, different intelligence types has been defined, such as verbal intelligence, musical intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence etc. Therefore, the question “what do intelligence tests actually measure” have become more complicated. In this essay, I want to focus on intellligence tests, which are implemented at schools for anticipating children's school success and their mental capacity, by considering cultural issues. There can be no doubt that there is a strong relationship between school success and IQ. On the other hand there are many other factors which effect the success in school such as familial and environmental conditions, motivation, difficulty of curriculum, persistence and hard work etc. There are some criterias which psychological tests should include. The tests which are accepted as language and culture fair cannot fulfill all these criterias. Before discussing this incompetency of tests, I want to explain these criterias.

Main Criterias of Intelligence Tests The scale that will be used in order to measure concrete and abstract characteristics
must be a standard measurement tool. A psychological test must fulfill three criteria in order to have capability of producing suitable knowledge; reliability, validity and standardization. (Ercan 2004:211)

Intelligence tests are standardized psychological tests. The grades are not significant without comparison with the grades of norm group. After the test is completed, the results are compared to the responses of a norm group, usually comprised of people at the same age or grade level as the person being evaluated. Standardization shows the stability of the test's implementation and rating. It means that the grades of same individuals at different times and the grades of different individuals at the same time should be consistent. (Ercan 2004:215) If an IQ test is culture fair, the grades of testees from western culture and non-western culture should be consistent.


Reliability refers to the consistency of a measure. A test is considered reliable if we get the same result or answer repeatedly. For example an individual’s answers on matrix problems at different times should be approximately the same. (Ercan 2004:212)
Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. It is vital for a test to be valid in order for the results to be accurately applied and interpreted. For example a valid intelligence test would measure intelligence, not memory, speed, guessing ability, or vocabulary. (Ercan 2004:211-213)

The researchers, who develop intelligence tests, should take care of those criterias and testers, who implement tests, should be certain of test's competence. Developing intelligence tests that meet all of these requirements is a difficult task. If there are differences between the societies, it is necessary to examine these criterias in both societies. (Ercan 2004:216) By considering those criterias, now I want to discuss about the problems of language and culture fair intelligence tests.Cultural factors and language problem in measuring intelligence Increasing migration and need for universality of IQ tests have caused the necessity of culture and language fair intelligence tests. In the past several decades researchers have focused on the question “how could it be possible to develop culture and language fair intelligence tests?“

It is generally accepted that intelligence and knowledge are not the same thing. So that an intelligence test should not measure “what a person knows”, they should measure mental abilities. (Chen, Huang, 1982:140-141). The degree to which environmental and cultural factors affect those abilities is still unknown. But it is clear, the items for measuring verbal abilities are closely linked with language, particularly vocabulary test items are affected by cultural factors (Eysenck 1981:22). For example a known word like Christmas or Santa Claus which is related with Christian culture, could be unknown for a child who comes from Muslim culture. So that many culture fair intelligence tests do not include vocabulary test items and they can not measure verbal abilities. Especially the intelligence tests, which are implemented at schools requires language fair tests for the students with migration background. Because some of these students are not able to speak and understand the majority language sufficiently.

Psychology is a field which is mostly developed in USA and European countries. It is clear, that in western culture psychology is much more dominant than in others. Most intellligence tests are developed by western psychologists. Therefore it is possible to say that the concept of intelligence tests is bound to white middle class culture and values. It is known that, people in contrasting cultures and environments develop different mental abilities, different interests and they value different skills. For example in western countries, intelligence associated with creativity, speed etc. But in Turkey intelligence associated with adjectives such as slow, careful. In spite of the creation of language and culture fair intelligence tests, these tests are not totally culture fair. Because the success from those tests requires some specific skills such as pencil use and copying, drawing, concentration or paying attention. (Chen, Huang, 1982: 139-142)
Unfair situations can occur when taking and implementing intelligence tests such as testers are from a dominant cultural group or testees are from a minority or less powerful group. Intelligence tests are implemented at schools to place children in an academic track.

For example in Germany, some intelligence tests, which are accepted as culture fair, have been implemented testing immigrant children, to decide if the child should study at Sonderschule (which is a special school for the children who have learning disorders). Mostly these immigrant children are not able to speak German. (Ucar 1997:159)
It is difficult to measure children's abilities, who have different cultural backgrounds. Ucar gives an example about this problem in his book: A Turkish student, who comes from an immigrant worker family in Germany, had problems learning. Her test results were variable. With language fair intelligence test she got normal grades, but by implementing this test her verbal abilities could not be measured. It was impossible to implement the other tests, which measure verbal abilities, because of her German incompetence. (Ucar 1997:159-160) In such situations it is hard to evaluate test results.

Certainly, the tests, which are developed for western children, cannot give reliable results for the children with immigrant background. Those children need their own norms, which has even today still not been developed. The validity of those tests are developed due to cultural norms of other populations. (Ucar 1997:167) I believe development of culture fair
tests is an unrealistic goal. Instead of developing such tests, studying the cultural background and environment ,in which children grow up, and making assessments due to such circumstances could be better.
Intelligence tests are implemented at schools to predict school succes but it is not certain that, school success is related with intelligence. School success is effected by a variety of factors that cannot be measured by an intelligence test alone. For example a bright student ,who is not ambitious, is often less succesful than their average classmates.

Finally interpersonal skills are independent from intelligence. There are many bright students, who do not perform well because they have problems with other students or working cooperatively. Experiences of children may also affect intelligence. Parents should provide a language rich and stimulating environment, but unfortunately every child does not have same chances.The use of intelligence tests may be used to continue racist beliefs and lead to exclusion. The differences between schooled and not schooled children has important implications. Equality in formal education may help to provide a level on which the valid comparition of abilities can take place.

However, there are important communication difficulties between testee and tester because of language problem. It is not a good idea to have a translator during the test. Because children may feel themselves emotionally under pressure with two adults. In such situations, children show negative reactions and existence of a translator may affect tester's control negatively. (Ucar1997:167)

Researchers should be aware of the limitations and strengths of culture fair intelligence tests. I believe, there is not any test which measure intelligence without cultural effects. Therefore I think it is dangerous to decide only by using intelligence tests. It is clear, there are many other factors which affect intelligence and learning abilities heavily. Too much attention should not be attached to an intelligence test score. Test scores should be evaluated only as a component of succes.

References
Amelang, Schmidt (2006): Psychologische Diagnostik und Intervention. Heidelberg.
Braithware, Chen, Huan (1982): Attributes of intelligent behavior. In: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology <

http://spjcc.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/13/2/139> 05.01.2010
Davison, Neale (2004): Anormal psikolojisi. Ankara
Ercan, Kan (2004): Zeka testlerinde güvenirlik ve gecerlik calismalari. In:Uludağ Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi 30 (3), S. 211-216, http://www.pdrciyiz.biz/olceklerde-g...-gecerlikt1465.html

http://www.pdrciyiz.biz/olceklerde-g...lik-t1465.html 10.01.2010
Eysenck, Kamin (1981): Intelligence: The battle for the mind. London.
Gaylard (2005): Cross-cultural differences in IQ test performance: Extension of an existing normative database on WAIS-III test performance

http://eprints.ru.ac.za/504/1/Gaylard_MA.pdf 05.01.2010
Les, Les (2005): Testing visual abilities of machines – Visual intelligence tests. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 7, 2005, S. 249-254,

http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v7/v7-48.pdf 07.01.2010
Raven (1976): Coloured Progressive Matrices. London.
Ucar (1997): Benachteiligt: Ausläandische Kinder in der Deutschen Sonderschule. Berlin.
Wendeler (1970): Intelligenztests in Schulen. Berlin.
Ziller (1971): Der Mann-Zeichen-Test. Münster Westfalen.



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