d poole construccion del conocimiento.pdf
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Routine Testing Practices and the Linguistic Construction of Knowledge
Author(s): Deborah Poole
Source: Cognition and Instruction, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1994), pp. 125-150
Published by: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Taylor & Francis Group)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3233678
Accessed: 31/08/2008 21:31
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COGNITION
ND
NSTRUCTION,994,
2(2),
125-150
Copyright
1994,
Lawrence
rlbaum
ssociates,
nc.
Routine
Testing
Practicesand the
Linguistic
Construction
f
Knowledge
Deborah Poole
San
Diego
State
University
This article
xamines he
linguistic ncoding
of curricular
nowledge
n
routine
classroom
esting
vents.
Focusing
n
transcript
ata ollected
n
a
qualitativetudy
of
junior
high
school
social studies
lassrooms,
argue
hat he
dominant
piste-
mological
rientation
f
testing
vents s
positivistic
ndvaluesa
discrete,
ounded
formof
knowledge.
he
analysis
enters
n
the
language
f
reviewactivities hat
typically
recede
nd
ollow
classroom
ests;
pecifically,
t
focuseson interactional
sequences
hat demandstudents'verbal
participation
n a
culturally
pecified
orientation
o
knowledge.
A
comparison
f the
language
f
these
testing
events
andearlieressonpresentationsf the same curricularnformationuggests hat
testing
encourages
nd
exaggerates
he extent to which a
positivistic
view
of
knowledge
revails.
High-status
knowledge appears
to
be discrete
knowledge.
It has .
. .
identifiable
content
and . . .
stable structure
that
are
both
teachable
and,
what
is
critically
important,
estable.
Apple,
1990)
In
addressing
the interface between
ideology
and school
curriculum,
a number
of scholars have noted that the
knowledge
that
typically
counts in the school
setting
can
be characterized s
positivistic (Apple,
1990;
Giroux,
1981),
technical
(Apple,
1990; McClaren,
1989),
componential
or bounded
Freire,
1970; Giroux,
1981;
McClaren,1989; Woods, 1979;
cf. P.
Berger,
B.
Berger,
&
Kellner, 1973;
R. Scollon &
S.
Scollon,
1981).
In
these
interpretations,
chool-valued
knowledge
is that
which can be
objectified
into
discrete
and
measurableunits
of
information
seemingly
free
of affective or
value-laden dimensions.
Giroux
(1981),
for
example, argued
that curricular
knowledge
as
typically
constituted
in
U.S.
education
reflects
a
"culture
of
positivism":
Requests
for
reprints
should be
sent
to
Deborah
Poole,
Department
of
Linguistics
& Oriental
Languages,
San
Diego
State
University,
San
Diego,
CA
92182.
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126 POOLE
The central
ssumptiony
which he
culture
f
positivism
ationalizes
ts
position
on
theory
nd
knowledge
s the
notionof
objectivity,
he
separation
f
values rom
knowledge
nd
methodologicalnquiry
like.
(p. 44)
The
way
classroomeachers
iew
knowledge,
he
way
knowledge
s
mediated
through
pecific
lassroom
methodologies,
nd he
way
students
re
taught
o view
knowledge,
tructurelassroom
xperiences
n a
way
that
is
consistent
with
the
principles
f
positivism.
In
this
view,
knowledge
s
objective,
bounded
nd
out
there'
"(Woods,
1979,
p.
137).
Classroom
nowledge
s often
treated s
an external
ody
of
information,
the
production
f which
appears
o
be
independent
f
human
beings.
From
his
perspective, bjectiveknowledge
s
viewed as
independent
f time
and
place;
t
becomesuniversalized,historical nowledge.Moreover, t is expressed n a
language
hat is
basically
echnical
and
allegedly
value free.
This
language
s
instrumentalnd defines
knowledge
n terms
hat
are
empirically
erifiable
nd
suited
o
finding
hebest
possible
means or
goals
hat
o
unquestioned.
nowledge,
then,
becomes
ot
only
countable
nd
measurable,
t also
becomes
mpersonal.pp.
52-53;
cf.
R.
Scollon
&
S.
Scollon,
1981,
p.
49)
This article
s
concerned
with
specifying
the
linguistic
means
through
which this
view of
knowledge
is constituted
n
ordinary
classrooms.
Specifically,
it
investi-
gates the constructionof positivistic, objective, or technical knowledge in the
interactional
equences
of routine
esting
practices,proposing
hat
esting
activities
evoke a
positivistic display
of school
knowledge
and
encourage
conditions
under
which
such a
perspective
prevails.
In
focusing
on
the
language
of
testing,
the
study
assumes
thatthe
dominant
orm of school
knowledge
is
initially
constituted
n the
minimal contexts of classroom interaction
(cf.
Mehan,
1973, 1978;
Mehan
&
Wood,
1976).
In
other
words,
students learn
and
appropriate
school-valued
knowledge through
ocally
managed,
routine school
acts.
This
approach
eeks
to
locate the
positivistic knowledge
referred
o
by
Giroux
(1981)
and other critical
pedagogists, as well as to identify the interactionalmeans throughwhich it is
socialized and
maintained.
Previous
interaction-based
studies of
testing
have
focused
largely
on
standardized
ntelligence
or
achievement
ests
(e.g.,
Cicourel
et
al.,
1974;
Marlaire
&
Maynard,
1990;
Mehan, 1973,
1978).
This
body
of research
has
elucidated
the kinds
of
face-to-face
encountersconstitutive
of standardized
esting
practices
and has
investigated
the
knowledge
dimension
of
testing
from
several
perspec-
tives,
each
largely
congruent
with the
findings
discussed
here.
Several
studies
have
documented,
for
example,
that
neither
the
testing
environment
nor
the
resulting grade take into account the complexity of students' knowledge or
reasoning
processes (MacKay,
1974; Mehan, 1973, 1978;
Roth,
1974).
MacKay,
in
particular, argued
that
the
production
of
gradable,
objective
answers
in
standardized
esting
arbitrarily
imits
display
of
the
knowledge
students
possess,
so that a test often becomes a "trivial test
of
vocabulary"
p.
238)
in
which
an
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TESTING
ANDTHECONSTRUCTION
F KNOWLEDGE
127
epistemology
of
"knowledge
as
puzzles"
or
"guessing
game" (p.
236)
prevails.
The concern
raised
by MacKay
and
others
s that
a
test score neverthelessbecomes
an institutional act thatpurports o representstudentknowledge and frequently
forms
the basis for
subsequent
educational
decision
making.
CLASSROOM ESTINGPRACTICES
The
presentanalysis
follows
from this work
by
focusing
on
the
linguistic
construc-
tion
of
knowledge
in
the
environment
of classroom
testing.
Here
testingpractices
are
taken
to
mean
the
sorts
of
weekly
to
biweekly
classroom tests constructed
by
the teacher
or
textbook
publisher,
rather han
the standardized
chievement ests
more
generally
considered he
proper
domainof
testing.
Classroom
esting
is a
far
more
frequent
experience
in
the
lives
of
schoolgoers
and thus
represents
a
more
pervasive
context
or
the socialization
of
school-valued
knowledge.
The classroom
test also has
long-term consequences
in
the form of recorded
grades
whose
cumulative effects are seen
both in
periodic reports
and
ultimately
in
students'
futureacademic
choices.
In the
classes observed
for
this
study,
routine
tests
were
generally part
of
a
three-pronged equence
of
events:
(a)
a
review
of curricular ontent n
preparation
for the test
(hereafter
eferred
o as
the
pretest review), (b)
the test
itself,
and
(c)
the
return
and review of corrected
ests
(hereafter
alled the
posttest
review).
This
sequence
constitutesa final
boundary
o a
sequential
unit of
classroom
work
and
represents
a
set of
key
activities
(Hymes,
1962)
for
investigating
what kind
of
knowledge
mastery
onstitutes
school success.
Each successive event
in
the
testing
sequence
constitutes a
re-presentation
of curricular nformation
hrough
which
previous
content
presentations
redistilled to
a
display
of whatcounts as successful
school
learning.
The
pretest
and
posttest
reviews are
an
emphatic
display
of
school-valued
knowledge
because
they
represent
verbal reiterations
or
pre-itera-
tions) of actual test items and highlightteacherperceptions
of critical curricular
information.
n
the discussion
to
follow,
analysis
centers
largely
on these review
events,
focusing
on the
kinds
of
question-answer
sequences
that demandstudent
participation
n the overt
construction
of a cultural
view of
knowledge.
LANGUAGE
OCIALIZATION
Schieffelin
and Ochs's
(1986a;
Ochs &
Schieffelin,
1984)
recent articulation
of
language socialization provides a motivatingtheoretical ramework or investi-
gating
the social
construction
of
knowledge
in
the school
setting.
In their
view,
language
forms and
practices
represent
a
pervasive
but
implicit
means
through
which
cultural
knowledge
is
conveyed
to novices.
Linguistic
features and the
sequential organizations
within
which
they
occur are seen to encode "socio-
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128
POOLE
cultural nformationn
acts and
activities,
dentities
nd
relationships,
eelings
and
beliefs and other
domains
that]
must be
inferred
by
childrenand other
novices" Ochs,1987,p. 10).1
Ochs's
1984, 1988)
study
of
clarification
tylesamong
Samoan ndmiddle-
class U.S.
caregivers rovides
compelling
xample
of this kindof inferential
language
ocialization. his
study
demonstrates
he
relationbetween
aregiver
discourse
ractices
nd
epistemological
tances
n the two
settings.2
he
argued
that
n
Western
amoa,
here s a
dispreference
or
speculating
s to
the mental
states
of
others,
a
domain
beyond
the limits of what
one can know.
Ochs
demonstrated
ow
Samoan
aregivers
o not
expand
r
guess
he
meaning
f
young
children's nclear
utterances.
nstead,
hey
ask
for
repetition.
his
interactional
patternwasinterpretedsameansof socializing ovices ntotheknowledgehat
the
mental
tates
of
othersarenot
appropriatebjects
of
conjecture.
his
is the
converse
f
middle-class .S.
caregivers,
orwhoma
primary
mode
of
clarification
withchildren
s
the
expansion
r
"expressed
uess,"
mode
corresponding
o the
commonU.S.
practice
f
guessing
whatothers
re
hinking.
The
present
tudy
ollows
from
language
ocialization
esearch
n
focusing
on a minimal
nteractional
equence
hrough
whichnovices
are socialized o a
particular pistemological
tance.
Here
the
objects
of
investigation
re the
question-answer
equences
that
typify
tests
and test-related vents. These
sequences redominatentheactivities ndernvestigationnd, argue, epresent
symbolic
nstantiationsf a
positivistic
iew of
knowledge.3
DATACOLLECTION
The
data
for
the
study
were
gathered
n
three
public
uniorhigh
schools in a
large
urban rea
of
southern
California. his
region
of
the
schooldistrict
erves
'The discourse
orientation
of
this
model of
language
socialization
contrasts
with the
grammatical
focus of the Sapir-Whorfhypothesis.Schieffelin andOchs(1986a) proposedthat"Itis time to shake
the dust
off of the
original Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
[and]
rid it
of
its extreme
deterministic
interpretations"p.
169;
cf.
Ochs, 1984;
R. Scollon & S.
Scollon,
1981).
In
their
view,
language
and
culture
are
in
dynamic
relation,
with
interaction
always
implying
the
possibility
of cultural
change.
Furthermore,
ovices
are
seen as active
contributors o
the
socialization
process
who
can affect and
alter cultural
patterns.
20chs also tied the
respective
clarification
styles
of
the Samoan and middle-class
U.S.
caregivers
to
a wide
range
of cultural
phenomena,
such
as whether
experts typically
accommodateto novices
(as
middle-class U.S.
caregivers
do)
or the reverse.
3The
definition of socializationassumedhere
(and
in the
Ochs
and
Schieffelin, 1984,
framework)
is takenfrom
Wentworth's
1980)
model
of
socialization
as "an actual
interactional
isplay
of the so-
cioculturalenvironment"
p.
68):
"That
model directs
inquiry
toward the interaction
that
constitutes
socialization,
rather han
continuing
o
encourage
attention
o the
psychological
outcomes of the
proc-
ess"
(p.
83,
italics
added).
In other
words,
the issue here is not the
extent to which novices internalize
the
culturalnorms and values
through
which
the
school
operates
but
the
constitution
of those cultural
norms and
values
as
displayed through
nteractional
equences
of test-relatedevents.
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TESTING AND THE
CONSTRUCTION
OF KNOWLEDGE 129
a
predominantly
working-class
Latino
population
hathas
been established
n the
area
for several
generations.
n one
of the
schools,
students
were bussed
in
from
thegreatermetropolitan rea or a math-science"magnet"program,but otherwise
students n the
classes observedwere residents
of the
surrounding
eighborhoods.
In
this
district,
the
administration
had mandated
that each student be
given
a
minimum
of
two
grades per
week for each class
attended,
a
policy
that
seemed
to
encourage
the
kind
of
testing
events
analyzed
here.
Two
eighth-grade
U.S.
history
teachers,
Mrs. Wells4
and
Mr.
Chavez,
and
one
seventh-grade
geography
teacher,
Mr.
Grey,
participated
n
the
study.
Over
the course
of
the
study,
I
observed
approximately
50 class
hours,
39
of which
were
audiotaped
and/or
videotaped.
In
addition,
the
study
included
numerous
informaldiscussions with each teacheras well as more structured nterviewsat
the end
of the
data-collection
period.
The
primaryperiod
of
data
collection
lasted
from
January
o
May
of
1988
and was
preceded by
a
pilot
study duringJanuary
and
February
of
1987
in
two of Mrs.
Wells's
eighth-grade
U.S.
history
classes.
The
following
year,
I
observed classes
of all
three
teachers,
focusing
on
one or
two class
periods
with
each.
The
data selected for this
analysis
include
transcripts
of
two
pretest
reviews,
six
posttest
reviews,
and the written tests
from which each derives.
The
data
were transcribed
using
a
modified
form of standard
conversation-analytic
conventions,listed in AppendixA. Each teacher conductedpretestreviews as a
means
of
preparing
students
immediately
prior
to a
test and
posttest
reviews as
a means of
going
over
test answers to
allow
students
to review
what
they
had
missed.
The
original
study
focused
solely
on the
posttest
review and the
attendant
written
texts.
Hence,
the
data
of
the
pretest
reviews are less extensive. Two
pretest
reviews
are
included
here,however,
because the
interaction
hat
constitutes
them resembles so
closely
thatof the
posttest
activities
(see
Example
I
to follow
shortly).
Informationrelevant to
the
eight
test
review
(TR)
events
is
listed
in
Table
1;
the tests themselves are
found
in
Appendix
B.
With the exception of TR-3 (a posttest review of a quiz on the U.S.
Constitution),
ach event in the
corpus
reviews the same test as
at
least
one
other.
TR-1
and
TR-2
are
the
prereview
and
postreview
of the
same test
(Test
I in
Appendix
B),
focused
on a
textbook
chapter
entitled
"The Constitution's
First
Test"
(Ver
Steeg,
1982).
The
same is
true
of TR-4
and
TR-5,
which
are the
prereview
and
postreview
of a
test
covering
U.S.
life
in
the
1920s,
the Great
Depression,
and the New
Deal.
TR-6
also reviews
this same
test,
but
with
a
differentclass.
TR-7
and
TR-8,
posttest
reviews
of a
single
test
with
classes
of
two different
tracks,
derive from a
text unit entitled
"AfricaSouth of the Sahara"
(Kolevzon & Heine, 1977).
*The
names of
participating
eachers
are
pseudonyms.
Students' names have
been
abbreviated
o
preserveanonymity.
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130
POOLE
TABLE
1
Test
Review
(TR)
Data Base
TREvent Teacher Grade Subject Timeof Review
TR-1
Wells 8
U.S.
history
Pretest
TR-2
Wells
8 U.S.
history
Posttest
TR-3
Wells 8
U.S.
history
Posttest
TR-4 Chavez 8 U.S.
history
Pretest
TR-5
Chavez 8 U.S.
history
Posttest
TR-6 Chavez
8 U.S.
history
Posttest
TR-7
Grey
7 World
geography
Posttest
TR-8
Grey
7 World
geography
Posttest
CO-CONSTRUCTEDROPOSITIONS
S
A
LOCUS
OF SCHOOLKNOWLEDGE
The review
events of
this
corpus
resemble other classroom activities
in
terms
of
hierarchical and
sequential organization
(cf.
Mehan,
1979a).
Each
event
is
explicitly
framed
hrough
an
opening
statement
e.g.,
"OK,
I
wanna
go
over
some
things
I
want
you
to know for
the
test tomorrow"
n a
pretest
review or "Now
we're
going
to
go
over
your
test"
in a
posttest review);
ratified
curricular alk
is
segmented
into a
series
of
topically
related sets
(Mehan, 1979a)
or
topic
sequences;
and
topic sequences
in
turn are
overwhelmingly composed
of
initiation-reply-evaluation
(IRE)
sequences,
the
widely
documentedunmarked
sequence
of
classroom interaction
(Griffin
&
Humphrey,
1978; Lemke, 1990;
Mehan, 1979a; Poole, 1990;
Sinclair &
Coulthard,
1975).
In
the
events
of
this
corpus,
the
linguistic encoding
of
curricular
ontent
is
largely
confined to IRE
sequences
that
take the
form of
"test-questions"
or
incomplete
sentence
frames.
Of the
77
topic
sequences
in the
corpus,only
5
take
a
more
extended
orm
thatdoes not
rely
on the
test-question-based
RE
sequence.
Elsewhere
(Poole, 1989)
I
have discussed these
extended
sequences
and
the
reasons
they
occur. The
focus
here,
however,
is
on
IRE
sequences,
which
represent
he
dominantmode
of
presentation.
A
test-question,
also termeda
display
or
known-information
uestion(Long
&
Sato, 1983; Mehan,
1979b),
is used
here in
its discourse
sense
to mean
the
familiar
asymmetricalsequence
in
which
the
expert
asks
a
question
to
which
he or
she
already
has
an answer n
mind
(e.g.,
"Whatcolor
is that?""Where's
your
nose?").
An
incomplete
sentence frame
("Mary
had
a
little
")
represents
a
syntactic
variation
of
this
form.A
unique
characteristic
f test
review activitiessuch as those
represented
n this
corpus
is that the
verbal
test-questionsadditionallyrepresent
literal test
questions
(Poole, 1990);
that
is,
they
uniformly
reflect or
reiterate
he
items
of
the written
est,
as in
Examples
I
and
2 to follow.
Herethe
verbal nitiations
in
the
pretest
and
posttest
reviews
are
essentially
identical to the
written
test
questions.
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TESTINGAND
THE
CONSTRUCTIONF KNOWLEDGE
131
Example
1:
A. Pretest review
(Wells, TR-1)5
T: And whe::re?(.) was the Whiskey Rebellion (0.4) where was the ris-
Whiskey
Rebellion.
T:
Ed-
- -
(0.4)
stop
playing
(0.4)
OK.
(Ab-
-
-)
(Ab):
(
)
T:
Well,
you've given
me a
city.
I
want a state.
(Ab):
Pennsylvania
T:
Shh::
(0.2)
Pennsylvania
s
correct
(0.6)
Pennsylvania
s correct.
B.
Written
test
11.
The
Whiskey
Rebellion took
place
among
farmers
in
(a)
Massachusetts,
(b) Pennsylvania,(c) New York, (d) Maryland.
C. Posttest review
(Wells, TR-2)
T: eleven
uh
Se-
- -
the
Whiskey
Rebellion took
place among
farmers
n,
Se: B.
Pennsylvania
Example
2:
A.
Pretest
review
(Chavez,
TR-4)
T:
All
right
ne:xt
(3.8)
I
want
you
to
kno::w
(1.0)
the nineteen
twenty-
nineteen twenty-fourImmigrationAct.
((students
intervene with
clarification
questions
on
previous
topic))
T:
nineteen
twenty-fou:r:
mmigration
Act
did
what?
(2.0)
Immigration
Act.
Whad
it do?
SI:
No
more
immigration
S2:
oh i- i- it
brang
it
brang
people
from
Mexico
T:
(It)
clo::sed off
immigration
nto this
country
[
S:
(it)
sent them
ba:ck
T:
Nineteen
twenty-four
Immigration
Act
stopped
most
immigration
from
othercountries.
B. Written test
7.
What did the
immigration
act of 1924
do?
Why
did
many
Americans ike
this law?
C. Posttest review
(Chavez,
TR-5)
T:
let's
see.
um:
Immigration
Act of 1924
SI:
oh
stopped immigrants
rom
coming
[
S2: oh
T:
stopped immigrants
rom
coming
'The
data
in
these
examples
have
been
minimally implified
or
presentationurposes.
The
primary
orm
of
such
simplification
s
the omissionof
noncurriculartudentutterances nd the
corresponding
anagerial
tterances
y
the
teacher.
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132
POOLE
1.
T
formulates
roposition
.
2.
T
identifies
constituent
within
proposition.
I-->
3.
T
asks
question
asedon
Y.
[3]
and
[4]
(ideally)
R-->
4.
S(s)
(ideally)
eplies
withY.
reformulate
1].
E-->
5.
T
evaluates,
meaning:
"You
ompleted
he
proposition
formulated"
or
"Youdid
not
complete
he
proposition
formulated."
FIGURE
Propositional
odel
or
est-questionequences.
Ochs,
Schieffelin,
and
Platt
(1979;
cf.
Griffin
&
Humphrey,
1978;
Mehan,
1979)
analyzed
test-question-and-answer
equences
as
comprising
single propo-
sitions
that
span
utterances
by
more than one
speaker.Through
such
sequences,
novice
and
expert
participate
n
the overt
co-constructionof a
single proposition.
In
specific
terms,
the
following initiate-reply sequence
(from
Grey,
TR-7),
T:
what's he
capital
f Zaire.
Ss: Kinshasa
can
be viewed as
constituting
he
single proposition,
"Kinshasa
s the
capital
of
Zaire"
cf.
Poole,
1990).
This
interpretationuggests
that
test-question-based
RE
sequences
constitute overt co-constructionsof
teacher-formulated
ropositions.
Figure
16
proposes
a
sequence
of
cognitive
and social acts
through
which
this
can
occur.
In
this
model,
[1]
and
[2]
represent
a kind of intra-individual
lanning
of the
IRE
sequence
represented
n
[3]
to
[5],
so that the initiationand
reply
moves
([3]
and
[4])
constitute a
reformulation
f the
teacher's
original proposition.
In terms
of publicdiscourse withintheactivity proper, he teacherdetermines heproposi-
tional
content of ratified student utterances.
In
other
words,
to
the extent that
classroom
nteraction s
composed
of
IRE
sequences
nitiated
with some
variety
of
test-question,
hatdiscoursecan be said to
represent
a series
of teacher-formulated
propositions.
The
structure f these
testing
events
provides
that
nearly
all
ratified
student
utterancesoccur in
sequences
of this sort and that
the entire
process
is
enacted
n
both written
the
test)
and
spoken
(the review)
modalities.
In
sum,
a
test-question sequence represents
a
primary
locus
for
displaying
curricular
nowledge
in
the
testing
events of this
corpus. Through
his
sequence,
teacherunderstandingf whatcounts as schoolknowledgeis conveyedto students
"Certain
est-questions
reatthe entire
proposition
as the constituent
and do not
focus on a
single
component.
I would
thus
interpret"identifying
a constituent"
broadly,
meaning
to
identify any part
of the
proposition, ncluding
the
whole
of
it.
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TESTING
ND
THE
CONSTRUCTIONF
KNOWLEDGE
133
through
a
display
that demands their
repeated,
overt
participation.
Seen
in this
light,
the
test-question
becomes a
compelling
tool
for
the
socialization
of
culturallyspecified knowledge,allowing the teacherto control the propositional
content
of ratified student utterances
n
a
mannerconsistent
with
the
dominant
epistemological
orientationof the
school.
TESTCURRICULUM
S A DISPLAY
F FACTS
The
test-question
sequences
that
encode
the bulk
of
curricular
nformation
n
these
data
represent
a
display
of
knowledge
as
discrete
informationunits.
This
display
is constituted
through
a
variety
of
linguistic
and interactionaldevices
that,
when
viewed as a
composite
of
co-occurring
orms,
may
be seen
to index
and
sustain a
positivistic
view of
knowledge.
Through
these
devices,
to
be
identified and
exemplified
in
this
section,
studentsnot
only
observe a
display
of
knowledge
but also are
required
o
participateovertly through
verbal contribu-
tions.
Short
Answers
n
Noun-Phrase
orm
Student
contributions
o
test-question
sequences
are
frequently
in
noun-phrase
form
consisting
of
identifiable entities
such
as
Republican,
John
Adams, Ohio,
FDIC,
or birth
certificate.
For
instance,
in
Examples
3
and
4,
studentcontribu-
tions
are
consistently
in
the
form
of
brief,
unmodified
noun
phrases
that
point
to
an identifiable
entity
or to
a
more
complex,
but
labeled,
phenomenon
such as
"the New Deal."
In
the total
corpus,
66
of
98
(67%)
of the ratified student
reply
moves are constituted
n
this kind of
simple
noun
phrase
form. Ratified curricular
propositions
are underscored.
Example (Wells,
TR-2):
T:
uh se-twelve
Mc-Jay
negotiated
treaty
between he UnitedStates
and,
(0.6)
uh::
Gu--
-
Gu: I
got
it
wrong.
T:
uh:
(0.8)
S:
Great
Britain.
T:
OK
good.
thirteen
he XYZ
affairalmost
brought
he United
States
to
warwith
(1.4)
Va-
- -
Va: A. France.
T: good.
Example
(Chavez,TR-5):
T:
all
right
number hree.
( )
who was
presidentduring
most of
the
depression.
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134
POOLE
S: John F.
Kennedy.
T:
No::
you're hirty
ears
ate.
Ss:
TheodoreRoosevelt.
S:
Roosevelt
T: FRANKLIN.
S:
Roosevelt.
Ri-:
Franklin
Roosevelt.
T:
his whole
program
was,
(
)
S: he
(does)
the
new deal
Ss:
[new
deal
((Ss talking, aughing))
T: all
right
please
et
me
continue.
(T
leaning
on desk
waiting
or
quiet))
all
right.
Roosevelt's
wholenew
(.)
program
s
called,
SS: new
deal
T: new deal.
(.)
all
right.
The
point
here is not
simply
that
student utterances
are
constructedas noun
phrases
but also that
the
linguistic
form
of the teacher's
nitiationmoves
virtually
demands a
noun
phrase
reply.
In
much of
the
data,
the
structure
of
teacher
initiations as incomplete sentence frames or product-oriented Mehan, 1979)
WH-questions
(who,
what,
etc.)
dictates that ratified
replies
will
be
constructed
as
noun
phrases.Throughout
he
corpus,
initiations hat would elicit
explanations
or
the
linking
of facts or ideas
are
largely neglected
in favor of
these
forms,
which evoke more
bounded,
discrete
utterances
rom
students.
Definitions
The
converse
of
short
noun
phrase
answers occurs
in
definition
questions
in
which the teacher articulatesa noun phrase and the student contributes the
propositional
predicate,
as
shown
in
Examples
5,
6,
and
7:
Example
5
(Chavez,
TR-5):
T:
bracero
s:
Da:
a
farmer
romMexico
(that
comes over
here)
to
work
or a while and
then
goes
back.
T:
and
then
goes
back.
Example6 (Wells, TR-2):
T:
...
at
any
rate
a
cabinet
was whatanswerum Os-
- -
(0.4)
Os:
E. a
group
of
(0.4)
Presidentialdv- advisors
T:
good
the s- excise
tax,
Mi-
- -
Mi:
C.
a tax
on
imports.
T: all
right. (quickly))
o no no
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TESTINGND
THE
CONSTRUCTIONFKNOWLEDGE
135
Mi:
uh--oh
(0.8)
C.
a
tax on
goods
madesold
(or
usedwithin
he
country)
T:
OK that'sone of
the two
that
have
been
mixed
up
Example (Grey,
TR-8):
T:
Jo
- - -
what'sa
landlocked
country.
Jo:
(no
wateraround
t).
T:
there'sno
wateraround
t,
(.)
what
s aroundt?
Jo:
land.
T:
land.
other
countries,
ight.
Although
this
type
of definition
question
requires
a more
complex
linguistic
construction rom students,discretenounphraseforms retain discourse salience
in the teacher's
utterances.
n
other
words,
definition
questions
constitutevariation
in the
organizational
display
of
knowledge,
not a
change
in
the
underlying
epistemology. Eighteenpercent
of the IRE
sequences
in the
corpus
areconstructed
as
definitions,
so
that,
together
with the
short-answernoun
phrases
discussed
earlier,
they
account for
85%
of
all
ratified
curricular
propositions.
BaldAssertions
The
question
types already
specified
serve to create
propositions
that are
linguistically
structured
as
"facts"
so
as
to seem
incontrovertible
and without
value
or
affect. Bald
assertive
clauses,
such as "The river
that borders
he
Congo
is
(the)
Zaire"or
"Charles
Lindbergh
made)
the
first
solo
flight
over the
Atlantic,"
constitute the
primary
form of
content
presentation.
These assertions are
consistently
constructed
rom
a
third-person
perspective, resulting
in
curricular
knowledge
that
is
depersonalized
and
separated
rom
participants
n the manner
described
by
Giroux
(1981;
see
passage
quoted
earlier).
In
addition,
there
is
virtually
no
occurrence
of
modal verb forms
(e.g., would,might,could)
or
other
evidential markers
that would
serve to index affective stance or
degree
of
(un)certainty
oward a
proposition
(Biber
&
Finegan,
1988; Chafe,
1986;
Ochs,
1988).
Chafe
(1986)
interpreted videntiality
"in
its broadest
sense,"
"to cover
any
linguistic
expression
of attitudes
toward
knowledge"
(p.
271).
In addition
to
modal
forms,
such
expressions
include markers of
reliability
(e.g.,
surely,
perhaps, probably,primarily),
belief
forms
(e.g.,
suppose,
guess),
inductive orms
(e.g.,
obvious, seem,
evidently),
hedges
(sort
of,
kind
of,
about),
and forms
signaling expectations(e.g., of course, oddly enough, infact, actually).
In
other
words,
evidentials
represent
he
kind
of
linguistic
form that
can
reduce
the bald
assertive status of
a
proposition;
however,
they
occur
only
rarely
in
the
testing
language investigated
here. This
lack
of
overt
perspective
marking
creates
an
effect of
certainty
with
respect
to test content-that
is,
these are
unarguable
propositions
toward which
any degree
of
speculation
seems
inappropriate.
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136
POOLE
Segments
rom
one lesson
(Wells,
eighth-grade
.S.
history)
llustrate ow
these
sortsof
linguistic
markers
an
occur
regularly
utside
he test or review
environmentn a manner hatcontrastswith the corpusanalyzedhere.In the
followingexcerpt Example
),
a
range
of
forms
and
expressions
ndicates
he
teacher's
attitude oward
the curricular
nformation
s well
as
toward
the
textbook's
omission
of
the
topic
of
federalism:
Evidential
markers nd more
lengthy
expressions
f
attitude re
underscored).
Example
(Wells):
Well
it's
certainly
ne of the most
if
not the
most fundamental
h
principles
f
the
Constitution
nd
yet
(0.6)
your
textbook
oesn'teven mention
t.
OK
lately:
uh
many
observers
eel
(0.6)
that
he
national
overnment
ay
be
uh:
(0.4)
you
know t's likea-
(0.4)
t's
sort
of
likea
(0.4)
pendulum
hich:
ometimes
one side
has more
or seems
o
be ha- uh
having
more
power
hananother.
0.6)
but
n
recent
ears,
he trend eems o
be
toward
0.4)
the:
uh
national
overnment
uh
having
most
of
the
power.
Discrete
nd
Isolable
Topics
Discourse
cohesion or
topic continuity
across the
test-question equences
described
earlier
seems
to derive
largely
from
numbered
tems
on
a
printed
page
rather
han roman
integrated
r
holisticdiscussion
f the
text-based
opics.
Few
of
the
initiate-reply sequences
are
connected to one
another
through anaphora
(text-bound
inguistic
reference),
with
the
average
number
of IRE
sequences per
topic
or
test item
being
only
1.28.
This
results
in
a
display
of
seemingly
independent,
decontextualized
units and
further
nstantiates
he
display
of
school
knowledge
as
a
body
of
discrete information
tems.
The
most
striking
example
of this
lack of
topic
continuity
occurs in
TR-2
(see
Examples
3
and
6),
which
is based
on a
textbook
publisher's
test-a
document that
instantiates
in
the
extreme the claims made
in
this
article with
respect
to
knowledge
objectification.
In other
events,
particularly
hose
conducted
y
Mr.
Chavez,
ets of
topically
connected
IRE
sequences,
such
as
those in
Example
4,
do exist.
Even
here,
however,
he sets
remaindiscreteand
independent
f
one
another,
nd
topic
sequencing
erives rom
numberedtemson
the
printedpage
rather han rom
situated
onnections
mong
he discourse
opics.
Curricularontent s
Discrete
ymbol
Several ommon est-item
onstructions-multiple
hoice,
matching,
nd
outlin-
ing-further
encourage
he
linguistic
encoding
of
a
positivist
perspective
hrough
alphabetic
nd
numericalorms hatserve
to
represent
urricular
nowledge.
n
Example
9,
propositional
ontent
from a
matching
exercise is
deictically
referred
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TESTINGAND THECONSTRUCTION
F KNOWLEDGE
137
to
by
studentsasD and
B,
with the result hat
heirutterances
ive
discourse
salience
not to curricular ontent
but to its
objectification.
n the
teacherevaluation
moves,
curricular ontent s madeexplicit butremains ied to the alphabetic ymbol.
Example
9
(Wells,
TR-2):
T: let's
go
on
to
interest ineteen
0.6)
um
Ca-
- -
do
you
have
nterest,
2.0)
Ca:
D?
T: did
you
writewhat t
was?
Ca:
no
T:
all
right
t
is
D
it's
moneyput-
(1.2)
moneypaid
or
the use
of
money
(0.4)
(is)
the
way they
put
it.
T: Fi-
- -
how
'bout
elector?
Fi:
B?
T:
OK
you--did
you
write
what it
was?
F:
no.
T:
all
right
B a
person
who
uh
(1.8)
votes
for
the President.
A
similar
phenomenon
occurs
in answers
to
multiple-choice
questions
(see
Example
10),
in
which the
letter choice
is
verbalizedas a
portion
of the
student's
verbal
contribution,
again
creating
a
context
where content is tied
to a discrete
symbol.
Example
0
(Wells,
TR-2):
T:
(2.6)
OK
let's- uh: if
you'll
do
the second
one the
Constitutiondoes
not
provide
o:r,
(1.6)
Ma-
-
-.
Ma:
A.
development
f
politicalparties
T:
good.
In
Example
11,
the
teacher
explains
how
an
outline
question
should
have
been
answered.
The outline task
requires
hat
nformation
be broken
nto
units,
each
unit
tied to a numericalor
alphabet
symbol,
andthose
symbols arranged
and
manipu-
lated
with
respect
to one another.The
language
of
Example
10
incorporates
hose
features
so that
content
is
verbalized
in relation to
an
emphatically
articulated
number
or
letter.
Example
11
(Wells,
TR-3):
T:
Let's
say
A
was
Congress.
Then under
that
you
would
want to have
one
the House of
Representatives
and
two the
Senate
... Now
another
way
of
tackling
t
is
...
(0.4)
some of
you
said
um
(0.8)
you
madetwo Roman
numeralsousaid he- (0.4)(th-) Roman umeral ne(0.4)theUnited
States
Constitution
provides
three
branches
g-)
of
government
and then
you
said let's
say
A
(0.6)
Congress,
B
(0.6)
the:
President
(0.4)
C the:
Supreme
Court
and under
A
you
ha-
you
should have one
and two the
House and-
and uh
(0.4)
the
Senate,...
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138
POOLE
Through
he various
inguistic
and
interactional
trategies
outlined
here-short
noun
phrase
and definitional
answers,
bald assertive
clauses,
lack of
topic
continu-
ity,andtheencodingof informationnrelation o a discretesymbol-the curricular
utterances
of this
corpus
function
to
signify
and sustain a
cultural
perspective
hat
values
the
learning
of information nitsas
a
form of
knowledge.
The
test-question-
derived
propositions
of the
corpus
are
particularly
bvious
linguistic
instantiations
of the culture
of
positivism
attributed
o the
school context
by
Giroux
(1981)
and
others.From
the
perspective
of
language
socialization,
these
sequences
constitute
a
powerful
orm
of
display
through
which
novices are directed o
participate
n
the
linguistic
structuring
f
positivistic knowledge.
Furthermore,
hat
such
knowledge
counts
in terms
of
a
recorded and
lasting grade
enhances its
importance
in
representinghe kind of knowledgethat counts in school.
TESTING
AS THE
OBJECTIFICATIONF KNOWLEDGE
A
comparison
of
the
knowledge
content
displayed
in these
sequences
with
previous
presentations
of the same information
suggests
that
testing
events
encourage
he
objectification
f
complex knowledge
into
measurable
omponents.
Examples
12
and
13
demonstratehow the same information
s
conveyed
in four
contexts:
the three test-related vents and
a
lesson
context
preceding
them. These
data
show
that the
objective framing
of curricular ontent
in
the
testing
events
is not
necessarily
matched
in
its
original
presentation.
Rather
the
practice
of
testing
itself
appears
o demand
he kind
of
linguistic encoding already
described.
In
Example
12,
the
lesson
presentation
of
the
U.S.
government's
forcible
return
of
braceros to Mexico
in
the face of
domestic
unemployment
is transformed
through
testing
to
"a
bracero is a farmer
from
Mexico
who
comes
up
here to
work for
a while
and
then
goes
back."
Example 2 (Chavez-"braceros"):
A. Lesson
T: r'memberwhat
hey
did to
the Mexicanswho came
up
here to work
on
the
farms
right?
he braceros
..
)
shipped
em
back
to
Mexico
when
Americansouldn't
ind
jobs
(
..
)
((later
n
the sameclass
period))
S:
((reading
rom
book))
In
many regions
of the
Southwest,
Mexican
immigrants
aced
prejudice
nd
segregation.
However,
heir
work
was
important
o
the
growth
f theSouthwest.
n
the 1920s
heybegan
o
have
better
ob opportunities.
T: maybe.1.2)youknowwhentheydidn'tkick 'em backout to Mexico.
B.
Pretest eview
TR-4)
T:
((writes
"bracero"))
you
knowwhata braceros?
Ss: Farmer
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TESTING
ND
THE
CONSTRUCTION
F KNOWLEDGE
139
Ss:
( )
S:
they pay
'em
a littlebit
S: yeah
T:
'n
then
they
send 'em
back
(..)
but(
..
)
all
right(
..
)
braceros
a
farmer
romMexico
who
works
up
here
or
a
littlebitand hen
goes
back.
C. Written
est
10.
Identify
wo
of the
following:
Charles
Lindbergh
Prohibition
Bracero
Pasadena
reeway
D. Posttest
eview
TR-5)
T: braceros:
Da: a
farmerrom
Mexico
that
omesover
here)
o work or
a
while
and hen
goes
back.
T: and
then
goes
back.
Close examination
of
these
examples
suggests
that he definitional
onstruction
of
the test item
may
work to
discourage
mention of
the
more
politically
charged
issues central
to the lesson
talk of
Example
12A,
where braceros are
depicted
largely
as victims
of
U.S.
prejudice
and economic conditions.
This
presentation
is echoed in the review priorto the test, 12B, with "they pay 'em a little bit"
and
"
'n
then
they
send
'em
back"-two utterances hat
are
syntactically
parallel
to
the
presentation
n
12A. In
each,
the
subject,
they,
refers
to
Americans,
and
the
object,
'em,
refers to
braceros-a
construction hat
seemingly
facilitates
the
portrayal
of
braceros as
victims.
In
the remainderof the test-related
talk,
the
definitional
question
("Identify
bracero")
demands an answer
where
bracero
functions
as sentential
subject
In
this
linguistic
context,
the
teacher's
predicate
construction
n
12B
("bracero
s a
farmer
from Mexico who works
up
here
for
a
little
bit and then
goes
back")
is
decidedly
neutral when
compared
with the
lesson context ("shipped 'em back to Mexico when Americanscouldn't find
jobs;
kicked 'em back out
to
Mexico").
This
neutrality
s
subsequently
echoed
in
the student's
response
in
12D.
The teacher
12A)
also
questions
the factlike
presentation
f the
textbook
with
"maybe
1.2)
you
know
when
they
didn't kick
'em
back out to
Mexico,"
explicitly
disputing
the text's claim
of better
ob
opportunities
or
Mexican
immigrants
n
the
1920s.
This
utterance
further
demonstrates
he sorts of evidential
markers
that can
distinguish
the
language
of
teaching
from that of
testing.
The
lesson
language
in
Example
13A
focuses on
the
K.K.K. and is
similarly
distinctfrom the testing discourse that follows it.
Example
13
(Chavez-"K.K.K."):
A. Lesson
T:
1919
K.K.K.
tarts
again.
Now
watch
this all
right
hhh
K.KX.K.:
tands
for:,
Ss: Ku Klux
Klan
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140
POOLE
T: Ku Klux Klan
right?
(0.4)
And:
they basically
disappeared
rom
the South
about 1890
(1.0)
all
right?
The-
they really disappeared.
BY: 1919
though
.hh
right
after we
get
out of World
War
I
...
(1.0)
all
right,
a
group
is
gonna
start
up again
in
Ohio
(0.8)
it's
gonna
be
in
the North not
the South
this time.
And
they're gonna
take over the state
governments
like
the
governor
and
th-
th- st- lieutenant
governor
of Ohio and
Indiana
0.6)
all
right
they're gonna
become
this
really
popular
group.
And this
time
though they
don't
just
hate Blacks
(1.2)
Now
(0.4)
and this is
the same
group
today.
They
hate
Blacks
of course.
(1.2)
((softly
and
dramatically))
Catholics:,
(0.4)
Mexicans:,
(0.4)
Asians,
(0.4)
Jews
(1.6)
OK?
Anybody
who
is
not White
Anglo-Saxon
Protestant
1.2)
OK?
So
they
hate
basically
everybody.
(1.2)
all
right
(
.
.
)
who
is
not like
them. And this
is
the
same
group thatwe really have- that- that'sreally today. all right.But they
started
again
in
Ohio.
All
right?
So what
you're
gonna
see is that
you
know
all
along
in this textbook
'n
partially
t's
my
fault
too
you've
been
hearing
that most
prejudice
happens
down
South.
All
right?
But
that's
just
not
true. There's
a
lot
and
actually
you
can
even
say
more so
up
North.
B. Pretest
review
(TR-4)
T:
((writes
1919))
1919
K.K.K. started
again
where?
S:
uh
S: uh
in(..)Ohio
S: Ohio
S:
Indiana
T: Ohio
(
..
)
It started
again up
North. Ohio first and then
Indiana.
S: K.K.K.
T: all
right?
and this time
they
hated,
S:
everybody
(
. .
)
Asians
T:
Asians. Blacks
S:
Jews
T:
Jews
S: Well
they always
hated
Blacks
T: Catholics.Mexicans. anybodywho's not White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.
S:
who didn't
they
like
before?
T:
just
Blacks.
It's
mostly
an
anti-Black
organization.
C. Written test
5. When did the K.K.K.
start
again?
Where?
Who are
they
against?
Name 4.
D. Posttest review
(TR-5)
T: NEXT. when
did
the K.K.K. start
again?
Ss: 1919
T: you know th-it was odd. this is one thateverybodygot.
S:
you
(..)
tell
us.
T:
all
right.
(..)WHERE?
S: in Ohio.
T: Ohio. NOT Florida.
Contrary
o
popular
belief.
S:
((quietly)) They
were
against
Mexican
(
) (Jews)
and Chinese.
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TESTING
AND THE
CONSTRUCTIONOF
KNOWLEDGE
141
The
original
lesson
presentation
n
13A
is
marked
by
a
range
of evidentialforms
indicating speaker
attitude
toward
propositional
content
(e.g.,
basically, really,
of course) as well as a more elaborate expression of disagreementwith the
textbook.
Example
13A
is
also
constructed as a
narrativemarked
by
several
linguistic
devices
that function to
heighten
listener
involvement
(Chafe,
1981;
Tannen,
1982).
For
example,
in
describing
the
events
of
1919,
the
use of
present
and future
(gonna)
tenses
and the
deictic
forms,
this
time
and
this,
contribute
o
the
story's
sense
of
immediacy.
In
addition,
the
affective
intensity
of
the
account
is
strengthened
by
the teacher's
shifting prosody, emphatic
pausing,
and his
repeated
lexical choice of
hate.
As
the
testing
events
progress,
however,
the
future and
present
tenses
shift to
past,
hate
becomes
a
more neutral
be
against,
and evidentialforms no longeroccur. Accompanyingthese linguisticchanges is
a
progressiveobjectification
of
curricular
ontent,
so
that,
by
the
final
test
review,
only
the date and
place
are
ratified
by
the
teacher.7
Examples
12 and 13
point
to
an
increased
endency
towarda
bounded,
discrete
display
of
school
knowledge
as
the class moves
from
lessons to
the
test-related
sequence
of
events.
In these
instances,
content
is
originally presented
in terms
of
affectively
and
politically
charged
ssues. As
the
sequence
of
test-related
vents
progresses,
however,
those
issues
recede,
and the
presentation
of
knowledge
becomes reduced
to the
display
of bounded
object
units. This
discrete
encoding
of curricularnformation epresentsa neutralpresentation f curriculum n which
conflict
and its attendant auses
are
implicitly
devalued.
In
Apple's
(1990)
terms:
The
perspective
ound
n schools eans
heavilyupon
how all
elements f a
society
...
are
inked o
eachother
n
a functional
elationship,
ach
contributing
o the
ongoing
maintenancef
society.
nternal
issension
nd
conflict
n a
society
are
viewedas
inherently
ntithetical
o
the smooth
unctioning f
thesocial order.
p.
93,
italics
added)
As demonstrated, his tendency toward a display of consensus dominates the
test-question
sequences
of
this
corpus,
even
though
notions of
conflict
might
have marked the
original
lesson
presentation
cf.
Anyon,
1979).
TESTING
NTHE
DEVELOPMENT
OF FACTUALKNOWLEDGE
The
language
of
testing
versus that
of
teaching,
as
constituted
n
these
examples,
parallels a growing body of research analyzing the social development of
discipline-specific
knowledge
as
contextualized across a
range
of
discourse
7The
eacherdid not
acknowledge
he
final studentutterance f this
sequence-"They
were
against
Mexican
( ) (Jews)
and
Chinese."--during
the
final test review
and
registered
surprise
when he
read
it
on the
transcript.
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142
POOLE
environments:
ournal
articles,
laboratory
discussions,
lectures,
and textbooks
(Fleck,
1935/1979; Latour,1987;
Latour
&
Woolgar,
1979;
Myers,
1992; Ziman,
1984). This work has found that early presentationsof academic findings, in
which the status
of
knowledge
is
largely
at
the level
of
claim
(e.g.,
journal
articles),
are characterized
y
a
personal
and
provisional
encoding
of information
(Fleck, 1979),
frequent
reference to
sources
(Latour
&
Woolgar,
1979),
and
evidential constructions
uch as
hedging
or
modality
(Myers,
1992).
By
the time
such
findings
are
incorporated
nto
textbooks,
however,
they
have
typically
become
accepted
within
a
discipline
as
factual
and are
encoded
through
the sort
of bald assertions found
in
the
testing
data
investigated
here.
This
similarity points
to
systemic
connections
between the
two
discourse
environments.The natureof suchconnections s suggestedin Example 14, which
includes both
a test
question
and
the textbook
excerpt
on which it is based.
In
14A,
assertions
n
the text are made
baldly
in a
mannerconsistentwith the studies
cited;
however,
they
are
information-rich n
comparison
with
the
test-question
deriving
from them
(14B).
The
textbook
characterizes he
Sedition Act
as
the
"harshest"
among
a
set of
early
U.S.
laws,
specifying
its
political
origins
and
repressive
consequences.
The test
question,
however,
bypasses
this
information,
so that
all
references
to
conflict,
unconstitutionality,
nd
repression
are avoided.
In
other
words,
if
the diachronic
approach
to the
"life of
a
fact" is
extended
beyond the text, the test of thattext presentation epresentsa next stage, which
may,
as in
this
instance,
further he
process
of
knowledge
objectification.
Example
4:
A. Textbook
xcerpt
Federalists
sed the troubleswith
France o
pass
a
number f laws
in
1798.
The
Federalists
oped
he
laws wouldmake heir
own
party tronger.
The
SeditionAct was the harshest.t
stated hat
anyone
who
spoke
against
the President r members f
Congress
ouldbe finedor
jailed.
This act was
passed
o halt all criticism f the
Federalists,
speciallyby
Republicans.
he
law also went
against
he
rights
of citizens o free
speech
anda free
press,
rights
protected
by
the
Constitution. t
least three editorsof
Republican
newspapers
ere
sent
to
prison.
Ver
Steeg,
1982,
p.
208)
B. Publisher-constructedritten est
A
law the
Federalists
oped
would
strengthen
heir
party
was the
(a)
whiskey
tax
law,
(b)
Jay
Treaty,
c)
Sedition
Act,
(d)
Twelfth
Amendment.
The
congruence
of
the test data
presented
here
with
the textbook
analyses
of
Latour
(1987),
Ziman
(1984),
Myers
(1992),
and others also
points
to the role
both play in the socialization of novices to a field of study, suggesting that the
kind of
knowledge
deemed
suitable for initial
learning
is in
many
instances the
discrete,
boundedsort identified
earlier.Traweek's
1988)
accountof
undergradu-
ate
physics
textbooks articulated his view:
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TESTING AND
THE CONSTRUCTIONOF
KNOWLEDGE
143
Undergraduatehysics
students
re
being
asked o shifttheirattention
rom
what
is visibleand
emotionally ngaging
o the lowerend
of the
scale,
which
he text
proposess fundamental.... They earn hat nformationaught t eachstage s
often
distortedr
partial,
veryrough
approximation
f the
truth,
which s to
be
disclosed
t later
stages.
Novicesare
thought
o
be
unsuited
o
a
full
disclosure
f
truth
n
these
irst
years.
(p.
80,
italics
added)
Recent
analyses
of
novice-expert
learning
encounters
n
nonacademic
ettings,
however,
present
a
contrasting
picture
which
suggests
that he
positivistic
perspec-
tive of
tests
and textbooks
s
not an
inevitable
consequence
of novice
participation.
For
example, Patthey
(1991)
and
Ochs,
Taylor,
Rudolph,
and
Smith
(1992)
documented
language settings (computerlaboratory
consultations
and
family
dinner
conversations,
respectively)
in
which a
complex array
of
problem-solving
strategies
arise
naturally
rom the
social
conditionsof talk
(cf.
Lave,
1988).
Ochs
et
al.
argued,
n
fact,
that
he kindsof
narrative
ctivities
characterizing
he intimate
setting
of dinner time constitute
a
socialization
context
where
children learn
language
habits associated with the
development
of
scientific
theory.
Conversely,
the
data
of
my
study
suggest
that
test-question
sequences
function to
discourage
such
complex
language
behaviors
and
restrict
student
contributions o minimal
responses
that
serve to
reconstruct
eacher-formulated
ropositions.
IMPLICATIONS
The events considered
in
this
study
constitute
a
culturally accepted
form of
bounding
a
learning
sequence
in
which
participants
display
school-valued
knowledge.
The data have
indicated
that
testing
and
test-related
activities evoke
a
phenomenon
of
knowledge
objectification-that
is,
testing
encourages
an
objectifiable,
seemingly
value-freeform
of
knowledge
presentation.
Even where
societally chargedissues such as class, ethnicity, or discriminationdominate a
teacher's
original
presentation
f a
topic,
those
issues
recede
as
the
topic
becomes
part
of a
test
and
information
s
distilled to
its most
basic thematic
relations.The
data further
suggest
that,
in
testing,
the
dominantdiscourse form
through
which
students
participate
in
ratified
curricular
talk is
the
test-question-based
IRE
sequence.
In such
sequences,
the
propositional
content of
student
utterances s
largely
determined
by
the
teacher.
This
characteristic,
have
argued,
rendersthe
test-question
a
powerful
context for
the
socializationof
whatcounts
as
knowledge.
The sort of
knowledge
display
constitutiveof
these events is
consistent with
earlier testing researchpointing to the limitationsof the objectifiedknowledge
required
of standardized
esting
encounters
MacKay,
1974;
Mehan,
1973, 1978;
Roth,
1974).
When viewed in
light
of this
work,
the
findings
here
suggest
an
overwhelming
tendency
for
testing
language
to
frame
curricular
knowledge
in
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144
POOLE
positivistic
terms.8
Testing-language
of
the
kind
investigated
n this
article thus
appears
to inhibit holistic
approaches
e.g.,
critical
thinking
or
problem solving)
to curricular opics; more generally,these results call into questionthe kinds of
routine tests
that
typify
many
school
experiences.
The
limitations
posed
by
the
discrete
raming
of
curricular
nowledge
n
testing,
especially
when considered
vis-a-vis the
classroom lesson
data
presented
here,
point
to
a
need
for alternative
models of
assessment where
school-valued
knowl-
edge
can
be
assessed
in a more
complex
form. It
is
beyond
the
scope
of
this article
to discuss or
identify
such
models;
however,
the
analysis
lends additional
weight
to the
growing
movement
toward "authentic
assessment,"
which
employs
such
tools as
portfolios
and structured nterviews
(see,
e.g.,
Barrs, 1990;
Gardner&
Hatch, 1989; Pearson,1988; Wiggins, 1989; Wolf, 1987-1988). These forms of
assessment
are
designed
to
reflect and
integrate
with
teaching
in a
manner that
avoids
a reductionistic
raming
of
knowledge.
Although
further
anguage-based
research
would
be
necessary
to confirm
such
a
difference,
the
goals
and methods
of authentic
assessment
suggest
that
its
linguistic
constructionwould
represent
a
substantial
departure
rom the
testing
language
documentedhere.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This
work
was
supported
in
part by grants
from
the
University
of
Southern
California
(The
Morkovin
Foundation)
and
from
California
State
University's
Committee
or
Research,
Scholarship,
and
Creative
Activity
and Summer
Faculty
Fellowship
Program.
I
also
wish
to
thank Elinor Ochs and Genevieve
Patthey-Chavez
or
their
helpful
comments
on earlier
drafts of this
article.
REFERENCES
Anyon,
J.
(1979).
Ideology
and United
States
history
textbooks.
Harvard
Educational
Review, 49,
361-389.
Apple,
M.
(1990).
Ideology
and
curriculum.
New
York:
Routledge.
Barrs,
M.
(1990).
The
primary
anguage
record:Reflections
of
issues
in
evaluation.
Language
Arts,
67,
244-253.
"8Elsewhere
Poole,
1989,
1994)
I
have
analyzed
in detail the extensive
differentiating
activity
through
which
the
asymmetry
of
knowledge among
students
s
made
publicduring
he
posttest
review
(when
students
learn their
grades).
The
data of the
present
study suggest
that
this selective
activity
is
facilitated
by
the
positivistic
construction of
knowledge.
Because of its discrete and
bounded
qualities,
the
"knowledge"
of
testing
can
easily
be
ascribed
an
objective
value
in the form of a
grade
or
number,
allowing
and
encouraging grade comparison
and acts of differentiation
mong
students.
In
other
words,
the constitutionof
school
knowledge
as
positivistic
and
objective
in
testing
serves
the selective
process.
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TESTING
AND THE
CONSTRUCTION
OF KNOWLEDGE
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