Chapter 7: Bilingualism and Cognition
Read and review chapter 7.
Find one or more examples of an IQ test. Examine the content of the test and locate any items which you think will be unfair to bilinguals in your region. Examine both the language and the cultural content of the IQ test.
Honestly, it's my second time to read this book. I read it to get my Chinese teaching certificate in NYS back to two years ago. This book brought me handful information and theories to ponder all aspects of bilingualism. (And I passed the exam!)
To answer this question, I tried to have an IQ test over the internet and felt a lot of pressure even it's just about pattern assumption. I tried to recall all my memory and did research to get classification below.
When it comes to culture, most Asian don't get used to thinking alone, they often wait for the answer, the only correct answer, to reach the standard that later on can present them the satisfying scores. Asian theory is, it's so many fundamental knowledge students should learn, don't waste the time, stuff them now and one day they can have so many resources if they need to pick up any of them.
I won't say it's hundred-percent wrong, to some extent, it makes sense since if you don't possess any skill, how can you build up your own mansion, besides, our logic capability gradually develop when we grow up but children almost get photo-memory talent when they come to this dimension. ( Chinese believe reincarnation, and present life is an extension of previous life) This is the way children learn how to speak, how to adapt the "earth". We have a say, "If you don't feed them knowledge, they still sponge surroundings unknowingly by themselves."
The modern Asian teaching fails to this important idea because most teachers prefer pencil-paper test as an easy way to assess. And this undergoing, of course, hinders students' creativity and critical thinking. But in ancient times, the grand teacher like Confucius always answered his students' questions according to context.
So get back to the question, IQ tests are unfair to Asian in the beginning. But, if the "tiger" parents or teachers would like to upgrade the number, they will force children or students to practice day and night until they are satisfied. It's not kidding, it's reality.
This chapter pushed me to think further about the progress of learning. As I knew, speaking English is slightly different from writing, and focusing on writing, I bet many native speakers could be confused about academic terms as well. Here is my hypothesis, the students are in the classroom waiting for the lesson when the teacher tries to boost their motivation, she tells a funny story or scenario based on the recent cartoon that most kids like. Everyone cracks up when the teacher adjusts a little bit of plot or shows a facial expression to hint. Can bilinguals realize the point? They don't even see the TV program! And then, the teacher assumes everyone gets the idea so she starts to speed up the process of explanation of the lesson and hopes to squeeze out some time for students to discuss. But now, the bilingual just take this already-late moment to start their learning. Under this circumstance, they have missed out lots of information that can be the cornerstone for their knowledge acquisition.
Meanwhile, is IQ test really that important? To me, just a reference. Because when we judge a person's achievement, there are so many qualities we can count in beside IQ. The values of persistence, ambitions, flexibility and so on, all exibit their strength. At least, how to survive in a foreign country and keep dreaming on, the bilinguals deserve our respect.
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