Biased Vocabulary Pt. 2

College Board, the company that designs and administers the Scholastic Achievement Test (“the SAT”, the most popular standardized test used in admissions to colleges and universities in the United States), announced in April 2014  that it would be  releasing a revised form of the SAT in Spring 2016. Among the changes is a revised vocabulary section, which promises to avoid the obscure vocabulary that the test is infamous for. ("Shibboleths of Social Class: on the Obscurity of SAT Vocabulary", Nic Subtirelu, Para.1)

These changes are likely driven in part by critics’ contentions that rather than simply measuring any type of objective aptitude or preparation for undertaking academic work, the results reflect test-takers’ socioeconomic status. ("Shibboleths of Social Class: on the Obscurity of SAT Vocabulary", Nic Subtirelu, Para.2)

So why is the vocabulary section a prime target for change? First, we need to consider what it means for a test to be a good test.

In principle, vocabulary is something that might have relevance for determining whether a student is likely to succeed at academic work. If we need to know a certain number of words in a text in order to comprehend it, then obviously a larger vocabulary size will allow us to read a greater number of texts. However, not every word is equally useful, and this is one of the fundamental flaws in the SAT’s vocabulary testing as it currently operates. ("Shibboleths of Social Class: on the Obscurity of SAT Vocabulary", Nic Subtirelu)

Source :linguisticpulse.com (2014)