Caroline Mills

February 4th, 2016

Assessment Handout
Instructions: Review the Mathematics questions below and decide which questions have
unnecessary linguistic complexity or cultural biases. Modify the questions that may cause
unnecessary difficulties to ELLs.

1. A cookie factory can bake 62 trays of cookies in the morning and 53 trays of cookies in
the afternoon. If each tray holds 12 cookies, how many cookies can be baked in 1 day?
Answer: ______________________________________

I don’t think this question is unnecessary linguistic complexity or cultural biased, it’s just
questioning how many trays of cookies are made in one day. I don’t think that there is
anything that needs to be modified because the question is already simplified enough. But if
need be, I would make the numbers smaller so they are easier to calculate and to just
understand in general. I even have a hard time figuring out the numbers in my head, so I
would say “A cookie factor makes 10 trays of cookies in the morning and 10 trays of cookies
in the afternoon, if each tray holds 10 cookies, how many are baked in a day?”

2. How many meters in 1.8 kilometers?

Answer: ______________________________________

I don’t think this question is either unnecessary linguistic complexity or cultural biases, but I
do think it should be reworded to “How many meters are in 1.8 kilometers?” or change it to
smaller increments like “How many feet are in 12 yards?”

3. A submarine is 285 feet under the surface of the ocean. A helicopter is flying at 4,500
feet above sea level. Given that the helicopter is directly above the submarine, how far
apart are they?
A.285 feet B. 4,215 C. 4785 feet D. 4,500 feet

I do think this question has some unnecessary linguistic complexity with the extra terms
being used. Things like “above sea level” and “under the surface of the ocean” make it seem
like the question holds a lot more than it actually does. Sometimes ELLs don’t understand
certain phrases, and I think these phrases would be confusing or misunderstood in some way.
With that, I don’t think this question is culturally biased. I think with this question, I would
keep the multiple choices but make the numbers closer to the actual answer, which could
challenge students to think of what the actual number is.
 4. Alex bought a new sweater that cost $200. He paid for the sweater with a credit card with
a simple interest rate of 1.7 percent per month and later charges of $10 per month. If
Alex’s first payment of $20 is late, what will the balance on his next monthly statement?
Answer: ______________________________________

I think that this question is culturally biased based on the price of the sweater and the fact that
Alex is using a credit card. I think that it puts a lot on the amount that someone could spend
while a lot of people may not be able to spend that much on just a sweater. Also, maybe some
children either don’t know what a credit card is, or their families aren’t able to afford the
demands that a credit card insists. I do also think it’s unnecessarily linguistic, I believe the
language is too developed for ELL students to understand, so I would modify it by decreasing
the price and changing the circumstances to how it could relate to a student, like change it to
allowance given by parents per month for chores or chores. You could say “Alex bought a new
hat for $10, he paid for the hat with his allowance but, he won’t have enough allowance to pay
for his lunch, which is $10. If Alex borrows $5 from his mom, how much does he owe his mom
and how much allowance did he have?”

5. What is the greatest number of 30-cent apples that can be purchased with $5.00?
A. 6 B.15 C.16 D.17 E.20

I don’t think that this is either unnecessarily linguistic complexity or culturally biased. To
make students think, I would definitely take the multiple choice so it’s less confusing and
makes them think of the answer for themselves too so they can practice division.

6. John records the weight of this puppy every month in a chart like the one shown above.
If pattern of the puppy’s weight gain continues, how many pounds will the puppy weigh
at 5 months?
A. 30 B. 27 C. 25 D. 24

I don’t think that this is either unnecessarily linguistic complexity or culturally biased, but to
get students to think I would do away with the multiple choice so they can think for
themselves and practice their math skills.

Questions for discussion

1. Compare your answers to others in the class by posting some of your interesting findings
to the Unit 4 Group Task discussion. Are there any interesting or surprising differences or
similarities?
I think we all had pretty similar answers of removing the multiple choice parts because it
makes it harder for students. But we all varied in the way that we responded to cultural
biased, and I think that depends on the reader and how we’ve all had different
 experiences with that. Although we all did agree that some questions aren’t very clear
and that they should be revised!
2. What could be done to make testing instruments more effective, accurate, and fair to all
learners? I think what could be done is to simplify the language that we use when we
construct these questions, and to just simplify the content to where it can be understood
by all. I think a good idea would be to test ELLs more verbally than on paper so they can
practice the language and then there can be room for correction or questions if they get
confused. I would also take off the multiple choices because it’s confusing.