Question

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue."

Mary thought he was
Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as "Even though
Tom was
combinations of thoughts, for example, "Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous."
"And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland
Vell, according to my mother, there were very few limitations as to what Tom could have been and what Mary
might have thought of him. So I never did well on tests like that.
What can be inferred from the excerpt?
Tan believes that achievement tests should include a wider variety of fill-in-the-blank questions.
Tan believes that achievement tests should be constructed by published authors of fiction.
Tan believes that achievement tests give inadequate measurements of language ability.
Tan believes that achievement tests give inflated measurements of language ability.

Answer 1

The author of "Mother Tongue" implies in the excerpt that achievement tests do not adequately measure language ability, as they are too limited in scope and encourage bland, conventional responses over diverse thought.

From the excerpt of "Mother Tongue," we can infer that the author believes that achievement tests give inadequate measurements of language ability. The author criticizes the format of fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, as exemplified by the sentences involving Tom and Mary.

According to the author's mother's perspective, there should be more possibilities for what Tom could be and what Mary might think of him, indicating a belief that such tests are too limited in scope to accurately assess language capabilities and the complexity of thought.

Furthermore, the excerpt implies that the tests are designed to elicit the most bland combinations of thoughts, suggesting that they do not allow for the richness and diversity of actual language use and people's interpretations. This criticism relates to the broader discussion about the effectiveness of standardized testing in gauging a person's intelligence or language proficiency, supporting the view that tests provide an incomplete picture of an individual's abilities.