Question

Read the excerpt from "Mother Tongue." Those tests were constructed around items like fill-in-the-blank sentence completion, such as “Even though Tom was ______, Mary thought he was _____.” And the correct answer always seemed to be the most bland combinations of thoughts, for example, “Even though Tom was foolish, Mary thought he was ridiculous.” Well, 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. Which information from the excerpt best supports the inference that achievement tests ignore imagination as an element of language ability? Tan’s mother would not be able to answer a question like the one described in the excerpt. Tan’s mother could think of several ways to answer a question like the one described in the excerpt. Tan’s mother did not allow her to take tests with questions like the one described in the excerpt. Tan’s mother was disappointed that Tan did poorly on tests with questions like the one described in the excerp

Answer 1

The information that Tan's mother could think of several answers supports the idea that achievement tests disregard imagination in language ability, by showing the constraints of standardized tests which do not allow for creative or diverse responses. The correct answer is option: Tan’s mother could think of several ways to answer a question like the one described in the excerpt.

Step-by-step explanation:

The information from the excerpt that best supports the inference that achievement tests ignore imagination as an element of language ability is that Tan’s mother could think of several ways to answer a question like the one described in the excerpt. This highlights the restriction of standardized tests to multiple-choice answers, often the most bland combinations of thoughts, which may not accurately represent an individual’s language ability or creativity. Instead of recognizing the richness of possible responses that could demonstrate higher-level thinking and a more nuanced understanding of language, these tests impose limitations that do not account for a person's imaginative or non-standard interpretations of language.