Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 7-5-2021 Prüfung: A Deconstruction of Assessment Across Three Languages Thomas Erich Benz Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Discourse and Text Linguistics Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Recommended Citation Benz, Thomas Erich, "Prüfung: A Deconstruction of Assessment Across Three Languages" (2021). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5585. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5585 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. PRÜFUNG: A DECONSTRUCTION OF ASSESSMENT ACROSS THREE LANGUAGES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The School of Education by Thomas Erich Benz B.A. Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, 2014 M.A. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, 2017 August 2021 Acknowledgements With great pleasure I would like to express my profound gratitude to the facilitators, enablers, role models (of any form), educators, counselors, guides, trainers and friends, which have accompanied me in any form on this journey. To my parents who have made me understand longsuffering and perseverance for as long as I can think and remember. Ohne eure Vorbilder würde ich heute nicht verstehen, dass das Leben aus mehr besteht, als aus den Elfenbeintürme in denen ich mich so lange bewegte. I foremost would like to express my heartfelt thanks and outmost appreciation to my professor and mentor, Dr. Kim Skinner. She expressed compassion through allowing me to grow. Her support and encouragement motivated me to work harder and get to where I am today. I am indeed grateful for her meticulous and constructive feedback, attention, support, patience and guidance she bestowed upon me. I express my appreciation to Dr. Kenneth Varner who paved the way for me to commence my program at LSU. I appreciate him most for his wonderful ability to introduce opportunity and enact change. I also extend my special thanks to Dr. Robyn Andermann. It has always been an honor to work with you and learn by example from you what it means to teach and to inspire students in the classroom. I thank her husband, both of them truly supported me, which mattered a lot as an international student during my program. I appreciate Dr. Denise Egéa. Merci à la personne qui représente la plus grande académique que j’ai jamais eu le plaisir de connaitre, et qui m’a introduit aux théories de curriculum. Merci pour le dévouement avec qui vous avez accompagné mon projet de dissertation depuis le début. ii I honestly appreciate Dr. Roland Mitchell and Dr. Jacqueline Bach for serving on my committee and sharing their knowledge and experience with me. I appreciate the time they took to diligently go through my work and give me constructive feedback; it has meant a lot to me. Thank you for being available for me every time I needed you. Furthermore, I would like to extend my thanks to all my professors who advised me throughout my program. I would also like to thank to my Dean’s representative who has always (surprisingly) constructively contributed to my dissertation project. Thank you for your honest time, effort and the provision of new perspectives. Finally, I want to excuse myself to my wife, who is married to a doctor, but unfortunately not to a medical one, or one of the sciences. Learning a lesson from a fellow historical citizen of my birthplace Trier, it appears we need to choose to either live a life of hardship and write a manifesto, or choose to live a happy life, but risk remaining invisible. With you and for our future, I would always risk the latter. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... ii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ix Chapter One. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem and its Significance .......................................................................3 Research Questions and Significance:....................................................................................8 Mode of Inquiry ....................................................................................................................10 Chapter Two. Theoretical Framework and Review of Literature ................................................. 13 Intersections with Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, and Migration ....................................13 Cultural Bias, Language and Diversity in Testing ...............................................................21 Beneath the Educational Enterprise: Social and Cultural Capital ........................................29 Competences as Social and Cultural Concepts ....................................................................35 Chapter Three. Methods, Methodology, Sampling, Data and Data analysis ................................ 45 Methodological Considerations ............................................................................................45 Description of the Exam Data ..............................................................................................56 Narrative Synthesis ...............................................................................................................63 Network Text Analysis .........................................................................................................81 Chapter Four. Results.................................................................................................................... 97 Comparison of Results: Narrative Synthesis ........................................................................97 Results: Narrative Synthesis per Exam ..............................................................................111 Findings for the Abitur .......................................................................................................114 Findings for the Baccalauréat .............................................................................................128 Findings for the SAT Test ..................................................................................................141 Results Network Text Analysis ..........................................................................................153 Findings: Representation of Choice ...................................................................................153 Explanations: Availability and Degree of Specialization ...................................................158 Explanations: Conductivity and Answer Choice ................................................................159 Findings: Representation of Content per Subject ...............................................................161 Visualization of Semantic Networks ..................................................................................161 Complexity Values for Each Exam ....................................................................................171 Chapter Five. Discussion and Further Research ......................................................................... 173 Abitur: Insights into Maturity and Choice..........................................................................173 Baccalauréat: The Importance of Writing ..........................................................................175 SAT: Fractured Knowledge or Accessibility? ....................................................................177 Different Approaches to Discovering Cultural Capital and Cultural Bias .........................179 Contributions Towards a Pedagogy of Assessment ...........................................................183 iv SAT: the English Subject Test and Recent Developments ................................................184 Insights and Limitations: 250 Years of Texts Across Three Languages ............................185 Insights and Limitations: Access and Authority ................................................................187 Insights and Limitations: Contradicting Axis of Choice? ..................................................190 Différance ...........................................................................................................................192 Appendix A. Sample Table for Text included in the Narrative Synthesis. ................................. 194 Appendix B. Coding Tables for Network Representation of Content. ....................................... 201 Appendix