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Language and Cultural Characteristics That Explain Differential Item Functioning for Hispanic Examinees on the Scholastic Aptitude Test
Author(s) -
Sehmitt Alieia P.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of educational measurement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.917
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-3984
pISSN - 0022-0655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3984.1988.tb00287.x
Subject(s) - psychology , aptitude , test (biology) , differential item functioning , differential (mechanical device) , standardization , linguistics , developmental psychology , psychometrics , item response theory , computer science , paleontology , philosophy , engineering , biology , operating system , aerospace engineering
The standardization methodology was used to help identify item characteristics that might explain differential item functioning among Hispanics on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Results indicated that true cognates or words with a common root in English and Spanish and content of special interest for Hispanics seemed to help Hispanics performance. Limited occurrence of false cognates (words that appear to be cognates but have different meanings in both languages) and of homographs (words that are spelled alike but have different meanings in English) restricted their evaluation. Nevertheless, examination of items with false cognates or homographs gave some evidence indicating that their occurrence might make items unexpectedly more difficult for Hispanic examinees