Issues Arising from Cultural Adaptation to a Francophone Minority Culture

As mentioned previously, the two assessment instruments were developed in English, and subsequently translated into French. However, a translation in itself does not necessarily ensure that the assessment instruments are culturally relevant to a given cultural group which uses the language into which the test was translated, or that the use of this translation is appropriate to this group, particularly if this group is part of a larger minority group. Hambleton et al (2005), as quoted in PTP report (2008) makes a distinction between test adaptation and test translation.

The term test adaptation is preferred to the more popular and frequently used test translation because the former term is broader and more reflective of what should happen in practice when preparing a test that is constructed in one language and culture for use in a second language and culture. Test adaptation includes all the activities from deciding whether or not a test could measure the same construct in a different language and culture, to selecting translators, to deciding on appropriate accommodations to be made in preparing a test for use in a second language, to adapting the test and checking its equivalence in the adapted form. Test translation is only one of the steps in the process of test adaptation, and even at this step, adaptation is often a more suitable term than translation to describe the actual process that takes place. This is because translators are trying to find concepts, words, and expressions that are culturally, psychologically, and linguistically equivalent in a second language and culture, and so clearly the task goes well beyond simply preparing a literal translation of the test content.

That said, we seem to gather that, in the case of the two assessment instruments, there has been a long process of translation and of adaptation of material for use within the Francophone culture and that a validation process has been developed to complete the desired adaptation. We still question, however, the fact that the adaptation process has not taken into account the minority context of the Franco-Ontarian population or the cultural context specific to those Franco-Ontarian adults who suffer from a low rate of literacy.

If we are to understand the nuances, we will need to continue examining issues related to the assessment of Essential Skills in an Ontarian minority context, and with a typical AFB clientele. According to the recommended approach for the assessment of Essential Skills, we consider that authentic assessment tasks should be used to evaluate the particular Essential Skill, Document Use. With that in mind, an assessment instrument should use authentic documents linked to the performance of real tasks such as found in the workplace for a clientele involved in a course of training with a view to regaining employment. Logically, it follows that authentic documents (for example, technical training textbooks) readily found in training programs should be used by a clientele involved in a course of training leading to Apprenticeship programs. Now, if we think of the Franco- Ontarian workplace, we find that, in most cases, the documents are in English or, in a few cases, bilingual. Few Ontarian workplaces display authentic documents entirely in French. Similarly, we find that Apprenticeship programs in Ontario use mostly English-language technical textbooks.