Globalising assessment: an ethnography of literacy assessment, camels and fast food in the Mongolian Gobi

Bryan Maddox

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
15 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

What happens when standardised literacy assessments travel globally? The paper
presents an ethnographic account of adult literacy assessment events in rural
Mongolia. It examines the dynamics of literacy assessment in terms of the
movement and re-contextualisation of test items as they travel globally and are
received locally by Mongolian respondents. The analysis of literacy assessment
events is informed by Goodwin’s ‘participation framework’ on language as
embodied and situated interactive phenomena and by Actor Network Theory.
Actor Network Theory (ANT) is applied to examine literacy assessment events as
processes of translation shaped by an ‘assemblage’ of human and non-human
actors (including the assessment texts).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)474-489
Number of pages16
JournalComparative Education
Volume50
Issue number4
Early online date1 Apr 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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