Greetings everyone,

Something didn't quite satisfy my understanding of the notion of non-cognitive skills being an oxymoron.  Then, it struck me: why don't I look up the definition of the word "skill"?

I looked up the word in Princeton University's WordNet browser (http://wordnet.princeton.edu/) and found the following:

2 senses of skill                                                       

Sense 1
skill, accomplishment, acquirement, acquisition, attainment -- (an ability that has been acquired by training)
       => ability, power -- (possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done; "danger heightened his powers of discrimination")
           => cognition, knowledge, noesis -- (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)
               => psychological feature -- (a feature of the mental life of a living organism)
                   => abstraction -- (a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples)
                       => abstract entity -- (an entity that exists only abstractly)
                           => entity -- (that which is perceived or known or inferred to have its own distinct existence (living or nonliving))

Sense 2
skill, science -- (ability to produce solutions in some problem domain; "the skill of a well-trained boxer"; "the sweet science of pugilism")
       => ability, power -- (possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done; "danger heightened his powers of discrimination")
           => cognition, knowledge, noesis -- (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)
               => psychological feature -- (a feature of the mental life of a living organism)
                   => abstraction -- (a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples)
                       => abstract entity -- (an entity that exists only abstractly)
                           => entity -- (that which is perceived or known or inferred to have its own distinct existence (living or nonliving))


So, I must ask: how can a skills not minimally also have cognitive features?

If this doesn't bring the invalidity of the construct of "non-cognitive" skills to light, what does?  Further, if "non-cognition" resides in the mind, i.e, is mental, defined as (same source)...

Sense 1
mental (vs. physical) -- (involving the mind or an intellectual process; "mental images of happy times"; "mental calculations"; "in a terrible mental state"; "mental suffering"; "free from mental defects")
       => intellectual, rational, noetic -- (of or associated with or requiring the use of the mind; "intellectual problems"; "the triumph of the rational over the animal side of man")
       => moral -- (psychological rather than physical or tangible in effect; "a moral victory"; "moral support")
       => psychic, psychical -- (affecting or influenced by the human mind; "psychic energy"; "psychic trauma")
       => psychogenic -- (mental or emotional rather than physiological in origin; "a psychogenic disorder")
       => psychological -- (mental or emotional as opposed to physical in nature; "give psychological support"; "psychological warfare")

Sense 2
mental -- (of or relating to the mind; "mental powers"; "mental development"; "mental hygiene")
       Pertains to noun mind (Sense 1)
      =>mind, head, brain, psyche, nous -- (that which is responsible for one's thoughts and feelings; the seat of the faculty of reason; "his mind wandered"; "I couldn't get his words out of my head")
       => cognition, knowledge, noesis -- (the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning)

...then we would need to draw a distinction between a cognitive mind and non-cognitive mind.

If an underlying construct in assessment is indeed invalid, then so is the assessment tool itself.  This is not a philosophical statement, but rather one rooted in psychometrics.  Therefore, if assessment is to be recognized as a viable topic area in its own right rather than a topic thread that can permeate all discussion topic areas, then I would suggest that these thoughts are entirely pertinent to the assessment discussion list and perhaps merit further discussion.

Michael


 
Michael A. Gyori 
Maui International Language School 
www.mauilanguage.com



      
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