Thanks everybody for offering feedback on my question how to understand one
of the questions in the examination guide. It has helped me understand the
situation: 

From the feedback I came to the conclusion that this is all a matter of
communicating through language. 

The question was stated: "the definitive symptom of incorrect positioning of
a baby at the breast is..".

To my mind this means they want to know which of the given symptoms CAN ONLY
RESULT from incorrect positioning. But now I understand that the question
was intended differently. The idea is that I chose the one symptom that WILL
ALWAYS RESULT from incorrect positioning. This is a different question, and
leads to a different answer. Hence the "a kitten is a cat, but not every cat
is a kitten"-confusion. 

It is really difficult to avoid this sort of confusion. I agree with Gonneke
that it would be worthwhile to spend ample attention to the wording of a
question. If the question is phrased rather shortly (like "the definitive
symptom of incorrect positioning is..") 

there is some flexibility in the meaning of the question. In my case, I did
my exam yesterday in Dutch. This exam is translated out of English by a
colleague of mine on her own. She translates the questions without knowing
the answers. If she were to translate the question we are discussing here, I
think she would understand the question in the same way that I understood
it, because a literal translation of the English into Dutch would lead to
the interpretation that I have assumed (I think that's why Gonneke also
immediately interpreted the question the same way I did). That would lead to
a translation that will be misunderstood. There were some questions
yesterday that we all had to read several times to try and work out what is
really being asked. But having said that: even in English I misunderstand
the question. 

I have come across several of this type of misunderstandings while
practicing for my exam (in English). I will not dig into the matter again to
produce more examples because it just takes too much time, but I know they
are there. I wonder how it would be possible to avoid this as much as
possible. 

 

But, as many have told me: as long as I pass, it doesn't really have any
consequences for me other than just missing maybe a few points on my score.


So I will stop talking about it now, because for the next ten years I will
not be bothered with the exam J J. 

 

Greetings,

 

Karin de Graaf  IBCLC

The Netherlands, Europe

www.borstvoedinghulp.nl

 

 


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