Measuring Reading Ability in Foreign Language Proficiency Tests: A Reflexion for the Design of More Reliable and Fair Tests
In this paper, we argue about the need to reevaluate proficiency tests in foreign languages, especially those that test English. These evaluation instruments are widely used as a requisite for students applying for graduate courses, either Master’s or Doctorate’s programs, at higher education Brazil...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2011 |
| País: | Brasil |
| Institución: | Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) |
| Repositorio: | The ESPecialist (Online) |
| Idioma: | portugués |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/7169 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/esp/article/view/7169 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | leitura testes de proficiência língua materna língua alvo text reading proficiency tests first language target language |
| Sumario: | In this paper, we argue about the need to reevaluate proficiency tests in foreign languages, especially those that test English. These evaluation instruments are widely used as a requisite for students applying for graduate courses, either Master’s or Doctorate’s programs, at higher education Brazilian institutions. To do so, we discuss issues concerning reading, which is the ability usually checked. Beginning from the assumption that reading is a social action and that a great majority of people in Brazil still faces problems reading in their mother tongue, we put forward an instrument of evaluation that, as far as possible, minimizes the interference of discursive knowledge and focuses on measuring the linguistic threshold of the target language without which no other knowledge can be accessed. |
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