O TESLLE e o TOEFL ITP: uma análise crítica da testagem de proficiência em leitura de inglês na UFSM

Abstract

For the permanence in postgraduate programs in Brazil, students must prove sufficiency or proficiency in, at least, one modern foreign language. At the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), this proof is mainly obtained through the results of tests such as the Teste de Suficiência em Leitura em Língua Estrangeira (TESLLE) and the reading section of the TOEFL-ITP (Test of English as a Foreign Language - Institutional Testing Program). In this way, based on the Critical Genre Analysis (CGA), the present study reports results of a research on these tests as social practices of testing of English for Academic Purposes (EAP), from official documents and samples of these tests. In the contextual analysis, the official descriptions, the structural characteristics of these tests as a genre, the conditions of their application, the score averages, the objectives and the target-audiences were identified. In the textual analysis, the base-texts were analyzed in terms of their genres, contents and structural characteristics. The analysis of the questions focused on the identification of the structures, types, foci and the language strata they encompass. From the inseparable relationship between text and context, we discuss the concepts of proficiency, reading and (multi)literacy that underly these tests, as well as reliability, validity and washback effect. The concept of EAP reading proficiency of the TESLLE regards the aspects of the lexicogrammar, the semantics and pragmatics, the genre and the discourse(s) of an authentic text, whereas, for the reading section of the TOEFL ITP, this proficiency means to quickly and objectively understand the semantic and pragmatic aspects of short and decontextualized texts. This study is expected to contribute to the area of Applied Linguistics and that its results help promoting a reflection on the social role and importance of these social practices of language testing, which may contribute to making these tests beneficial instruments for the society.