Test takers' perspective of authenticity in foreign language reading assessment

Author(s)

Katia da Silva Araujo

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
• Defense date: 2007-01-30

Examining board members

Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci; Paulo Sampaio Xavier de Oliveira; Helcio de Padua Lanzoni

• Advisor: Matilde Virginia Ricardi Scaramucci

Abstract

The "authenticity" of a foreign language (FL) assessment generally is taken as a positive characteristic, since it would reflect principles more suitable to the idea of communicative performance assessment. "Authenticity" could be described as the use of authentical input (not produced only for assessment purposes) and integrated tasks, which would be similar to the common FL use. The perspectives of examinees are important in this context, since their conceptions about reading and assessment, for instance, will lead their perceptions about an exam, the manner they do it and their consequent performance. It is aimed to comprehend examinees' perceptions of authenticity of tests - which elements they identify as authentic in three kinds of reading assessment, the importance given to authenticity, and if their conceptions are consonant with more(or less) integrated principles. To achieve that, qualitative methodology is used, with case studies that permit to reflect about the essence of these perceptions. The results demonstrate differences in the perceptions of authenticity among examinees with different levels of proficiency, as well as in the importance given to authenticity and to the integration of skills in assessment (AU)