This study deals with the testing and grading of Swedish school leaving students’ oral proficiency in English, and with certain aspects of these students’ linguistic competence. The analyses and results are based on material drawn from an assessment project carried out at Gothenburg University in 1993. The 29 students taking part in the project were interviewed three times by three different interviewers in tests comprising three tasks, similar in structure but different in content. The interviewers were of three categories: school teachers of English, university teachers of English and native speakers of English. The student production was graded on a five-point scale according to a set of rating criteria. The interviewers assigned generally positive but often differing grades to the student performance. The grades were influenced by the students’ ability to communicate and speak with flow, and by gaps in vocabulary and by occurrences of grammatical errors. The students’ use of discourse phenomena and compensatory strategies was also of importance to the grades assigned. Many students were considered to have acceptable intonation and rhythm, but nevertheless an evident Swedish accent. The linguistic features studied comprised the verbal group, vocabulary, discourse markers and pronunciation. Differences could be observed between the members of the interviewer categories regarding the grades they assigned to student production. The school teachers seem to have paid special attention to grammatical accuracy, and the native speakers appear to have had a notion of communicative competence where accuracy plays a less important role. Differences in the grades assigned could also be explained by the order in which the interviews were made, by some students’ hesitant delivery, by the positive or negative effect of various fillers in the students’ speech, and by the interviewing methods used by the interviewers in the tests.

Submitted by Jailda Nascimento (jmnascimento@pucsp.br) on 2016-09-30T21:00:22Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Luiz Alberto Neves Filho.pdf: 502070 bytes, checksum: a77d26b45afffdc46c9c054833961f44 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-30T21:00:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luiz Alberto Neves Filho.pdf: 502070 bytes, checksum: a77d26b45afffdc46c9c054833961f44 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-26 / This study presents an overview of the current model of higher education, from which training opportunities at the university are discussed. We analyzed aspects and social implications expressed in the works of completion of higher education (TCC) in computer science from a private institution, and which constituted a source for identification and examination of the training provided to students, considering its political content and concern with social issues, which could reveal traits that point to autonomy. The institution is investigated in São Paulo and has five campuses. Data were extracted from the matrices and curriculum guidelines for such courses present in educational legislation, and topics that are the rationale, objectives and conclusions of each TCC selected for analysis. The results indicates that although the students are obliged to proceed according to the institution's standards - role established courses on the needs of the labor market and technological innovation - yet their work displays features of consciousness that we must act professionally given social problems. Therefore, the graduates of these computer courses were trained to adapt to the social and economic order, but are sensitive to the limits that prevent the improvement of quality of life for all individuals, which may mean some resistance to the impositions made to them in throughout his school career. The theoretical framework adopted in this research is linked to the contributions of the authors of the Critical Theory of Society, especially Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin and Max Horkheimer / A presente pesquisa apresenta um panorama do atual modelo de ensino superior, a partir do qual são discutidas as possibilidades de formação na universidade. Foram analisados aspectos e implicações sociais expressos nos trabalhos de conclusão de cursos superiores (TCC) em informática de uma instituição privada, e que se constituíram em fonte para identificação e exame da formação proporcionada aos estudantes, considerando seus conteúdos políticos e a preocupação com questões sociais, o que poderia revelar traços que apontem para a autonomia. A instituição investigada fica na cidade São Paulo e possui cinco campi. Os dados coletados foram extraídos das matrizes e diretrizes curriculares de tais cursos, presentes na legislação educacional, e dos tópicos em que estão as justificativas, os objetivos e as conclusões de cada TCC selecionado para análise. Os resultados indicam que, apesar de os alunos estarem obrigados a proceder conforme os padrões da instituição – com cursos estabelecidos em função das necessidades do mercado de trabalho e da inovação tecnológica –, ainda assim, seus trabalhos trazem traços da consciência de que é preciso atuar profissionalmente tendo em vista problemas sociais. Portanto, os egressos desses cursos de informática foram formados para se adaptarem à ordem social e econômica, mas são sensíveis aos limites que impedem a melhoria da qualidade de vida para todos os indivíduos, o que pode significar certa resistência às imposições que lhes são feitas no decorrer de sua trajetória escolar. O referencial teórico adotado nesta pesquisa está vinculado às contribuições dos autores da Teoria Crítica da Sociedade, principalmente Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Walter Benjamin e Max Horkheimer

<p>This study deals with the testing and grading of Swedish school leaving students’ oral proficiency in English, and with certain aspects of these students’ linguistic competence. The analyses and results are based on material drawn from an assessment project carried out at Gothenburg University in 1993.</p><p>The 29 students taking part in the project were interviewed three times by three different interviewers in tests comprising three tasks, similar in structure but different in content. The interviewers were of three categories: school teachers of English, university teachers of English and native speakers of English. The student production was graded on a five-point scale according to a set of rating criteria.</p><p>The interviewers assigned generally positive but often differing grades to the student performance. The grades were influenced by the students’ ability to communicate and speak with flow, and by gaps in vocabulary and by occurrences of grammatical errors. The students’ use of discourse phenomena and compensatory strategies was also of importance to the grades assigned. Many students were considered to have acceptable intonation and rhythm, but nevertheless an evident Swedish accent. The linguistic features studied comprised the verbal group, vocabulary, discourse markers and pronunciation. </p><p>Differences could be observed between the members of the interviewer categories regarding the grades they assigned to student production. The school teachers seem to have paid special attention to grammatical accuracy, and the native speakers appear to have had a notion of communicative competence where accuracy plays a less important role.</p><p>Differences in the grades assigned could also be explained by the order in which the interviews were made, by some students’ hesitant delivery, by the positive or negative effect of various fillers in the students’ speech, and by the interviewing methods used by the interviewers in the tests.</p>