Representação social, avaliação e léxico: um olhar sobre o discurso de professores e tutores do Curso de Licenciatura Letras/ Espanhol da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

The present work is the result of reflections on the social representation that both Spanish as foreign language pre-service teachers and instructors have about assessment. The main goal consists of investigate how the assessment is an instrument of social representation of multiple dimensions (cognitive, discourse, linguistics, and social). The analysis of the organizational semantics of the lexicon, which is embedded in discourse manifestations, allows for the understanding of assessment as content knowledge. The study addresses the following questions: (1) How do instructors and pre-service teachers view assessment in the pre-service context? (2) Which social representation of assessment emerges in the discourse of instructors and pre-service teachers when asked about assessment? (3) What are the key lexical items of social representation constructed by the participants involved? The analysis is based on the Theory of Social Representation, especially that of Moscovici (1976, 2009) and Jodelet (2001), on the Critical Discourse Studies proposed by Van Dijk (2003, 2008), and on the studies of Coracini (2003), Moita Lopes (2007) and Bordón (2004) in Applied Linguistics. Data were generated by semi-structured interviews and free word association techniques. The methodology employed for data analysis was content analysis, based onBardin’s (2010) propositions. Two teaching environments were considered: face-to-face and distance education. Results indicate that the participants have two perspectives of assessment: (1) as predominantly a verification of learning, based on instruments such as exams, seminars and portfolios; and (2) as a fundamental part of teaching and learning that serves as a “regulator” of the process. However, in the discourse of the participants, the evaluation process is not considered an important mechanism of control and exclusion, which indicates a lack of critical understanding of the sociological and ideological aspects involved in assessment. In broad terms, results indicate that assessment needs to be considered as an important issue in the preparation of pre-service teachers, and new alternatives of assessment should be discussed, studied and implemented. Furthermore, this study contributes to other studies that investigate how language and social representation mutually shape and affect each other.