Measuring Reading Ability in Foreign Language Proficiency Tests: A Reflexion for the Design of More Reliable and Fair Tests

Abstract

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.