Questões Militares

Computer says no: Irish vet fails oral English test needed to stay in Australia

     Louise Kennedy is an Irish veterinarian with degrees in history and politics – both obtained in English. She is married to an Australian and has been working in Australia as an equine vet on a skilled worker visa for the past two years. As a native English speaker, she has excellent grammar and a broad vocabulary, but has been unable to convince a machine she can speak English well enough to stay in Australia.

    But she is now scrambling for other visa options after a computer-based English test – scored by a machine – essentially handed her a fail in terms of convincing immigration officers she can fluently speak her own language.

    Earlier this year, Kennedy decided she would seek permanent residency in Australia. She knew she would have to sit a mandatory English proficiency test but was shocked when she got the results. While she passed all other components of the test including writing and reading, (...). She got 74 when the government requires 79. “There’s obviously a flaw in their computer software, when a person with perfect oral fluency cannot get enough points,” she said. The test providers have categorically denied there is anything wrong with its computer-based test or the scoring engine trained to analyse candidates’ responses. “We do not offer a pass or a fail, simply a score and the immigration department set the bar very high for people seeking permanent residency”, they say.

    Kennedy, who is due to have a baby in October, says she will now have to pursue a bridging visa, while she seeks a more expensive spouse visa so she can remain with her Australian husband.

Adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/08/computer-says-no-irish-vet-fails-oral-english-test-needed-to-stay-in-australia

Leia os dois parágrafos a seguir para responder à questão.

    An international student who majors in engineering drops by the engineering department office and asks the secretary, “Can you tell me where the English department is?” The secretary smiles and responds, “I don’t know, actually. It’s probably somewhere in the Humanities Building. Do you have a campus map?” The student turns around and leaves. The secretary is taken aback and feels slightly uncomfortable. She wonders why the student left so abruptly.

     (...)

    People who interact with ESL students have commented that some seem to express gratitude excessively for small considerations, even to the point of embarrassing the person they are speaking. Others seem downright rude because they do not say thank you when they are expected to.

(Celce-Murcia, M. 2001.)

Read the following extract to answer question.

   Innovation in the language teaching field in the late 1980s and 1990s has been stimulated by a special concern for the language learning process. New methods propose that language learning is best served when students are interacting – completing a task or learning content or resolving real-life issues – where linguistic structures are not taught one by one, but where attention to linguistic form is given as necessary. These views of language learning have been informed by research in second language acquisition. Also giving learning a special focus are methodological innovations of the late 1980s and 1990s. These include teaching learning strategies, using cooperative learning, and planning lessons in such a way that different intelligences are addressed.

(Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000)

Read the text below and answer the question.

Thought-in-Action Links

    It is important to recognize that methods link thoughts and actions, because teaching is not entirely about one or the other. As a teacher of language, you have thoughts about your subject matter – what language is, what culture is – and about your students – who they are as learners and how it is they learn. You also have thoughts about yourself as a teacher and what you can do to help your students to learn. Many of your thoughts have been formed by your own experience as a language learner. With this awareness, you are able to examine why you do what you do and perhaps choose to think about or do things differently.

    As an example, let us relate an anecdote about a teacher with whom Diane Larsen-Freeman was working some time ago. From her study of methods in Stevick (1980), Heather (not her real name) became interested in how to work with teacher control and student initiative in her teaching. She determined that during her student teaching internship, she would exercise less control of the lesson in order to encourage her students to take more initiative, and have them impose the questions in the classroom, since so often it is the teacher who asks all the questions, not the students.

    However, she felt that the students were not taking the initiative, but she could not see what was wrong. When Diane Larsen Freeman, who was her supervisor, visited her class, she observed the following:

    HEATHER: Juan, ask Anna what she is wearing.

    JÜAN: What are you wearing?

    ANNA: I am wearing a dress.

    HEATHER: Anna, ask Muriel what she is writing.

    ANNA: What are you writing?

    MÜRIEL: I am writing a letter.

    This pattern continued for some time. It was clear to see that Heather had successfully avoided the common problem of the teacher asking all the questions in the class. The teacher was not asking the questions – the students were. However, Heather had not achieved her goal of encouraging student initiative.

(Larsen-Freeman, D. 2000. Adaptado)

Considere a reflexão a seguir e responda à questão.

A partir da leitura do livro Hipermodernidade, multiletramentos e gêneros discursivos, é possível dizer que os gêneros textuais, os gêneros do discurso e a tipologia textual são construtos cada vez mais importantes para o professor, especialmente aquele que ensina línguas.

(ROJO, R. e BARBOSA, J. P. Hipermodernidade, multiletramentos e gêneros discursivos.)