Construção de uma rubrica de avaliação para defesa pública: da definição de critérios ao protótipo

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss issues related to the construction of an assessment rubric for the viva (public defense) of the final report resulting from teaching practice internships. Both theoretical and practical considerations which underpin the methodology adopted in this process will be discussed. The institutional context is the master's degrees in teaching languages at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the University of Porto (FLUP). This process was initiated in response to a jointly-perceived need to enhance quality assurance in assessment procedures and to harmonize practices and instruments used in the different masters in teaching. Thus, the subject of this paper is the construction of a criteria-based rubric to assess performance levels for the evaluation of the viva of the teaching practice final report. The process underlying its construction entailed the following phases: (i) analysis of both regulatory documents for vivas at the University of Porto and of similar rubrics in use in other university contexts; (ii) description of the communicative situation inherent in this formal, oral discourse genre in an academic context and of its constituent parts; (iii) the structure of the assessment rubric; (iv) the writing of a prototype of the rubric.