The assessment of deaf and hearing-impaired students under a new paradigma: ENEM in Libras

• Autor(a) principal: Junqueira, Rogério Diniz
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Lacerda, Cristina Broglia Feitosa de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Educação Especial (UFSM)
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufsm.br/educacaoespecial/article/view/28732
• topic: Deaf students; Brazilian Sign Language (Libras); National Exam of Upper Secondary Education (Enem).; Estudiantes sordos; Lenguaje Brasileña de Señales (Libras); Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem).; Estudantes surdos; Libras; Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem)

This paper addresses the necessity, adequacy and legitimacy of developing specific instruments translated to Brazilian Sign Language (Língua Brasileira de Sinais – Libras) and adapted to Portuguese as a second language, to assess the deaf and hearing-impaired students’ performance at the National Exam of Upper Secondary Education (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio – ENEM). It investigates the discussions of Inep’s appointed Advisory Committee on Special Education (Comissão Assessora de Especialistas em Educação Especial) regarding the Brazilian laws, the specificities of teaching the deaf, and the challenges of guarantying their accessibility in large-scale exams. It considers that, even supported by interpreters, put deaf participants, whose first language is Libras, through a Portuguese written test leads to lack of accessibility and represents a violation of equitable treatment. It remarks that, since Enem’s calculation of the mean scores is based on the Item Response Theory (IRT), the lack of accessibility compromises the psychometric parameters of the exam; therefore, the use of a material, which is dutifully translated, available in video, digitally-formatted and individualized, seems to be, at this point of the discussions about accessibility, a fair, proper and safe way to ensure rights, equity and isonomy. The Enem in Libras signifies a shift in paradigm in the assessment of those whose first language is Libras, representing an acknowledgment of their linguistic rights. The achievements in doing so should be known and dully analyzed in order to ensure the lasting betterment of the exam’s accessibility policies.