Analysis of the literacy practices of entering and graduating students from a higher education institution: case report

摘要

This study aims to characterize and analyze the quality of the practices and the level of literacy, as well as the possibilities of texts reading and comprehension, present in the daily academic and extra academic life of entering and graduating students from a Brazilian university. The sample consisted of 392 participants: 218 entering and 174 graduating students from Bachelor's and Licentiate's degree courses of a Brazilian university. Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire with open and objective questions, which was consisted of questions about personal information and school life of each student; data on reading and writing practices on the academics everyday life and a practical reading test, developed and adapted from the National Functional Literacy. For the analysis, it was adopted the qualitative and quantitative approach. It was observed that although the texts presented belong to primary genres, students got incorrect answers and not conducive to the education level in which they are enrolled. It follows that, from the analyzed students, the majority of both entering and graduating ones perform the second literacy level, which shows that the gaps regarding the literacy practices derived from the basic education still prevail in higher education.