Resumo

Informativity and acceptability as features of textuality in essay tests. Letras [online]. 2006, vol.48, n.72, pp.349-363. ISSN 0459-1283.

Beaugrande and Dressler proposed that textuality is the fundamental property that makes a written piece a text. Such textuality is supported on 7 main traits: cohesion, coherence, intentionality, informativity, acceptability, situationality and intertextuality. For the present report, only two of these traits are considered, informativity and acceptability, in order to explore their importance and relevance in the essay exam in university contexts. This might allow us to extrapolate the results to other texts that are also likely to be found in such context: reports, research papers, workshops, etc. Our research methodology corresponds to documentary studies, which implied an important review of bibliography. Regarding the results, it can be said that informativity is a feature of textuality for which context plays an outstanding role, as new information means telling the other, in this case the teacher, what is known about a particular topic. This is true for the case of essay exams and other texts produced in similar situations. Also, it can be claimed that acceptability represents a condition that is closely linked to textual linguistic competence, which is understood as the knowledge that language users have about different texts on the basis of their constant interaction with texts. It is considered relevant to continue working on these topics. This might imply a deeper knowledge of the processes that guide the production and comprehension of those texts that live in the so-called pedagogical contexts.

Palavras-chave : informativity; acceptability; textuality features; essay exams.