Having in mind that some institutions, following the example of the Federal University of Campina Grande, are requiring in the composition test the writing of a textual genre instead of an essay, traditionally requested in school and in most university entrance exams, this article has a twofold objective: (1) describing and analyzing the composition test presented in the 2007 university entrance exam of the UFCG and (2) investigating if that kind of test, quoted in "1", caused a backwash effect in candidates who did the university entrance exam. The corpus comprises (1) a composition test applied by the UFCG in 2007 and (2) the audio and video recording of a reflexive session (BORGHI e CRISTÓVÃO, 2007; MAGALHÃES, 2004) with some candidates who did that exam. The data, which were analyzed on the basis of backwash effect studies (AVELAR, 2001; CORREIA, 2003; LANZONI, 2004; SCARAMUCCI, 2004), indicated that the backwash effect of the composition test presented by the UFCG, in spite of a specific and positive value, has a poor intensity, because it partly influenced the candidates. The results also revealed that a repercussion of the genre theory, among students and teachers, seems to be in concomitant union with the backwash effect of the test.
university entrance exam composition; genre; backwash