高中英语校本测试对教学的反拨作用研究

pointed out that the daily courses have been distorted bythe exams because the teachers usually ignored the teaching activities which do nothave the direct correlation with exams and only focused on the task-taking skills ratherthan the language skills. His statement, however, is lack of empirical data gathering.According to Pearson (1988), “Public examinations influence the attitudes, behaviors,and motivation of teachers, learners, parents and because examinations often come atthe end of a course, this influence is seen working in a backward direction, hence theterm, washback”. From this definition we can see that the washback of examination hasbeen divided into several parts then it contains different meanings. Then Hughes(1989:1) defines washback as “the effect of testing on teaching and learning”, besideshe argues the washback can be positive and negative for the first time. The definitionproposed by Hughes is generally accepted today and it narrows the washback intolearning and teaching on the basis of Pearson. In addition, both positive and negative aspects of washback have been discussed from then on. Referring to Shoamy (1992),washback is “the utilization of external language tests to affect and drive foreignlanguage learning in school contest”. It emphasizes on the motivative relationshipbetween examination and language learning. After that, Alderson and Wall (1993)described that “teachers and learners do things they would not necessarily otherwise dobecause of the test”. It shares similarities with the idea of Vermon since they allcriticized the utilitarian goal of teaching and learning.

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2.2 Theoretical Framework of Washback Effect

From what have been discussed above, it is clearly to see that washback effect hasbeen defined by many scholars in various aspects. In this paper, two of them are chosento be the theoretical foundation of the research: Alderson and Wall’s WashbackHypotheses and Hughes’s Trichotomy Model respectively.

2.2.1 Alderson and Wall’s Washback Hypotheses

Alderson and Wall are the pioneers in the field of washback, and they proposedtheir hypotheses about washback in 1993, which held a profound influence on thefurther studied of washback. There are 15 hypotheses in total in Alderson and Wall’sWashback Hypotheses. In the series of hypotheses related to washback effect, theydiscussed several aspects including the impact of test on teaching and learning. Morespecifically, the third and fifth hypotheses are related to the content of teaching andlearning; the fourth and sixth hypotheses are related to the method of teaching andleaning; the seventh to eleventh are talking about the depth, sequence, attitude. Besides,the other hypotheses are associated with whether the test has an important consequenceon teaching and learning or not, that is to say, the existence of washback effect. Andwhether the test will have an impact on all students and teachers.

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Chapter Three Research Methodology.............................13

3.1 Research Questions...........................13

3.2 Participants.............................. 13

3.3 Instruments................................. 15

Chapter Four Results and Discussion................................19

4.1 The Present Condition of SET in Senior High School in Three Kinds of Cities..............19

4.1.1 The Importance and Frequency of SET in Senior High School...............19

4.1.2 The Quality of SET in Senior High School.............................23

Chapter Five Conclusion............................. 47

Chapter FourResults and Discussion

4.1 The Present Condition of SET in Senior High School in ThreeKinds of Cities

This part intends to investigate the present condition of SET in senior high schooland it tries to explore whether there are differences among these schools in three kindsof cities. It includes the following components specifically: the importance, thefrequency, the quality, the merits and the drawbacks of SET.