An Empirical Study Of Washback From New CET4 On College English Teaching And Learning

Nowadays language test is still a major means of measurement and evaluation in foreign language teaching, such as quiz in class, placement test, mid-term test, final examination, as well as NMET, CET4 & 6, TOEFL, GRE, IELTS and so on. CET4 is a large-scale foreign language test established for almost 20 years in China. As a high-stakes national test, it is always the focus of heated discussions. The students in universities, system of education and the whole society are all mainly concerned about their scores of CET4. Therefore, we should pay more attention to the washback from CET4 on teaching and learning, especially washback from new CET4.Washback usually refers to the impact tests have on language teaching and learning, which can be positive or negative. On the one hand, it can provide the information of students' learning for teachers, evaluate what students have absorbed at one stage, grasp what they have learned and test teachers' teaching achievement. On the other hand, it can bring negativewashback on students, which maybe make them over-worrying; especially like CET4 & 6------It was regarded as measuring means of students' level of language by students themselves andtheir future employers------its washback, namely, that test has effect on college teaching andlearning, can't be ignored. At present, researchers in China mainly focus on studying its negative washback, they hardly study not only the positive one but also how to exert its' principal positive washback in daily English teaching and to a great extent restrict the negative one.In recent years, researchers in foreign countries have done a huge bulk of theoretical and empirical researches on the effects of washback; whereas in China, the domestic research on washback is of a comparatively recent scope in the field of language testing and very little research has been conducted. So far, the volume of attention has been mainly paid to CET4 and its negative washback while insufficient empirical investigation into the washback of new CET4.The present study is thus an attempt to delve into the washback effect of new CET4 on English teaching and learning, comparing to the old one, which is of innovative and positive significance. As is known, CET4 is one of the large-scale standardized foreign language tests, which has been established for about 20 years in China. Based on the current accomplishment of studying washback both at home and abroad, especially the research methods and the research models, the author carried out a preliminary study investigating CET4's washback effect with the consideration of the teaching practice in China. Data was collected from 40 college English teachers and 200 in Grade 2004 and 200 in Grade 2005 of non-English majors in the HIT (Heilongjiang Institute of Technology) through questionnaire survey, classroom observations and interviews, which are widely applied in washback studies abroad. The data were analyzed by SPSS and GITB software. Students were divided into two groups according to grade; teachers with different age have been engaged in college English teaching for many years.The score of test has direct impact on individual, educational system and the whole society; it measures, to some degree, the level of teaching. So it is important that what kind of teaching method was adopted, how to put test theory into teaching practice, how to avoid the exam-oriented education, how to make test serving teaching, becoming not a beginning but a tache of teaching process. In research, the writer probe into a feasible teaching model, try best to make test serving teaching better than before; promote the college English teaching, push teaching from the effect of examination direction, make students learning knowledge in order to take exam blindly no longer. This research plays a positive role in improving the teaching and learning of College English.This thesis consists of seven chapters. The first chapter presents a brief introduction to the whole study. Chapter Two is a literature review of current washback research at home and abroad, which helps confine and throw light on this research topic. Chapter Three introduces briefly washback study from old CET4 on college English teaching and learning. First part is the distribution of types of questions in old CET4. Second part is CET4's positive and negative washback study on college English teaching and learning. The fourth chapter is the analysis of new CET4, including the analysis of the new types of questions, the analysis of order of the questions, the analysis of the change of the reporting score, the analysis of the change of participants and its washback. The fifth chapter deals with the analysis of the innovative integrative teaching methods which affected college English teaching. In study the writer try to take advantage of CET4's beneficial washback and reduce its harmful washback in the hope that such a study will make some contribution to promoting the teaching of English for non-English majors and to helping the students improve their comprehensive competence in English. Chapter Six outlines the research methodology used to investigate the research questions, including the objectives, the subjects, the procedures of the research and findings. Chapter Seven draws the conclusion of the value of the present study in new CET4 and points out the limitations of the thesis and the need for further research in this field for the sake of a better understanding of new CET4's washback.In the end, the paper shows the limitations of this study and areas need more research in the future.