An Empirical Study Of Washback Effect On Reformed CET-4 On English Teaching And Learning In Independent Colleges

In accordance with Hughes (1989), washback effect can be defined as the effect of testing on teaching and learning. In recent years, washback effect of CET-4 (College English Test-Band 4) on English teaching and learning has become a heated topic in testing field. Washback effect is a relatively new field in language testing. Nevertheless, we should recognize that it will effectively promote foreign language teaching and testing reform in China to make some elaborate and in-depth studies on washback effect of related large-scale tests.As a large-scale standardized test for measuring the proficiency of CE (College English) teaching and learning, washback effect of reformed CET-4 on CE teaching and learning has been given great attention from lots of teachers and scholars of Foreign Language Teaching. We have achieved a lot in studying reform on CET-4, including researches from theoretical level and practical level, which has made a certain contribution to the improvement of CE teaching and learning; however, most of them are systematic research and analysis from a macro or theoretical point of view, which is lack of profound problems, particularly empirical research.With the development of economic globalization and educational diversity, independent colleges have become a new unignorable part of higher education in China. According to the statistical data published by the Ministry of Education at the end of 2009, it has formed a large scale of 381 independent colleges in China. Therefore, in the author's opinion, it is necessary that discussions should be made to explore English teaching and learning of independent colleges. The subject of the present study is one of Changchun's independent colleges. Through data sets of five times of CET-4 scores achieved by non-English majors of this independent college from the year 2007 to 2009, and with the combination of questionnaire survey and in-depth interview, the thesis is intended to make an empirical study on washback effect of reformed CET-4 on English teaching and learning in independent colleges. The result shows that positive washback effects on English teaching and learning in this college are obvious, and there is a tendency that its positive effects are enhanced, while negative ones are reduced. Besides, the results of independent-sample t-test indicate that there may be a correlation between reformed CET-4 scores and gender variances:female students get higher scores than male ones on total score and each item score tested.Based on related literature and the results from the research, in the end of the thesis are the conclusions drawn from the experiment, the reflections on the problems existing in the present research and the directions of futher researches in the future. It is expected that the present study may throw some light on improving the quality of CE teaching and learning, and provide references and recommendations for the investigation about CET-4 policy.