A Study Of The Washback Of Grammar Blanks Filling On English Teaching And Learning In Senior High School

Washback or backwash usually refers to the influence of tests on teaching and learning.National Matriculation English Test(NMET),which is reckoned as a significant tested subject in National College Entrance Examination(NCEE),is bound to exert washback on English teaching and learning in senior high school.Accordingly,as a new type of test exercise introduced into NMET in 2014,Grammar Blanks Filling will also have washback on English teaching and learning in senior high school.The present study was conducted to investigate the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling in NMET on English teaching and learning in senior high school.The study addresses the following three questions: 1)What's the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling on English vocabulary teaching and learning in senior high school? 2)What's its washback on English grammar teaching and learning in senior high school? 3)What's its washback on English reading teaching and learning in senior high school?Three instruments were utilized in this study,including questionnaires,classroom observation and interviews.First of all,the questionnaire survey was conducted of some students of a senior high school and of some English teachers of three senior high schools to have a rough understanding of the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling on English learning and teaching.Secondly,based on the research findings in the questionnaire survey,the classroom observation was performed to vocabulary classes,grammar classes and reading classes of 8 senior high school teachers from Senior 1 and Senior 2,to better understand the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling on English teaching practice and learning practice.Lastly,interviews were conducted to 5 teachers and 18 students on the basis of the research findings in the questionnaire survey and classroom observation to comprehend theirindividual understanding of the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling,further to verify the research findings in the questionnaire survey and classroom observation and to address the problems arising in them.Besides,in interviews,the degree of teachers' familiarity with the different dimensions of Grammar Blanks Filling,the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling on English teaching content and English teaching methods,and the value of the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling were investigated.The major findings of the study were summarized in the following.In general,the washback of Grammar Blanks Filling on vocabulary teaching and learning and on grammar teaching and learning is intenser than that on reading teaching and learning,the washback on English teaching is significantly intenser than that on English learning,and the positive washback on English teaching and learning overwhelms the negative washback.Firstly,in terms of English teaching,under the influence of Grammar Blanks Filling,the majority of teachers tend to teach vocabulary knowledge and grammar knowledge under contexts,especially under sentence contexts,and sometimes under discourse contexts.During the process of reading teaching,most teachers stress the importance of discourse contexts,and develop students' logical analysis ability of discourses and intensive reading ability.In addition,most teachers emphasize the development of students' productive language skills and pragmatic ability,focus on the pragmatic function of grammar rules,make students do adaptive exercises of Grammar Blanks Filling,and stress the accuracy of language.The minority of teachers involve authentic or highly authentic contexts.Secondly,as regards English learning,in the process of vocabulary learning and grammar learning,students emphasize the importance of contexts,especially sentence contexts,and focus on discourse contexts less.In reading learning,most students highlight the significance of discourse contexts,and the degree of emphasizing the development of the logical analysis ability of discourses and the intensive reading ability is in a medium level.Most students stress the development of productive language skills.Grammar Blanks Filling exerts little washback on the aspect of the actual use of vocabulary.In summary,the innovation of the study lies in its creative combination of different research methods to do research into the washback of a new type of test exercise introducedinto NMET in 2014.Compared with the relevant washback studies since 2014,the research methods of the present study are more scientific,and the research angle is more innovative.Therefore,the research findings will be significantly illuminating to English teaching and learning in senior high school.