An Empirical Research On The Washback Effect Of NMET On Senior High School English Teaching And Learning

The washback effect refers to the impact of testing on language teaching and learning.Classification by nature,it can be divided into positive and negative effects.The positive effect can promote the development of teaching,while the negative effect can mislead or hinder the progress of teaching.From theory to practice,foreign scholars have conducted a great deal of research on the washback effect,especially the large-scale test.However,there are not many theoretical and practical researches in the field of language testing at home.The previous studies mainly have focused on the large-scale and high-stake English test,such as Cet-4 and Cet-6,and the empirical researches are rare on the washback effect of the NMET.Therefore,on the basis of the Washback Hypothesis raised by Alderson & Wall,Baliey's Basic Model of Washback and Bachman & Palmer's Scope of Impact,the research adopts both qualitative and quantitative researches.Through questionnaires and interviews,30 English teachers and 300 students were chosen to conduct an empirical study in Xu Zhou Senior Middle School.The purpose of this study is to solve the following two questions:(1)What is the washback effect of NMET on teachers' English teaching in senior high school?(2)What is the washback effect of NMET on students' English learning in senior high school?The results show that:(1)The NMET has influenced teachers' English teaching from the following aspects: 1)In terms of language knowledge and skills,most teachers focus on training students' reading and writing competence and playing down their listening and speaking skills.2)In the aspects of teaching contents and methods,teachers pay attention to test's contents and methods.3)In the teaching attitude,for one thing,teachers think doing exercises can improve students' scores;for another thing,most teachers tend to agree that the goal of English teaching should help students communicate in English.(2)The washback effects of NMET on students' learning are following aspects: 1)In the cognition of language skills,students in senior 1 and senior2 attach more importance to improving listening and speaking skills,but students insenior 3 emphasize the improvement of reading and writing skills.2)In terms of learning contents and methods,students focus on testing rather than enhancing language skills.3)In the learning attitude,students widely think that preparing for the NMET can help them learn English and the listening and speaking practice should be added to classes so as to stimulate students' learning interest.Thus,it can be seen that the washback effect of NMET on English teaching and learning has both positive influence and negative influence.In general,the positive effect of NMET on English teaching and learning outweigh the negative effect.