The Washback Effect Of College English Test Band 4 On Curricular Planning And Instruction

The phenomenon of how external tests influence teaching and learning is commonly described as "washback" in language instruction Literature indicates that testing washback is a complex concept that becomes even more complex under a variety of interpretations of the washback phenomenon on teaching and learning. Some studies conclude that no simple washback effect occurs, whereas others find powerful determiners of language testing toward classroom teaching.The purpose of this study was to investigate how college English teachers perceived the impact of a public English test, called College English Test Band 4(CET 4), on their cunicular planning and instruction. In this research a correlational approach was used on a sample of college English teachers. The data were collected through a survey and focus group interviews.Findings from this study indicate that CET 4 has an influential impact on teachers' cunicular planning and instruction. However, such a washback influence on teachers' teaching attitudes is quite superficial, that is, the washback may influence what they teach but not how they teach.The reason why it influences what to teach is the alteration of CET 4 design and the adoption of various teaching materials in accordance with the revised college English curriculum standards. Due to the lack of in-service teacher training, however, teachers still lack the knowledge of how to change their teaching methods in order to reach the new curriculum objectives.Based upon the findings, this study recommends: (1) providing teachers with extensive professional development opportunities, (2) changing the "academic watch" policy, (3) practicing mix-ability grouping instead of achievement grouping in teaching administration, and (4) integrating classroom evaluation into the overall assessment.This study was expected to add to the existing literature on testing washback in an "English as a foreign language" context, and provide different levels of educational parties involved in college English education with information about how curriculumstandards and examination objectives might be interpreted. More importantly, the findings should contribute to bridge the gaps between the educational parties and ultimately lead to an improvement of CET 4 design and college English education.