An Empirical Study On The Washback Effect Of CET-4—From The Perspective Of Communicative Competence

Washback generally refers to the influence of testing on teaching and learning. Washback can be positive or negative. Although it is relatively a new field, washback in recent years has occupied an increasingly important place in the research of language testing.CET-4, as a large-scale standardized test, is intended to evaluate students' English proficiency and the quality of CET and to accelerate the reform of English teaching by checking the effect and promoting the practice of College English Syllabus. Having been implemented in China for about 20 years, CET-4 has once made great contribution to the development of CET and the improvement of students' English proficiency. However, in recent years, some universities only pursue their passing rate of CET-4 while ignoring cultivating students' communicative competence, and the phenomenon of teaching to the test prevails. The negative influence of CET-4 has been gradually perceived and recognized.In spite of many discussions about the washback effect of CET-4, in China the washback researches have not been sufficiently conducted. So it is worthwhile to conduct such studies in different cultures and language testing settings. In addition, thorough and profound empirical researches on the high-stakes CET-4 are still necessary. Therefore, the author intends to study the washback effect of CET-4 from the perspective of communicative competence.The present research is mainly focused on: 1) the intended washback of CET-4; 2) teachers' and students' perceptions of CET-4; 3) the actual classroom practice; 4) the influence of CET-4 on the specific aspects of CE teaching and learning; 5) other factors facilitating or impeding the positive or negative influence of CET-4.The research involves 393 subjects including test constructors and administrators, teachers and students. A multi-method approach is adopted in this study consisting of analysis of documents, questionnaire surveys, classroom observation and interviews. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to complement with each other as well as to enhance the validity and reliability of the empirical study.