An Investigation Into Immediate And Longitudinal CET Washback From Students' Perspective

Washback refers to the influence of a test on teaching and learning. The College English Test (CET) is a large-scale standardized criterion-related norm-referenced test. It is sponsored by the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education and has been in operation for over two decades, aiming to accurately measure college students'ability to use English in a well-rounded way, and to promote the implementation of College English Curriculum Requirements (Requirements). Since 2005, CET has taken significant innovative measures, mainly including scoring formula, score reporting, test content and test format and the innovation has been implemented nationwide in 2007. Students are the test takers and the direct stakeholders, thus the investigation of washback on students' college English (CE) learning is of great importance. The study consists of three stages: Stage One is Gu Xiangdong's baseline study in 2003; Stage Two is Li Jie's preliminary study in 2007; Stage Three is the researcher's main study in 2007 and 2008. Based on the investigations of the three stages, the present study aims to investigate the immediate and longitudinal CET washback from students'perspective, aiming to address: 1) What is the immediate washback of the innovated CET? 2) Does CET washback change over time?In the main study, the researcher employs questionnaire survey as the major instrument, supplemented by interview and classroom observation. Three surveys were conducted at the same sampled university in Dec 2007, March 2008 and July 2008 respectively, involving totally 429 undergraduates. From March to April in 2008, 23 teachers'classes at the sampled university were observed and 17 students were interviewed during the classroom observation. The study explores the CET washback from four aspects: students'familiarity about CET, students'attitudes towards CET, the CET washback on various aspects of students'CE learning and factors affecting CE learning.The present study has found much evidence indicating the positive washback of CET outweighs the negative one both before and after innovation. The major findings are briefly summarized as follows:As for the immediate washback of the innovated CET, nearly half students have some familiarity with the CET innovation with different degree and students applaud most of the innovative measures. They perceive that most innovative measures will bring more positive washback than negative one on their study. CET has promoted the implementation of the Requirements in CE learning: it has motivated students to pay much attention to integrated skills, especially listening and speaking; students'coverage of textbook units for intensive reading and, listening and speaking turns out to be relatively satisfactory; learning activities related to listening, speaking and translation are often carried out in class. Nevertheless, the decreasing coverage of textbook units in Band 4 indicates the negative influence on students'learning. Besides, there are many factors affecting students'CE learning, and CET is just one among them.The longitudinal CET washback is positive-oriented and it may change over time. No matter before or after innovation, in students'view, CET is generally considered to promote more positive washback than negative one. Students'increasing investment in listening and speaking after innovation indicates the positive washback of CET. Moreover, the comparison of students'coverage of textbook units before and after innovation suggests the negative influence on CE learning probably has been decreased.In addition to the major findings above, the present study offers suggestions for the CET innovation as well as feedback for the improvement of CE learning.