A Study On The Washback Effect Of Tem4 On English Learning And Teaching

Washback effect regularly refers to the impact of a test both on teaching and learning. It can be classified into covert or overt, as well as positive or negative. At the end of last century, a large quantity of theoretical and empirical studies have been accomplished on washback effects. Till now, the volume of attention has been gradually paid to washback effects of TEM4 and TEM8. The present thesis aims for probing into the washback effect of TEM4 both on English teaching and learning.TEM4 has been carried out for about 20 years in China, which is one of the most important large-scale foreign language tests. According to chapter two--the literature review on washback effect as well as chapter three--the research methods of some famous researchers, the study is accomplished by exploring TEM4's washback effect with the consideration of the education practice in the selected areas. Data was collected in Hunan University of Science and Technology from undergraduate English majors in grade 2009 and grade 2008 and their teachers, by means of interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires survey.Based on the analysis of datas, the author intended to recommend some suggestions to promote the positive washback effect of TEM4 as well as minimize its negative washback effect. And relatively, the thesis concludes with its major findings and limitations. It indicates that TEM4 does exert influence on English majors and English teachers from the findings in this thesis. TEM4 exerts less negative or harmful effects than positive or beneficial ones. What's more, the extent of the effect varies with respect to separate individuals'proficiency of language. From students'point of view, TEM4 produces them for some stress and kind of anxiety, which leads in their"learn to the test". Moreover, it also exerts kind of stimuli and learning motivation, therefore a solid foundation is built for their advanced stage English level study. While in teachers'perspective, TEM4 serves as a useful means to provide relevant authorities and administrators with effective assessing information, though it is not completely reliable and universal. It urges the teachers to select the appropriate teaching contents, innovate the teaching methods and push the teachers further to develop their teaching skills in English according to the teaching syllabus.Nevertheless the negative washback effects of TEM4 are still actually existing. For the students, they are not only inclined to overlook the significance of enhancing their overall language competence, but also tend to lose their interest in learning English. To some extent, TEM4 also perturbs the teaching pace, impedes educators'free choice of teaching designs or teaching materials.This thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is a concise introduction to the whole research. The second chapter presents a literature review of current researches on washback all over the world, and shed light on the research topic, which consists of: relevent researches on washback, the classification and definition of washback, etc. All of the information brougt in this chapter in order to express point of views. And according to these, the research method and data analysis in this thesis can be better understood. The third chapter aims at explaining the research methodology, including the subjects, the survey design and research questions etc.. Chapter Four is about a detailed data analysis. Chapter Five devotes to concluding the whole study, coming up with the limitations and calling on further researches in the field.