An Empirical Study On The Washback Of The Grammar Part In The National Matriculation English Test(Shanghai)

The National Matriculation English Test (NMET) (Shanghai) has witnessed significant transforms and innovations in the past years and much attention has been paid to such parts in the NMET (Shanghai) as reading, listening, and writing that focus on testing students'English proficiency. The grammar part (GP) in the NMET (Shanghai) remains almost the same since its occurrence together with the NMET (Shanghai) in the first place. Despite the assertion that Chinese classroom teachers now focus on developing students'English proficiency, grammar teaching still plays a significant role in English teaching and the influence of the grammar part in the NMET (Shanghai) on grammar teaching and learning remains unclear to us all. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the washback exerted by the grammar part of the NMET (Shanghai) on English teaching and learning in a senior high school to decide whether the influence exists and what the nature of the influence is. As an empirical washback study on the grammar part of the NMET (Shanghai), the present study also seeks to make some practical suggestions on grammar teaching/ learning.The term"washback"is generally defined as the effect of testing on teaching and learning. In this thesis, the GP washback is defined as the effect of the GP in the NMET (Shanghai) on teachers'teaching and students'learning, including their perceptions, processes and products, in the senior high school context. Three research instruments, including questionnaire surveys, classroom observation and interviews, have been used to collect the information and altogether 23 teachers and 145 students in a senior high school have participated in the investigation.Findings from the investigation suggest that the GP in the NMET (Shanghai) does exert washback effects, directly or indirectly, on both teachers'and students'perceptions and their teaching/ learning processes and the effects turn out to be complicated. Such problems as"teaching to test"and"learning to test"have been pointed out and suggestions have been made to help to solve those problems: (1) the teaching principles stipulated in the English Curriculum Standards (ECS) shall be fully implemented by the teachers in grammar teaching and grammar teaching shall not be treated as an isolated part in English teaching; (2) more types of activities and exercises shall be introduced into grammar teaching; (3) students'autonomous learning abilities shall be developed in their grammar learning.