Investigation Of The Washback Of Tbr In Nmet On The Teaching And Learning Of Senior High School English Reading

As an important research area in the field of applied linguistics, washback refers to the influence of testing on teaching and learning, including positive influence and negative influence. In recent years, many scholars and experts both at home and abroad have conducted a large number of studies on washback, either theoretically or empirically, which deepen the understanding of washback, enrich language testing theories and promote testing and teaching innovations.Since the beginning of the senior high school curriculum reform in 2004, an increasing number of provinces have adopted TBR in their NMET besides MCR (multiple-choice reading). Anhui began to introduce TBR in 2009. Since the day TBR appeared in NMET, many senior high school English teachers and NMET researchers have conducted studies about it for their respective purposes and from different perspectives.However, whether and how TBR has influenced the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading? So far, sufficient attention has not been given to this issue. This study, taking Anhui as an example, empirically investigates the washback of TBR on the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading.The present study concentrates on the washback of TBR on the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading in Anhui and focuses on the following questions:1) Why has TBR been introduced into NMET ?2) Does TBR have influence on the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading? If yes, in what aspects, to what degrees and what is the nature? If not, what are the main causes?The investigation employs qualitative and quantitative research methods and adopts three of the most popular research methods in relevant studies, namely questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation to collect data from English inspectors, senior high school English teachers and students. The quantitative data are analyzed via a computer and the present researcher sorts out and transfers the data collected through the open-ended questions, classroom observation and interviews.The major findings of the present study are as follows: Firstly, TBR is introduced into NMET because of its advantages over the traditional MCR, its implications for the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading and its embodiment of the specifications of the NSHSEC. Secondly, TBR has great positive influence on most teachers'teaching beliefs and exerts positive influence on some teachers'teaching content as well as their teaching methods to different degrees, but it exerts very little influence on most teachers'selection of teaching materials and their anxiety level. Thirdly, TBR has great beneficial influence on most students'learning beliefs and positively influences some students'in-class learning content as well as their in-class learning methods to different degrees, but it exerts very little influence on most students'after-class selection of learning materials, after-class learning content and their after-class learning methods; it causes more anxiety to SeniorⅠstudents than SeniorⅡandⅢstudents. Fourthly, TBR exerts negative influence on the teaching and learning of senior high school English reading in that it gives rise to, to some extent, the phenomena of"teaching to the test"and"learning to the test".The present study also finds that teachers play an important role in the generation of washback and serve as an indispensable media via which testing influences teaching and learning. Besides, there is no one-to-one relationship between test innovation and teaching innovation and it is test innovation and other factors that jointly promote teaching innovation.At the end of the thesis, the present researcher also puts forward some suggestions for NMET policymakers as well as senior high school English teachers and students.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1, the introduction, illustrates the background, purposes and significance of the present study. Chapter 2 deals with the literature review of the study. Chapter 3 concentrates on the research design, including research questions, participants, research methods and data collection procedure. Chapter 4 analyzes and discusses the collected data in detail. Chapter Five concludes the whole research.