A Study On The Washback Effects Of NMET Listening Test On Listening Teaching In Senior Middle School

Language test is an important part of language teaching, as well as the important means to evaluate the language teaching and learning. The results of language teaching need to be assessed through language tests. The language test and evaluation of the results will influence the teaching of the language, that is, what we call the washback effect of language test. Washback effect refers to the effect of language test on language teaching and learning, including positive and negative effects. In recent years, from theoretical to practical research and discussion, washback effect has obtained the widespread concern of scholars at home and abroad. These studies help people to get a deeper awareness and understanding of testing washback effect, and to a certain extent promote the reform of testing and teaching.College Entrance Examination (also being called National Matriculation Entrance Test, NMET) is one of the most important national examinations in our country, and it is also a very crucial exam for every student. The purpose of the NMET is to select competent candidates to receive higher education, and to a certain extent it determines the future and destiny of the students. Therefore, a vast number of educators pay extensive attention to the reform of it, and have carried on a lot of researches. However, few people have done any research on the washback effect of the NMET, to say nothing about the empirical study on the listening test’s washback effects on senior middle school listening teaching. As a very important language skill, listening has got much attention from foreign language educators, and become an indispensable part in many international and domestic large-scale tests, which makes the research on the field seem more necessary and important.From the perspective of English language teaching, this paper will review some domestic and international scholars’ research achievements on the washback effects in recent years, and based on the overall analysis of the listening part in the test papers of the NMET for Hubei students, combining with the comparison between the test papers of the NMET and the syllable of senior middle school English teaching, this paper will be an empirical study on the washback effects of our current listening test in the NMET on the English teaching and learning. Exploring the positive and negative washback effects, the article aims to get some reference value for improving the quality of English listening teaching in senior middle schools, classroom efficiency, and the reform of listening test in the NMET. This study will use the empirical research method with the questionnaire and deep interview as its main forms. The research subjects are100third-year students and5teachers of the third-year in Senior Middle School Attached to Wuhan University. In addition, this paper also conducts a lot of literature review and has a deeper understanding of the home and abroad researches concerned.The research results show that, listening test has produced certain washback effects on listening teaching in senior middle schools, and these effects are mainly manifested in the teaching content, the breadth and depth of teaching, teaching methods and strategies, as well as the preparation for the listening test in the NMET. It also collects some thoughts and suggestions of the senior middle school teachers. These results not only illustrate the guiding role of the NMET to the English teaching, but also require us to pay more attention to the quality and effectiveness of listening test, giving full play to its positive washback effect and decrease its negative washback effect in order to promote the language learning and teaching.