An Investigation Of Washback Effect Of Neo-National Matriculation English Test

The research into the testing effect is an important issue in the testing field. Such effect is called "impact" in the international educational circle and "washback" in the language testing circle and the equivalence of Chinese is "washback effect". As one of the largest and most far-reaching foreign language tests, the New National Matriculation English Test (the Neo-NMET) has washback effect that cannot be underestimated in language education because it is related to thousands upon thousands of families.This paper reports on an investigation into the washback effect of the Neo-NMET through interview, classroom observation, questionnaire and case study for information and data collection. The subjects cover designers of the Neo-NMET, English instructors, senior high school teachers and students of both the graduating and non-graduating classes and freshmen. The study is to find out how and to what extent the Neo-NMET affects English teaching and learning in middle schools, seek for teachers’and students’ opinions and suggestions on the test, and to put forward ways of promoting the positive washback effect of the Neo-NMET.The results show that the Neo-NMET exerts both positive and negative effects on teaching and learning of English in senior high schools; the positive washback effect is characterized by teaching and learning motivation, teaching contents, teaching methods used in senior one and two and fostering the compositive competence in using language; the negative washback effect lies in designing teaching aims, time allocation for class activity, and exercises and tests in senior three. Based on these findings, the study tries to advance feasible suggestions for English teachers to raise teaching effect in middle schools and provide some references for the Neo-NMET designing.