An Empirical Research On Washback Of NMET(Hunan):Reading Comprehension With Subjective Questions

Language testing is one of the important components in language teaching process and may exert influence on all aspects of language teaching. The influence is known as washback, and it can be positive or negative. Positive washback can enhance the perfection of a language test and the improvement of teaching and learning. A large number of research at home and abroad have looked into washback exerted by large-scale language tests.With the deep-going research on testing, NMET in China with high social pressure is increasingly concerned, and the design of its testing contents and question types is constantly updated. Since the year of2004when Hunan province began to design NMET independently, both question types and the distribution of the total scores have experienced many changes. Washback on teaching and learning brought by those changes has not been well studied empirically. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to examine whether the newly-built Reading Comprehension with Subjective Questions in NMET (Hunan)(RCSQ) realizes its intended washback, and to investigate what beliefs and attitudes senior high school English teachers and students in Hunan province hold towards RCSQ, and to probe into what washback RCSQ exerts on senior high school English teaching and learning in Hunan Province in terms of contents and methods.In the inspiration of Hughes’Trichotomy Washback Model and Alderson&Wall’s Washback Hypotheses, a feasible framework is outlined for the present research. Two kinds of participants are involved:27English teachers and318students from two key senior high schools and one ordinary senior high school. Interview and questionnaires are applied to collect qualitative and quantitative data. These data are analyzed with a descriptive method.The research results indicate that the new RCSQ is effective in evaluating students’language use ability in reading and writing; teachers and most students hold positive beliefs and attitudes; the new RCSQ brings teachers and students both motivation and pressure; and RCSQ makes teachers and students increase the amount of reading and writing. The research also discovers that senior high school English teachers and students have paid more attention to the enhancement of language ability than before in teaching and learning while senior grade three students seem to pay more attention to test-taking skills under the pressure of NMET. Through this present research, a conclusion can be safely made that the new RCSQ exerts far more positive washback on teaching and learning than negative washback and it plays an active role in weakening test-oriented teaching and learning and attaching importance to language competence and language use ability in contemporary senior high school English teaching and learning.Based on the research results, implications are suggested to RCSQ designers, educational authorities, teachers and students to promote the perfection of the RCSQ itself as well as further facilitate positive washback on teaching and learning.