An Empirical Study Of The Washback Of PRETCO On English Learning And Teaching In Higher Vocational College

Language testing is an important component of language teaching, and testing has certain effects on teaching, and it is called Washback in the field of linguistics. In general, washback refers to the effect of PRETCO on teaching and learning, and it can be both positive and negative (Hughes,1989). The research focusing on washback effect abroad rose in80s in20th century while90s at home. Therefore, relatively speaking, the domestic research left far behind to overseas in this respect, especially in empirical aspects. In recent years, there were many researches about washback effects in language testing, but most of them specialized in CET4and CET6or something like that, however, fewer studies involved in PRETCO’s washback effect, let alone empirical research.PRETCO is a standardized English test that aims at reflecting and evaluating student’s practical abilities of English language that finished their English course in higher vocational colleges. PRETCO can be classified into A Level and B Level, A Level is the standard requirement for higher vocational students to reach, B Level is a transitional requirement which is a bit lower than A Level. This test bases on "The Basic Requirements for English Teaching in Higher Vocational and Technical colleges (Trial)", which not only tests the language knowledge and language skill, but also general language contents and practical contents concerning foreign affairs. PRETCO was officially executed in2000, and then carried out in the vocational colleges in the whole country. With the development of this test, it attracted more and more researchers to pay attention to study the effects of PRETCO on teaching and learning.This thesis studies deeply the effects of PRETCO on English teaching and learning in higher vocational colleges based on the research achievements on washback effect abroad and at home, what’s more, it discusses the ways of enhancing positive washback as well as some social matters brought by this test.The theoretical basis and research direction of this study are based on the basic washback model raised by Hughes (1993) and Bailey (1996), and Alderson and Wall’s15Washback Hypothesis (Alderson&Wall,1993:120), as well as Green’s (2006) washback mode. This study adopted quantitative and qualitative research methods by questionnaires, classroom observation and interviews to investigate20English teachers and120non-English majored students from Nanchang Institute of Science and Vocation in Jiangxi Province. Subsequently, the obtained data were conducted and analyzed by SPSS19.0. The results of the study indicate that PRETCO does have a large number of effects on English teachers’teaching and students’learning in higher vocational colleges, and the effects degrees are diverse to every aspect. These effects are mainly showed in teaching objectives, teaching contents, teaching methods, teaching motivations and so on; correspondingly, the effects on students’learning reflect in learning objectives, learning contents, learning methods, learning motivation and so on. It is obtained from the research that the impacts of PRETCO on teaching and learning have both positive and negative, but in general, the positive washback effects are larger than negative and are beneficial for the vocational colleges English teaching.Based on the results of the study, the author explored the relationship between PRETCO, and English teaching and learning of higher vocational colleges further. The positive washback effects of PRETCO are demonstrated on English teaching and learning:PRETCO is a scientific test and to some extent, it inspects students’ability of practical using the language so that it enhances their enthusiasm in studying English. On the other hand, PRETCO enrich teachers’teaching contents and teaching methods, it makes teachers to cultivate students’ability to use the language. However, the negative washback effect of PRETCO on teaching and learning cannot be ignored:it makes students’learning as test-oriented and they are losing interests in their English learning. To some extent, PRETCO occupies much time in teaching period and teachers have to cut down regular teaching contents.According to the above-mentioned, the author puts forward some methods and accesses on how to improve its positive washback effects and points out the limitations of the thesis which are for the sake of a better understanding of this kind of research in the future.