A Study Of The Washback Effect Of NMET-Proofreading And Error Correction Test On English Writing Teaching

Proofreading and error correction test which is an essential section in English NMET has been controversial since established. Some researchers and scholars argue about that it should be abolished,because of its negative washback on senior high school English teaching and learning. While others believe that proofreading and error correction should be retained because it can examine the comprehensive competence of students to use language. The thesis is aimed at conducting the study on NMETproofreading and error correction to test its washback on English Writing Teaching in senior high school.The present study focuses on finding out whether NMET- proofreading and error correction test has positive and negative washback on English writing teaching in senior high school. On the basis of Alderson& Wall’s Washback Hypotheses(1993, 1996) and Hughes’ PPP Washback Model(Hughes, 1993), the investigation was conducted. Interview, Classroom Observation and Questionnaire are mainly applied in the present study to collect data from 150 senior high school English teachers in Pingliang district. First,by interview and classroom observation the present study finds English teachers in senior high school ask learners to correct their own essays or their peers’ essays. Secondly, during NMET section training teachers will teach the skills and test contents of NMET-proofreading and error correction and do some NMET-proofreading and error correction drills. Finally, for the test results analysis teachers can also teach and explain the skills and test contents of NMET-proofreading and error correction to consolidate the knowledge that they have learned.The result of the present study indicates that NMET-proofreading and error correction test has positive and negative washback on English writing teaching in senior high school. 1) NMET-proofreading and error correction test can promote English teachers to focus on learners to master the usage of vocabulary,sentence structure and the cohesion of sentence and sentence in the whole passage. 2) In English writing teaching in senior high school, teachers can use the product approach to enhance the accuracy and fluency of learners’ language. 3) In English teaching in senior high school, NMET-proofreading and error correction test makes teachers give more attention to the unity of form, meaning and use of English teaching. 4) Some teachers think that spending much more time and energy on his question type is not reasonable, because the mark of the Proofreading and error correction section is very low in NMET,accounting for only 6.7%.