A Study Of The Washback Effects Of Henan Nmet Test Type Reform Based On Teachers’ And Students’ Perceptions

Despite the fact that NMET is one of the large-scale and high-stakes tests in China, studies on the washback of NMET are remarkably few. At the point of the 2014 NMET reform, this study was conducted just as a preliminary exploration into washback effects of the NMET reform on English teaching and learning in Henan province.On the basis of Bailey’s(1996) A Basic Model of Washback, the current study investigated whether teachers’ understandings of English teaching, teaching process and teaching results were influenced by the reform; whether students’ understandings of English learning, learning process and learning results were influenced by the NMET reform. Situated in the context of Henan NMET, the study selected 34 teachers and 250 students who experienced the reform in two middle schools in Henan province. Two weeks before the 2015 NMET, a questionnaire survey coupled with an interview survey was administered. Data were carefully analyzed with SPSS 20.The results suggested that the NMET reform exerted some influence on English teaching and learning, but just to a moderate degree. Teaching content and leaning content were adjusted to the reform while teaching methods and learning methods remained almost unchanged. Teachers and students held positive attitude towards the reform and they had good understandings of the reform purposes, whereas their teaching and learning practice didn’t change much in the way that the reform expected. Obviously, more studies are needed to investigate why washback of NMET occurs on certain aspects rather than the other aspects. It is hoped that the current preliminary study can serve as a springboard for more studies on NMET in the future.