The Washback Effects Of The Latest Reform Of Translation Item In CET-4/6 On College English Translation Teaching And Learning

Washback refers to the influence of testing on teaching and learning, which can be positive and negative. As a large-scale criterion-related test, the College English Test(CET) aims to evaluate accurately and fairly college students' ability of using English in a well-rounded way. In order to adapt to the development of higher education and English teaching requirements, the CET examining committee issued a new reform in test structure and question types of CET Band 4 and CET Band 6 in August 2013. And the translation part becomes much more important therefrom.There are several aspects of the translation test in the latest reformed CET are changed greatly. Will the changes of the requirements of the translation test in CET-4/6 have any influence on college English translation teaching and learning? If so, what kind of washback effect will it be?Language testing has been playing a significant role in teaching and learning.Thus, many researchers have conducted relevant studies on translation testing, which is considered as an important way to evaluate and improve the teaching and learning of translation, but few empirical studies have been conducted on the washback effects of the latest CET translation reform issued in August 2013. So it is necessary and worthwhile to carry out the present empirical study.Based on the current achievement of washback studies or researches both at home and abroad, the present author carried out a preliminary study about washback effect of the new translation test in CET on college English translation teaching and learning, by exploring the following three questions:(1) Does the new translation test in CET-4/6 have any washback effects on college English translation teaching and learning?(2) If the effects do exist, what kind of washback effects does the new translation test have on teachers' teaching objectives, contents and methods, etc.?(3) If the effects do exist, what kind of washback effects does the new translation test have on students' learning attitudes, methods and strategies for preparation, etc.?The research data was gathered with 12 college English teachers and 180 students of non-English majors from two colleges by questionnaire, classroom observation and interview, and processed and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively afterwards.The study results showed that the latest reformed translation test in CET-4/6 did exert washback effect on different aspects of college English translation teaching and learning, and the nature of the washback was both positive and negative. Specifically,according to the investigation of the perceptions on the new translation test, college English teachers and students had different viewpoints. Besides, the new translation test in CET-4/6 produced both positive and negative influences on teachers' translation teaching aim, teaching content and teaching method, etc. as well as students' translation learning attitude, learning content, learning method, preparation strategies and so on. In general, the positive washback effects outweighed negative ones.Based on the findings of this study, the author proposed some suggestions on translation testing, college English translation teaching and learning in order to promote the positive washback effect of the latest reformed translation test in CET on college English translation teaching and learning. And in the end, the author pointed out the limitations of the present study and made some suggestions for future research in this field for the sake of a deeper and better understanding of the washback effect of the new translation test in CET.