Study On Washback Of The CET-4 Chinese-English Translation Test To College English Teaching And Learning

Washback, also named backwash, refers to the influence of testing on both teaching and learning, including both positive and negative washback. Positive washback promotes teaching and learning, whereas negative washback hinders teaching and learning. CET-4, namely College English Test 4, as a popular and important English proficiency test in mainland China, has a long history of more than thirty years. CET-4 was initiated in 1987, without any translation test item. In 2005, the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education carried out reforms to it. In Dec.2006, translation test appeared in CET-4 for the first time, asking students to translate the Chinese sentences in brackets into English, taking up 5% of the total value, targeting the evaluation of students'ability of key vocabulary, grammar and matching. In 2013, the translation test was again reformed, aiming at students' comprehensive English proficiency through paragraph translation, taking up 15% of the total value instead of 5%.As a key area of language testing study, washback has gained attention and popularity from scholars at home and abroad. CET-4 is definitely a hot focus for the great number of test takers and inescapable social impact, and till today a lot of fruits have been accomplished. However, washback of the newly-reformed CET-4 has not been studied frequently, let alone the washback of the specific translation test. And the research on the washback of the translation test to normal universities could hardly be found. Therefore, this study intends to study the washback of the Chinese-English translation test in the newly-reformed CET-4 to normal universities so as to provide more scientific feedback as well as constructive suggestions.This empirical study adopts qualitative and quantitative methodologies to survey and study 35 students and 150 teachers randomly chosen from Shaanxi Normal university, Weinan Normal University and Xianyang Normal University through three research instruments of questionnaires, interview and classroom observation. Therefore, lists of findings have been located after a thorough analysis through SPSS 23.0. The vast majority of teachers and students have clearly recognized and approved of the newly-reformed translation test, hence great attention has been paid. The test content, to a great extent, has tested the comprehensive language ability of students. Its positive wash back outweighs the negative one. Therefore, a list of constructive suggestions have been made:(1) In order to guarantee the validity of the translation test in the newly-reformed CET-4, effective communication should be strengthened between all levels of participants in their cognition of the test item, and their knowledge of the test content and form; (2) Teachers should realize the common characteristics of students in normal universities, then provide appropriate training and adopt some corresponding teaching methodologies; (3) Students should cooperate better with teachers, being more motivated to participate in the learning of Chinese-English learning in order to improve their English proficiency.