| As we all know, both testing and teaching are so closely related that it is virtually impossible to work in either field without being constantly concerned with the other. The effect of testing on teaching and learning is known as backwash. Testing not only has positive backwash on teaching, but also negative backwash. The previous study shows that large scale high-stake test has greater influence on L2 learners. In China, The National Matriculation English Test (NMET) as a nationwide high-stake test largely influences Chinese education system and senior high school teaching and learning. The test score students obtained in NMET will decide whether students will go to the key universities or the average ones. Teachers, schools, parents as well as societies all pay attention to the NMET. Lots of related researches have been done by many scholars. However, the nature of its influence on the students'test-preparation and test-taking strategies is not clear. In an attempt to investigate the nature of its impact, the present study adopted foreign research results, borrowed Meysam and Esmat's research methods, employed qualitative and quantitative research methods, and it was done among 73 freshmen in universities and colleges in Guangdong Province and explored the nature of the NMET on their test-preparation and test-taking strategies. Data were collected through questionnaire and interview. According to the results, the findings indicated that from the students' perspective, the NMET had both positive and negative backwash on learners' test-preparation and test-taking strategies.On the one hand, the NMET influenced students' learning positively in several aspects. Some test-preparation strategies, such as reading English novels and magazines, may broaden their horizon and get a better understanding of English culture. At the same time, some test-taking strategies, which like writing down the key words in shorthand, utilizing lexical cohesion and considering the global semantic context, may cultivate students' cognitive competence. In addition, other strategies like utilizing reasoning can activate students' logical thinking ability. All these strategies can cultivate students' comprehensive ability from an all-round perspective.On the other hand, the results indicated that the NMET negatively influenced students' test-preparation and test-taking strategies. It was found that most of the students in this study adopted traditional way of learning so as to get well-prepared for the NMET, such as doing NMET mock papers, reviewing previous test papers and reciting the model composition. In addition, some students were inclined to listening to what other students say in Listening and Speaking Test, to guess blindly, or to eliminate distractors, or to try the choices one by one just as the way writing simple sentences in case of appearing grammar errors. To take the maximum benefits out of the NMET, it is need to guide students to employ scientific test-preparation and test-taking strategies in senior high school English teaching.According to the findings, the present study suggests that teachers can organize some interesting activities to practice students' oral English and increase their interests about English culture. At the same time, teachers should guide students memorize new words in certain context which is not only helpful for them to learn new words quickly, but also helpful to understand the global semantic meaning while doing reading comprehension. In addition, teachers can train students to employ some reading skills to improve reading speed and foster students'ability of searching information. Finally, teachers need to encourage students to use sophisticated words and sentences or imitate composition while preparing writing. After finishing writing, students should be asked to check the grammar errors carefully which can help them develop good study habits as well as set a good foundation for further study. |
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