A Study Of Washback Of Achievement Test On Junior Middle School English Teaching And Learning

Washback refers to the impact of language test on teachers and students,as well as teaching and learning.This is a new research field of applied linguistics.In foreign countries,researchers have done a lot of researches aboutwashback effect from theory to empirical study.The results of researches not only enrich the theory of language test,but also greatly promote the development of English teaching.In China,there arealso a lot ofempirical studiesabout washback effect,but little research about the washback of achievementtest on junior middle school English teaching and learning.This study focuses on exploring it according to following questions:(1)What is the current situation of achievement test of junior English?(2)What is the attitudes of teachers and students towards achievement test of junior English?(3)What kind of washback does achievement test generate washback on junior teachingandlearning? What aspects dothe washback effects reflect on?Based on the related literatures,this study chose 151 students and 11 teachers respectively from junior 1,junior 2 and junior 3 studying in the Chong Qing Feng Ming MountainMiddle School as research subjects,and it combined with the research methods of quantitative and qualitative.Questionnaire,interview,classroom observation and analysis of test papers were as research instruments.According to the research questions and related theories,the teacher questionnaire wasdesignedbased on the questionnaire from the essay-“A Washback Study of the Test for English Majors” written by Zou Shen& Xu Qian(2016).The student questionnaire was designed based on the dissertation-“A Preliminary Study of CET4 washback” written by Huang Dayong(2002).First,analyzing the three collected monthly test papers to study the current situation of achievement test.Then,the quantitative data of teachers questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS for factor analysis.The data of students questionnaires were statistically classified and saved in Microsoft Excel File.Combining with the results of interviews and classroom observation,the researcher analyzed attitudes of students and teachers towards achievement test and the washback of achievement test on junior English teaching and learning.It from the multiple perspectives explores the influence of achievement test on junior English teaching and learning.The research results show that achievement test papers are made by teachers piecing from many kinds of existing test papers and exercises.The question types almost follow the pattern of the senior high school examination.Teachers and students hold a positive attitude towards achievement test.They are satisfied with achievement test,which is beneficial to their teaching and learning.Achievement test indeed generates washback effects on English teaching and learning,which has both positive and negative effects.On the whole,achievement test has more positive effects than negative effects.The positive effects of achievement test on teaching reflect on teaching aims,course design,teaching schedule,teaching content and the degree of teaching.The negative effects of achievement test on teaching reflect on disrupting teaching speed.The positive effects of achievement test on learning reflect on the learning content,learning method,learning speed and the degree and depth of learning.The negative effects of achievement test on learning reflect on learning attitude.According to the research results,this study also puts forward some suggestions in order to improve the positive washback effect of achievement test on junior teaching and learning.At the end of the paper,it points out that this study has some limitations and gives some directions for future research.