A Study On Washback Effect Of Word-usage Test In NEMT On Teaching And Learning In Senior High Schools

Washback refers to the positive or negative effect that tests may have on teaching and learning.Since 1990 s,a large number of studies have been conducted at home and abroad on washback effect of language testing,resulting in a deep understanding of some related hypotheses and theory system.Some empirical studies on extensive and high-stake tests,such as TOFEL,did give rise to the reform and innovation in language testing and teaching.The college entrance examination is regarded as one of the most important extensive,standardized national high-stake tests in China.It is also the only achievement test which is employed to choose qualified candidates for different colleges nowadays.National Matriculation English Test(NEMT)is a “baton” of English teaching and learning.In 2014,NEMT was reformed in Shanxi Province.In NEMT of Shanxi Province,the multiple-choice of grammar is replaced by the word-usage test(grammar filling).Word-usage test can be divided into two types: one type is filling the banks with the cue words,which mainly tests whether student have grasped derivation of the word or the matches of the cue words;the other type is filling the blanks with no cue words,which mainly tests if students stably have grasped the usage of the article,preposition,etc.word-usage test(grammar filling)appears in the NEMT,which avoids the weaknesses of multiple-choice.For example,students can guess answers blindly.Besides,word-usage test(grammar filling)must bring effect on English teaching and learning.What are the teachers' and students' views and attitudes towards the English word-usage test of NEMT? In what aspects and to what extent does the test of word-usage of NEMT influence teaching and learning in senior high school? How to strengthen the positive washback of word-usage test on English teaching and learning in senior high school?In this paper,there are 30 teachers and 300 students who are selected to do the questionnaires,and they are from three senior high schools in Yuanqu,Shanxi Province.The author uses three instruments—questionnaire,interview and classroom observation.The data collected is conducted with Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS).The research results include that the washback of word-usage test of NEMT can have both positive and negative washback effect on teaching and learning in senior high schools;the positive washback takes the dominant place;most teachers and students show positive attitudes towards the English word-usage test;students' thinking mode and basic knowledge of English are consolidated.To some extent,the test formats also increase the difficulty of NEMT,and decrease some students' confidence in learning English.