A Study On Washback Of The Listening Test Items In Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination Of English(Jiangxi)

The issue of washback or the influence of language tests on teaching and learning has been a frequent topic for discussion in language testing since Alderson and Wall(1993)proposed their fifteen Washback Hypotheses as the foundation for further empirical studies.A large number of foreign and domestic scholars are increasingly devoted to the investigation of washback from a theoretical and empirical respect.In spite of considerable attention paid to washback of tests over recent years,most of studies focus on massive standard tests such as TOEFL,TEM-8,and NMET,while insufficient empirical research has been administered to study washback of Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination of English(SSSEEE),letting alone washback of the listening test items(LTI)in Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination of English.Thus,the thesis attempts to investigate washback of the listening test items in Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination of English in Jiangxi on English teaching and learning and to explore teachers‘ and students‘ perceptions of the listening test items in the exam.For these purposes,teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire were constructed and first handed out to 556 junior secondary students and 39 English teachers from junior 1 to junior 3 in three junior secondary schools in Nanchang,Jiangxi.Then three teachers‘ lessons from junior 1 to junior 3 were observed,two lessons respectively in each grade and six lessons altogether.At last,structured interviews were conducted with three English teachers under observation as complementary means.The quantitative data from questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS software,version 17.And the qualitative data from observations and interviews were transcribed and translated the extracts into English as supplementary evidence.The results reveal that most English teachers and students from junior secondary schools are in favor of the existence of the LTI in SSSEEE in the light of its benefits to teaching and learning,but they are easily lost in intense test preparations to raise LTI‘s scores.Besides,the listening test items in Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination of English have a great impact on teachers and students mainly on teachers‘ preparations for the LTI and the employment of teaching materials;students‘ learning objectives and preparations for the test.Additionally,it indicates that teachers and students of junior 3 are more influenced by the LTI in SSSEEE,for they are faced with the pressure arising from the upcoming SSSEEE,which drives teaching and learning mainly to achieve higher scores rather than to develop the desired ability to use language effectlively.To change the situation,it is suggested that test designers,policy makers and teachers should work together to maximize positive washback of the LTI in SSSEEE and minimizing unwanted side effects on teaching and learning,making it a powerful encouragement to foster listening teaching or students‘ development of listening ability.